I can't breathe. I'm sorry but I can't breathe.

You want me to be more than what I am.

People laugh, cry, live, while I lie.

I fear I'm not human.

I am not you.

They all hide their true feelings behind masks,

But I have no mask. I am exposed.

Masks are safety blankets that

Keep you fitting in.

I want to fit in.

No, correction: You want me to fit in.

Fit into your perfect mold of who I need to be.

No, correction: Who you want me to be.

To fit into the right things to say.

No, correction: What you want me to say.

To look, feel, and act the part of a human.

Or at least what you think human is.

A box only holds those who don't look up.

There is no structure or mold.

If I'm not human no one is.

So I keep looking up.

Up to a new me.

But then again, I do lie.

• This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.