You can’t see her,
Hiding in the shadows as she always does.
Blending into the background,
Trying to go unnoticed,
As the crowds of deafening people screech in her ears.
You didn’t notice the silent tears running down her face,
The lines of black mascara streaking pathways down her cheeks.
You didn’t notice.
You couldn’t see the way she looked at you.
The fire that burned so brightly in her eyes,
The gaunt hollows of her cheeks,
The slashes gracing the skins from her wrists to her elbows,
You couldn’t see,
Or maybe you just chose not to look.

See, she was there,
Every day,
Waiting in the shadows
For someone to care.
Anyone would do.
Just someone to stop and say “Hey, are you okay”
Doesn’t take much, does it.
Thousands of words are said every day,
Words that hang in the air;
Dead weights floating like heavy clouds,
Or simple phrases that carry on the wind to be forgotten within a matter of minutes.
Yet, no one took the time to stop and listen
To see the world from her point of view
It wasn’t difficult,
Not at all.
The blur of faces passing by her every day never changed,
The fast pace of life never faltered,
It was as though she stood behind a screen,
Desperately trying to reach out and connect again,
To feel okay again,
But she couldn’t.
Instead she settled for feeling real the only way she could.
Late at night she’d drag a razor across her wrists and pretend that this was okay.
This was the way she was making herself feel better,
This was the way she lived.