The walls are thin.
Or maybe the words are just loud.
It starts with a sigh,
then a door,
then voices that try to stay calm
and fail.
You learn the rhythm of it
the sharp parts,
the tired parts,
the silence that’s somehow worse.
In the morning,
everything is normal.
Coffee.
News.
“Did you finish your homework?”
Like last night
was just weather.
They don’t leave.
They don’t fix it either.
They just stay.
And you’re stuck
loving two people
who don’t know how
to love each other gently.
You wonder if staying
is strength
or fear.
You wonder if one day
you’ll mistake noise
for normal.
But for now,
you sit in your room
volume up,
heart quiet,
waiting for it to pass.
Kids Help Phone (KHP) is honoured to share creative content submitted by youth from coast to coast to coast as they Feel Out Loud with us. We thank the Feel Out Loud Community Creator of this piece for their contribution to youth mental health and well-being in Canada. For more information on the Feel Out Loud Community Creator Space and / or how you can submit your own creative content for possible publication, you can visit the submission page.
