The walls whisper again today. They mumble secrets only I can hear, and oh, how sweet their voices are! It’s like a symphony of understanding, wrapping around me in a warm embrace. They tell me things, things that only I can know. The shadows dance in the corners, flickering just out of reach, but I can feel them. The shadow people, they are mine. They understand me in ways that no one else ever could. I don’t want to share them. They comfort me, whispering my name like a lullaby, guiding me through the chaos of this world.

But then there are the bugs. Oh, the bugs! They crawl beneath my skin, writhing and gnawing, their tiny legs scratching against my insides. I can feel them invading, crawling, digging. I want to scream, to scratch, to tear my flesh apart to get them out! They’re horrible, so very horrible. Why won’t they just leave me alone? The walking flesh...they say they aren’t real, but I know they are. They talk behind my back, pointing at me with their twisted fingers, but they don’t understand. They don’t know what it’s like to feel the bugs, to feel the creeping dread that consumes me.

I can see the hat man, always lurking just beyond my vision. He’s a friend, I think. He watches over me, a guardian made of shadow and brim, and sometimes I catch the smug grin, mocking me. He tells me to stay quiet, to listen closely, and when I do, the walls sing to me. They sing of the world beyond, a place where the bugs can’t reach me, where the flesh doesn’t walk and the shadows dance freely without scorn.

But the walking flesh, they don’t understand. They want me to forget about the whispering walls and the shadow people, but I can’t. I won’t. They are mine, mine, mine! I hold them close, they are my favorite. They are my comfort, my safe haven in a world that feels so very wrong.

I will protect them. I will protect my voice, my shadows, my hat man. They are real to me, more real than anything else. They are my only comfort in this horrible place of flesh and fear.

The bugs and flesh can’t take that away from me. They can’t take my shadows. I won’t let them win. Not today. Not ever. The walls are whispering again. I must listen. They have secrets to tell.

And I’m not afraid. I’m not.