Cast Aways

Shyness is wrong. Incorrect, or at least that's what I've been taught.

The loudest voices are most often heard, but does this mean that the smallest voices are automatically muted from all society? 

I was nine when I realized I stuttered. I mixed up words like "share" and "start" and "hear" and "heart" and they laughed. But maybe, subconsciously, I wanted to read better words. 

Instead of starting by myself I wanted to share the journey with someone else and you can hear someone crying for help but it takes heart to actually listen, but still they laughed. And slowly "heart" turned to "hate" and "share" to "stare" because I could always feel their judge mental eyes burrowing into me. 

 And as rooms grew smaller, eyes grew wider, and the clock ticked slower, I molded into the cast that society had put me in. It took some pushing, squeezing, and crushing, but Im here, on my way to God knows where. Drifting in a sea of my own insecurity to an island meant for one.

Me.

A cast away.