Of course I start to ask questions. 39Please respect copyright.PENANAA15B3QQGiE
Of course I wonder where you are. 39Please respect copyright.PENANAayvyMC5NCj
Of course I miss you.
You always knew I would, didn't you?
In the quiet moments, I sometimes hear your voice, even though I know you're not here. Why I still speak to you in my thoughts, my big sister, I don't quite know. Or why I believe you can hear me.39Please respect copyright.PENANAO1RDLVpXeh
Maybe because the silence around me is slowly but surely becoming unbearable.39Please respect copyright.PENANAsLnJu06bdz
The community teaches us to ignore such negative thoughts, to bury them deep and replace them with positive ones.39Please respect copyright.PENANAuswiuFFr7v
But you were always the one who made me think, even if I never really showed it. You asked questions back then... and those questions are coming back now.
It's this kind of deafening silence, where you can no longer block out all the noises. Like a cacophony of artificial noise trying to suppress the natural melodies of life, from what is true, instinctively even. Over the years, it's becoming more and more overwhelming.39Please respect copyright.PENANAgQVbXeXVJL
Do I have to first overcome the silence in order to hear melodies of truth?39Please respect copyright.PENANAQNBHuMXt4v
And what would I find there? It terrifies me to my core, yet it can't be worse than here.
You know, I believed them. The words we heard every day, the rituals we performed. It felt so right when I was a little boy, a younger version of myself, from whom I have now distanced myself. I feel no connection to that young man anymore.39Please respect copyright.PENANAwZGBnzfvnr
Every mantra is just repetition, an empty shell they want to sell us as truth.
39Please respect copyright.PENANAWmDKwRJsTW
"Every experience I have is perfect for my growth!"
"Appreciate the abundance in your life!"39Please respect copyright.PENANAI7tnSqcPtl
39Please respect copyright.PENANA8VBBRNSeqk
"Manifest the positive!"
I can't hear it anymore. This bullshit doesn't make sense anymore. Imagine eating soup with a fork. Nothing substantial sticks with me anymore, nothing fulfills me. Mother doesn't understand. She notices how I'm distancing myself and tries to pull me back, like they all do.39Please respect copyright.PENANAfphszM2FVV
"Yorick, come to our gathering tonight," she says, her voice subtly filled with sorrow.39Please respect copyright.PENANA71yuCf5sIh
"You need to find peace and happiness, like the others." But I don't find peace anymore. How can I, when every smile feels fake, and every hug only feels cold and mechanical? They want us to believe we're free, but I've never felt more trapped in this cage of artificial happiness.
Live, Love, Laugh. Puke.
I drag myself through the gatherings, nodding obediently, pretending to take it all seriously. It's easier than explaining myself. Easier than seeing the disappointment in their eyes or hearing the whispers behind my back. I think they know it; they see the doubt in my eyes, the hesitation in my voice. I used to believe I belonged, as if I had a purpose. Now, I feel like just another cog in a machine that continues to pretend everything is fine.
But I can't just leave. Not with all these unanswered questions, not with your memory still haunting me everywhere.39Please respect copyright.PENANAUNqPw2iSlZ
Do you remember when you first doubted? You took me aside, like so often, when we played outside in the woods just behind our trailer. I was little but even you were a still a kid yourself. You told me that you believed we were living a great lie and that this world was simply... wrong. I didn't believe you then, but I never judged you for your opinion. Today I know you were right. Everything is always too perfect. Too bright. They call it bliss, but it's not real, and it never was.
I remember the last time I saw you. Before they took you away. You were different. Your eyes were tired, but they burned wildly, I didn't understand it. You told me not to worry. You told me everything would be fine. I wasn't sure.39Please respect copyright.PENANAHH86GDtAMK
It was never supposed to be like this, Sybelle. You should have stayed with me. You were always there, explaining things to me that I didn't understand. But you explained things in a way I could understand. 39Please respect copyright.PENANAtqx1Ly7BSg
You never judged me for my feelings, not like the others. And I never judged yours. We were each other's little paradise, where no feeling was "sinful." But now you're gone. From the moment you became uncomfortable to them, they took you away.39Please respect copyright.PENANA7lacrpdjV3
I'm still here, surrounded by all of it, pretending to believe what they think is right. I recite their mantras, force my smile, swallow my doubts.
But I can't stop asking: what really happened to you? Why couldn't I protect you, like I promised back then? They say you're having experiences for your growth now. I can't help but believe they're lying to me. And I wonder what other lies I've been told.39Please respect copyright.PENANApiKI0b7FcV
I am alone with these thoughts, thoughts I can't share with anyone, because they'd call me "too negative," and that's a mortal sin. They'd try to intervene. You're not allowed to ask questions here. It's wrong to feel anything other than bright happiness and joy. Yet a darkness spreads inside me, and I wonder if you would still be proud of me, or if you would tell me to leave this place.
I miss you. More than words can describe. And yet, all that's left of you are my memories and the tormenting questions. I wish I could ignore them, but when I try, they only get more insistent.
I'm not the boy I once was.39Please respect copyright.PENANA7eL9rnyls9
I'm not the boy who felt so comfortable among the shining, smiling faces. I want to scream at them, tell them to stop pretending.39Please respect copyright.PENANAC48dLoYyoZ
I want to make them realize I'm suffocating in these lies. But I don't know how. So I stay quiet and play my part. But every day it's harder to breathe.
I promise you, I will find the truth.
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