Chapter 1
They asked what was wrong.
Isaid nothing.
It was easier that way.
Easier than explaining the weight behind my silence, the fracture beneath the surface.
People offered kindness.
Soft voices. Gentle questions.
I learned to smile in response.
A practiced expression - convincing enough to pass.
No one saw the truth.
No one saw how far I'd drifted.
Since the accident everything feels unreal.
Not dramatic. Not cinematic.
Just... hollow.
The kind of emptiness that settles in your bones and refuses to leave.
Mum was killed.
That's the fact.
No motive. No suspect.
Just a headline, a funeral, and a silence that never ends.
I used to be someone.
Focused. Driven.
Grades, sports, plans for the future.
Now I barely recognise myself.
I can't focus. I ignore calls.
I let things fall apart.
People say grief is a process.
But what do they know?
They talk about stages, about healing.
As if time alone can make sense of something senseless.
My sister copes differently.
She smiles. She talks.
I don't resent her for it.
But I don't understand it either.
Dad barely speaks.
He avoids eye contact, avoids me.
I look too much like her.
Same blue eyes. Same voice.
It's like I'm a reminder he didn't ask for.
We live in a quiet town.
The kind where nothing ever happens.
Now everyone knows.
They whisper. They pity.
And I disappear a little more each day.
I used to think isolation was a weakness.
Now I wear it like armor.
It's the only thing that feels safe.
