A quiet loud place

The room is still,

so still it almost hums,

like silence has a heartbeat

I can’t quite outrun.

No voices,

no footsteps in the hall,

just walls that hold their breath

and wait for mine to fall.

But inside

inside it’s never quiet.

My thoughts crash like thunder

in a sky no one can see,

shouting over nothing

but echoing through me.

They ricochet and rattle,

sharp as breaking glass,

turning seconds into hours

that refuse to pass.

I sit in perfect silence,

yet I’m screaming in my head,

fighting conversations

that were never said.

And I wonder how a room so calm,

so empty, soft, and bare,

can feel like it’s collapsing

under all that isn’t there.

Because the loudest noise I’ve known

was never from the crowd

it’s the quiet room around me

when my thoughts get too loud.