After being continuously exposed to my

Cool exterior,

No one would ever guess of the

Monsters

Inside my innermost being.

After looking into my bright eyes,

No one would dare consider

The scars that once graced my arms

And the dark thoughts that once haunted my mind.

After watching me walk,

Chin up and back straight,

No one would ever believe that I once spent my days

Hunched in my bedroom floor

Trembling from the make-believe demons that manifested

Behind my closed eyelids.

After hearing my steady voice speak in front of

Three thousand of the state's biggest and brightest,

No one would waste a second on ideas of

A much smaller me,

Believing my life had ended without any proof.

My past is nothing more than a dark storm cloud

Looming in the distance of my sunny skies

Always present but easily ignored

By everyone except myself.