Even if it means somebody else must curl in the corner of
their bedroom whispering to themselves Why me? Why
this?, there is something comforting in knowing that one
is not alone. Of course, even if it is knowing you are not
alone, there is still distress to be found in that
happiness.
You said, "Hey, I have that, too," and you saw
emotion quickly covered by a polite mask. What if you had
seen what occured later, held my wrist up to your ear and
heard the joy singing in my veins and having found somebody
like me? Would you have found comfort knowing that you could
have an instant friend who understood an underlying struggle
that is omnipresent even though she doesn't even know
your name? Would you have found unease in the same thing?
The only things found more than the glee and relief in
finding somebody like oneself are perhaps the grief that
somebody else has shed the same tears and, even more so, the
fear that they may find the jagged border between mask and
skin. Sometimes that mask is all one has.