By Lina Norris-Raman, TIWP Student

In a sea of faces, the noise of laughter and whispers dance through the air. Yet the solitude sits heavy, an unseen weight in a crowded room. Eyes scan the floor, avoiding connections that never truly form. A hollow echo resounds inside. I am alone, yet surrounded.

Conversations ebb and flow,  yet that isolation lingers. Voices blend into a chorus of blurred words, leaving only the silence that exists between each beat of sound. That silence is a terrifying moment.

Surrounded by movement, by lives intertwined, yet the tether to this moment slips through my hands In the company of many. A ghost walks, haunted by an absence that speaks louder than the gathered throng.