when the silence

When the Silence Spoke Louder Than Applause

by MissT

You’d think that after everything, I’d stop expecting people to show up for me.But I still did.

Maybe because we laughed in school corridors once.

Maybe because we shared crisps and crushes and the kind of loyalty you think will last forever.

So when I finally did the thing — the scary, sacred thing — and published my story,

I thought you’d be there.

A like. A share. A “bloody hell you did it!”Nothing fancy.

But instead, silence.

You watched the posts.

You saw the links.

You scrolled on by.

Strangers messaged me crying, moved by words you couldn’t even bother to click on.

People I met last year bought the book.

You didn’t even say “congrats.”

I’ve sat with that silence.

I’ve tried to excuse it — you’re busy, you’re not a reader, maybe you missed it.But the truth is: you just didn’t care enough.

The Ones Who Stayed Quiet

Poem by MissT

I lit a fire with every word,

Spilled my soul on every page.

Turned scars into scripture,

Grief into rage.

I shouted my truth

Into silence and storm

But the ones I thought would echo backJust… stayed warm.

Not a whisper, not a nod,

No “well done,” no “I see.”

Just scrolls and likes for strangers’ lives

But never one for me.

Where were you when I cracked open

The vault I dared not share?

You knew the girl, you knew the pain

But you didn’t even care.

So don’t claim me now I’m rising,

Don’t ask to hold my light.

If you couldn’t clap for me in shadows,

You don’t get me in the bright.

(This is not a tantrum.

It’s a reckoning.

A gentle crossing-out of names I once wrote in permanent ink.To the ones who stayed quiet:You showed me something.And I won’t forget it.)