unprecedented

Téa Sunahara

High School Junior

November/ December 2024

"Tell me what keeps you," one voice begins,

"What holds you back when the shadows thin?"

The other shifts, gaze unfocused and dim,

"Sometimes, it’s easier just not to begin."

"Is it the ache?" the first voice asks,

"Or something deeper, hidden in masks?"

The other sighs, tracing lines on the floor,

"It’s more like a door I don’t open anymore."

"What’s on the other side?" the first voice prods,

"Are you afraid, or just… lost?"

The other goes still, voice barely there—

"Sometimes I wonder if there’s anything there."

Silence swells, the room feels tight,

words hanging between wrong and right.

"What are you seeking?" the first voice breathes,

"Why do you wander in the in-betweens?"

A hollow laugh, soft and near—

"To fade, maybe. Or just disappear."

But then the room fades, quiet and still,

and none of it happened, just echoes to fill—

Fragments of thoughts, circling round,

like flickers of light that never touch ground.