a vent became a piece of reflection and i am willing to share the thoughts with you.
fourteen years old – it feels like the next six years have just been pretending
because when i hear footsteps in the hallway, i still stop breathing
because when the meals are reheated, i still stop speaking
because when it’s cold outside, i still stop thinking
because when you’re upset, i still stop living
i feel time stopping, i feel i’ve died
six years ago
imposter syndrome or maybe i feel fake overall
i do not know why it feels like all i ever do is a lie
and i’m still scared sometimes that my friends will leave if they learn
“the truth”
and i do not know what that truth would even be
fourteen years old – it feels like the next six years have just not been real
but i get better, i know, because sometimes i suddenly understand i am twenty
like when i wear this specific outfit, inspired by petit-doudou
or when i ate mushrooms, or when i smoke at night alone in my bedroom
or when i bring food to my sister’s out of free will
but outside of those specific occurrences
(non-exhaustive)
i feel time stopping, i feel i’ve died
six years ago
so you need to understand, yes you who know me and wish me the best
you need to understand that you cannot help me if i am not twenty
because when i say i am a bad person
it’s because i am fourteen
and i was an asshole when i was fourteen
it’s no use arguing against that, because if am not twenty
all the points you could bring are not real
and if i say i want to die, if i say i’m suicidal
if i say i deserve to hurt, if i say i shouldn’t eat
if i say i’m sorry for myself, if i ever dare say i can’t write
it’s only because i am fourteen
i do not believe a single one of those words i say
because i’ve lived for six more years
i can barely refute a single one of those words i say
because those six years don’t seem real
i am a happy twenty-year-old
and a miserable child
so i wear clothes i can feel move, i need accessories, i wear harnesses tight
and i hate baggy pyjamas, and i hate one-pieces, and i hate my tied hair
for without a reminder i’m alive, without a reminder i’m grounded, i think i’ll let myself rot
i threw away the lolita fashion, i got rid of most of my clothes
i felt i was cosplaying a fourteen-year-old
and i think i would like to feel twenty and alive more often
now sexuality
if you don’t want to hear, you can skip the stanza
now sexuality
teasing, bullying, but i’m a coward, a curious one that is
i am so deeply afraid of the consequences of my own actions
i do not know what to do but i know i want to do
and when i was fourteen, i fought with people
out of abuse, can probably say it that way
so i know how to hit, and i know how to insult, and i know how to hurt
but the kind of hurt my mind immediately goes to is not sexual
i am so deeply afraid of the consequences of my own actions
it is not that i am uncomfortable, it is that i need to feel present first
do not be afraid yourself though, i have learnt how to say no
now still sexuality, but different
if you don’t want to hear, you can also skip the stanza
now still sexuality, but different
i am asexual, truly, i am
being hot is a choice i make
and it’s my choice, and it’s my choice, for the first time, it’s mine
not defined by others
and sex is silly like a game
i think i like it that way, i think i like it that way, as long as i can win
because i feel i’ve lost all the time before i was twenty
i think they were all cheating at that game
like when you change the rules with a new player
because the inexperienced will not notice
i don’t think i’ve ever had a fair chance at that game before
and sometimes i’m scared of being horny
because i feel like an annoying, nosy teenager
bugging other people to play a game i’m too young to play
i think i’ve figured it out
why i’m so scared that everything i do is a lie
i feel like i’m fourteen and trying to impress people
with how many forbidden things i can do
with how many advanced things i can learn
but i was never like that, i was never like that
now i am, but i wasn’t
i feel i’m pretending to be special
and everyone buys into it
i want to let go of the expectations put on this miserable child
while accepting i’ve met those expectations today as an adult
and i’ve been walking on the same path for so long
“gifted child syndrome” but i am starting to think i am not afraid of failure
not of failure, not of pressure, but something else entirely
i am afraid of being trapped on this path
and i think that is why i dread results so much
and i think that is why success makes me depressed
none of those two outcomes are happy endings
and i think that’s why i need biology so badly
psychology is for a fourteen-year-old
who remains depressed eternally
biology is for a twenty-year-old
who manages to break free
when did it happen? what happened? what trauma?
talking of this one guy, or talking of mom would be easy
but they’re just very good scapegoats, for no matter how awful those are
they both happened after i turned this way
and mom is another story, but for this guy, it
probably happened because i turned this way
not that i blame myself in any way for him, i was just an easy prey
truth is, i do not know, i do not understand
why my life collapsed so suddenly
i left grade school and lost my friends and familiarity
and mom went to the hospital
and sister left for another country
and brother left for another county
and i learnt being gay for girls was weird
and i learnt not being a girl was weird
and i was alone in my autism now
and i was alone in my insanity now
and it happened
all
at
once
truth is, i do not know, i do not understand
why my life collapsed so suddenly
my childhood wasn’t particularly amazing
it had a lot of issues, in fact, and i’d probably still resent the bullying
but i wouldn’t say it was particularly bad either
i feel a deep disconnect, like i’ve lived two different lives before today
and i simply realised it someday
nothing happened, really
a bad set of unforeseen circumstances
which scarred me deeply
and it’s enough, i know, to be traumatised
but i think i’m still searching for reasons
because i need to pinpoint something
and i can’t
fourteen years old – please, i will ask of you very nicely
and i only ask because i believe i have finally found safety
would you be by my side when i try to grab at those six years?
those six years that i need to be happy so desperately?
i am not sure yet of how to reintegrate those into myself
i have survived by breaking myself into plural pieces
i don’t think i particularly need to be one and only
but i really need to be twenty