"yeah, i'm fine."

but i am but a slave to my own mind, i'm bound and tied and chained and forced to change and wither away as these thoughts jackhammer by brain and chisel down at my bones and make me turn weak and bleak like a stone tossed into a river to skip, skip, skip, then drown and go down into the deep dark, left to the elements, let them toss me around and crumble me up and down because i'm bound to be nothing but a freak and a loser, weak to their critiques, the accused and the accusers, and i tell myself that they're lies and that i could never fall victim to such a curse but it's worse than i thought as i look down at my hands, bloody and wrought, i know that i lost. i fought but they fought harder, i shot but they shot farther and the bullet lies deeper and it creeps closer and closer, the monster that haunts me, my brain. the lame, fragile and vain piece of glass that shattered and stabbed me in the back, i did this to myself, i laughed at my pain and now it's proved that when it rains, it storms and it learns even more how to push me into this hole and cover me with dirt and sand and i think i see a hand but it pulls away and i brace myself as i see their faces, laughing and gawking and staring and there isn't a single glance that doesn't burn into my skin and i hate it and i want to run but there is no escape and i can't breathe and i can't see and i can't talk and i can't move and i'm stuck in this pit of despair and distraught and the clouds start to rain and pour and i want nothing else, nothing more than to get out to the light, but i'm trapped in my fright and my pain and i can't run away, not this time.

"yeah, i'm fine."