Would you ask me what's wrong even if I said "nothing"?

Would you let the silence exist without trying to fill it?

Or would you become uncomfortable because you don't know what to do with this version of me?

Maybe it's easier to disappear than to be seen falling apart.

Because when people get used to seeing you as the calm one, the strong one, the person who's always okay, they don't know what to do when you finally aren't.

And you start wondering if your sadness is inconvenient.

If your silence is too much.

If your tears are something people would rather not see.

So you become a ghost.

Not because you don't exist.

Not because you stopped feeling.

But because disappearing feels easier than explaining why you're hurting.

You answer less. You talk less. You stop showing up.

And eventually, people get used to your absence too.

That's the strange thing about disappearing.

At first, you think someone will notice.

Then you realize the world keeps moving.

And maybe that's what hurts the most.

Not that nobody can see you.

But that you were hoping someone would look closely enough to notice that you were never really okay.

Maybe sometimes I just need someone to hear "I'm not okay" and not immediately try to turn it into a solution.