Anxiety

Fair.

Like bright and chaotic

You know? Both.

I entered and it was familiar

At once.

I held somebody’s hand

Kept walking and just went beyond.

Beyond something I dreamt of.

Similar faces, unrelated minds.

My breath went through a wave

Now and then.

Maybe there were a lot of people

Or maybe just the simple commotion,

I was intimate with.

My condition now though

Was deniable.

The faces disappeared

The hands changed

Unlike the direction.

I was headed where I came from.

The confusion within me was unbearable.

I still kept walking hoping for peace.

Opposite to the beginning.

Could feel the heat in, the chaos returning.

I stopped, looked around. Trapped.

I let my heart read the story for me

I listened carefully, lonely and scared.

Then again after odds over odds, I realised

I was still inside my head.

                                                                                              –  Ananya Manvarthe