The ones who have lived with it long term are the ones who show the least of it on the surface yet hold everyone far away like her. I bet all her scars and pains are under thirty layers of concrete, and she tells no one without a fight.

She’s back to mixing, trying to appear unbothered and acting like my presence does not affect her, yet I can tell she’s not relaxed. She’s stiffer than a board, and her vision keeps straying up to catch me in her peripheral instead of straight ...