veronica

i lie awake at night thinking, 

reminiscing of all the painful memories

i hold within me.

the embarrassment that plagued my childhood 

haunts my inner being.

i think of the times i walked the halls through stares and stifled laughs.

i can still feel the heat in my face

and the crocodile tears i choked back.

the whispers of my peers stood eerily behind me, just loud enough to hear.

their words stuck to my brain like sticky notes.

i remember every criticism,

every nitpicked flaw about me shined in the fluorescent lights of my elementary school.

i lie awake at night thinking,

if i were normal would i have been liked?