You Are Hidden, Not Empty

The screen lights up with those three words, and your stomach drops. You read 'I love you' and feel nothing but the cold panic of being a fraud.

You think you are tricking them, that your numbness is a lie you are telling. But the light does not demand you manufacture a feeling you do not have.

There is light within a person of light, and it lights up the whole world—even when you cannot see it. You came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord, not from your ability to perform affection.

The panic says you are empty, but the truth says you are simply hidden. You are not tricking anyone; you are just waiting for the ice to thaw.

The love they feel is real, and the love you cannot feel yet is also real, buried under the weight of tonight.