Empty
Hollow, the echoes bouncing off the vacant crater inside me.
An empty frame, putting me to shame.
Tell me I’m alive, tell me I’m breathing, tell me what I need to hear.
I am alive, yet
I am not.

Telescopes search, find an active brain, a beating chest.
Thump thump goes the heart
Light bulbs blink on and off in my head
Everything I need to be alive.

A yellow sponge, filled to the brim with emotions.
Happy tears, forced smiles, a weak grimace.
Absorbing empathy, lacking substance.

Cry with the girl who didn’t get that role.
Smile with your friend, who got an A.
But don’t you ever shed a tear for yourself
It’s selfish.

I place my shaky hand over a surely beating heart
I feel it. Pumping blood, pumping emotion.
None of which are my own.