Acceptance

I remember the times
When I was young
And my kindergarten teacher told me,
“It’s okay to be different.”

“It’s okay to be yourself.
Everyone is special.
Everyone is unique.
It’s okay to be different.”

I want to tell her
That she was wrong.
It’s not okay to be different,
Not when no one wants to be.

I am fourteen.
I walk down the school corridors,
Keeping my face low.
I don’t want to be seen.

I know that if I was seen,
I would be laughed at.
People would call me names,
They would throw stuff at me.

Some others would throw me malicious glares,
Daggers that pierce through my every cell.
No one will speak to me.
I am alone.

To some, I was invisible.
To some, I was inhuman.
To some, I was food.
To some, I was psycho.

Whenever school ended,
I would take the train home.
See people chat on the train,
And get jealous.

Why couldn’t I have friends?
Why couldn’t I be human?
If I am myself,
People would kill me.

When I reach home,
I am always in a black room.
There is no light
For a better tomorrow.

Every day is the same.
I should not exist.
Everyone tells me that,
In their silent stares.

Since when was it okay to be different?
If you’re different, you’ll end up like me.
You will not have a voice.
You will not have a heart.

It is a world of darkness.
A world where people on magazine covers are the most perfect.
A world where dreams are cut short before they can even begin.
A world where the silence screams to make you silent.

Can someone just help me?
Break out of this traumatic state.
Let me be myself,
Without this disaster.

Someone, listen to my voice.
Someone, reach out for my hand.
Someone, give me a taste of life.
Someone, paint the colours of my world.

Help. Help.
Someone help.