I built a wall to keep the monsters out.

It worked.

The casual cruelty cannot touch me here.

The users and the fakers stand outside the gate,

And I am finally safe.

But the silence inside this room is loud.

The armor is heavy, cold to the touch.

I look in the mirror and see a stranger’s face,

Someone who survived but forgot how to breathe.

There is nobody left to hurt me,

And nobody left to hold.

I saved myself from the world,

But I locked myself in a tomb.

The innocence is gone, replaced by steel,

And the steel is a lonely weight.

I am secure.

I am untouchable.

I am entirely,

Desolately,

Alone.