What Lingers (Ft ABOC)

The days still start like they always did, light through the cracks in the blinds. But I pause before I move too fast, like something’s watching the time. Every ordinary moment feels a little thinner than before as if the ground agreed to hold me but won’t promise anymore. I laugh on cue, I keep it light, say the right things when I’m asked. But there’s a pressure in my breathing that I never learned to pass. I keep a careful distance now from anything that feels too close I’ve seen how quickly something solid can become a ghost. Something shifted, never reset. No alarms, no warning sent. I still move forward, but I can tell, part of me learned this world can fail. This is what lingers, long after the sound the way I hesitate before I settle down. Its what lingers, deep under my skin I’m not breaking apart, but I’m not the same I’ve been I don’t relive the moment itself, I relive what followed instead the way my thoughts grew cautious, the things I never said. I measure risk in heartbeats now, in pauses I can’t explain learning how to stand upright inside a rearranged frame. I trusted ease, I trusted time... Now certainty walk a thinner line. I still believe I still try... But I brace myself Before goodbye. This isn't weakness this is proof that love leaves marks that carry through. Feeling, fighting, dreaming, wishing holding back the noise barely free in my own hell scape can't escape the choice This is what lingers, and I wont deny the way it reshaped my inner life This is what lingers, and ill carry it through not as a wound, but as something true Quiet whispers filling my mind wonder if I'm doing it right. Finding my way through the silent sound but still, I'm standing my ground.