He stared at the search bar, his finger pressed on the backspace button as if it had something to delete. His chest tugged with a question, with a silent scream, but his brain made no attempt to translate it.
What do I ask? How do I begin, when I don't know where I stand?
He knew every answer he'd find among the trinkets of the internet would only be the stains of another person's past experiences. He'd never stumble across the user manual to his own life. No one would ever get to understand things for him, and it was terrifying. He was the first to live as he had.
He exited the app and laid his phone down. Music blared from his headphones. It was the only thing that got him to focus long enough to cope. The notes crawled into his head and soaked his brain, numbing down his thoughts.
The blankets rubbed against his bare arms, the touch leaving what felt like a stain against his skin. He clenched his jaw and tried to think of something else.
Funnily enough, on his sail to find acceptance, he'd found that fear and anger were the oars to his boat. They might've not kept him perfectly balanced, and his shoulders ached from rowing, but it helped him from toppling into the sticky tar of the ocean below him. The fumes still wafted up his nose and took away his exhaustion, his memories, his recognition of the boy in the mirror.
Stop it. Keep worrying. Worry about anything but yourself.
It gave him a false sense of security. Staying anxious was like a warm blanket during the summertime. He didn't need it, but it reminded him of times when he did, and it made him grateful for the comfort it used to hold.
Turning his back to the footprints left in his wake made it easier to live. He used to turn around to stare at the marks he'd etched into the ground, but it never done him any good. He felt like a dog, being tugged by the collar and getting your muzzle shoved into the mess you'd made.
No. Worry about the things that don't matter.