A visit to the museum

12 Jun 2026

The silent nights drape themselves around me slowly engulfing me in a chokehold as I drift away into a hallway its walls adorned with my mistakes I stand in front of each display, trying to interpret how I have managed to disappoint everyone who has ever loved me At the end of the hallway, I see a portrait a list of my dreams as a kid with signatures of all my family members at the bottom the signatures sit beneath every promise faded but still there proof that there once was a room full of people who believed I could become the person on the list I turn around and start running trying to find the corner that displays everything I did right one corner one frame one exhibit anything running in a loop over and over and over one last time for good measure but I end up in front of the portrait again its a testament of everything I am not I hear myself, gasping for air, somewhere in the distance I tune that out too lost in the memories of the youngest version of myself I can remember the essence of that child still somewhere inside this portrait I unmount that portrait and shatter it on the ground shards of glass flying and piercing my skin I rummage through the remains of the portrait desperate to find the kid who still believed every word written on that page "I give up," I shout as I fall back a drop of blood dripping down my face and then another but I just lay there paralysed, surrounded by blood and regret my eyes fixed on that piece of paper looking at the description of someone I no longer know how to be