The Bottle

By Cindion Huang ’25
I sensed it,
The boiling fury that is about to burst through my skin,
When you, out of all people
Slapped me with the words:
“I don’t care.”
 
I felt it,
The strong, desperate agony as it filled up my body
Like a rushing river. It slowly yet thoroughly devoured me
As you chose to utterly disappear
from my world.
 
Distressed and Anxious,
I stuffed all my emotions in a bottle --
A one-way bottle that can only fill up,
A bottle only I had the access to --
 
And so I pretended that nothing’s wrong with my life,
Answering each “How are you today?” with
 
“I’m fine!”
“It’s good.”
“Oh I’m doing very well.”
 
I kept telling myself:
As long as no one – including me –
Acknowledged the existence of the bottle
It’d vanish completely,
Like snowflakes melting upon the touch of water. 
 
But I should’ve known,
That there will always be a limit
As to how much emotional waste a bottle can hold,
 
And one day --
It will shatter.