Member-only story
The stories we don’t tell.
Go easy on yourself today. Work will never love you back. But the people you’ve inspired will.
The clock ticks loudly in an empty room, each second reminding them of the life they aren’t sure they want to live. Someone is sitting in their car long after they have parked because going inside means facing it all over again. Someone is pouring their first cup of coffee, knowing it’s the only warmth they’ll feel all day. A voicemail stays unheard because the courage to press ‘play’ is harder to summon than forgiveness.
Someone’s birthday cake is a single cupcake with no candles because there’s no one there to light them. Someone just laughed too loudly at an unfunny joke because that’s easier than explaining why they’re sad. Someone is walking through a crowded street, surrounded by noise, feeling the kind of loneliness that could fill a hundred worlds.
Someone’s biggest secret is that they cry in the shower, where no one can hear the sound of breaking down, blending their tears with the water that remains unseen. The shower continues to run, rinsing away everything but the ache that lingers. Someone’s bed holds two bodies, but only one heart remains. The other is lost in a world too far to touch. The bed feels too big, the silence is loud, and the questions are too endless to sleep…
