What Stays, What Leaves

It began so quietly

I didn’t notice the first time

just a thought

passing through

at the edge of something uncertain

but it came back

and each time it returned

it sounded more like truth

less like a question

more like a conclusion

until it stopped asking

and started telling

you are not capable

you will fail

this is who you are

and I listened

because it knew my history

used it like evidence

stitched together moments

I wished I could undo

it built something convincing

a room with no doors

walls made of repetition

a ceiling that lowered

every time I tried to stand

and somehow

I stayed

because it was familiar

because it was predictable

because it hurt

in a way I understood

I called it reality

until one day

nothing changed

the same thought

the same feeling

the same ending

and something in me paused

not loudly

not all at once

just enough to notice

this again

and for a moment

the walls didn’t move

the thought was still there

but it wasn’t the room

it was something inside it

passing through

I didn’t push it away

didn’t try to prove it wrong

I just stayed

long enough

to see it shift

to feel it loosen

to watch it leave

the way it had always come

and in the quiet after

there was space

not empty

but open

like something

had finally exhaled

and I realized

it was never the truth

that held me there

just something

I had heard

too many times

and believed

for too long