Everything that Hurts and Haunts

Daily writing prompt
What are you good at?

A question I still don’t know how to answer out loud. But, as always, writing can do what speaking never could.

What I’m about to reveal feels like I’m giving away too much of myself. And yet, I want that—to be stripped bare, for anyone who reads with the kind of attention that goes beyond the surface, anyone who reads me in detail, in depth.


It’s not the obvious. Not the loud entries or sharp goodbyes. It’s the quieter cuts—the kind that whispers instead of screams.

Is it the way I remember, the way I notice—or is it just a flaw?

I’m good at noticing the things most people won’t care to observe, or will choose to ignore. Not the events themselves. Not the dramatic confessions or final words. I remember the in-betweens. The pause before someone speaks. The flicker of something eager behind their eyes. The way the air shifts in a room, suddenly charged. The silence that lingers just half a second too long.

I collect those fragments. Is it because I’m sentimental, or because I have an observer’s mind? A writer’s mind, perhaps. But those small shifts, those in-betweens, always say more than people intend to.

Am I hurt—or just not bothered?

I’m good at appearing unaffected. I’ve learned how to blend into plain sight—emotionally camouflaged. Stillness, detachment, carefully measured expressions. You wouldn’t know if I cared, or if it hurt. Something could cut me deeply, and you’d never know. Feeling everything, showing nothing. That’s the point. I move on convincingly, even when I haven’t moved at all.

There’s a strange safety in silence. It’s cleaner than honesty. Less disruptive than the truth. It leaves fewer stains.

Ask me about restraint.

It’s easier to stay just out of reach, where no one can touch the parts of me I’m still trying to understand. I’m good at wanting without acting. Aching without asking. Feeling without flinching. Loving from a distance—safe enough to avoid accountability for the wreckage.

I turn desire into discipline. Pain into prose. I say everything without ever speaking a word. Where longing can stretch, ache, and starve but never spill.

Me? Always available?

Please… watch me disappear. I could vanish mid-sentence, without any particular reason or warning. No dramatic exit. No slammed doors. No fireworks. No—I’m not ghosting. It’s dissolving. I slip away without a scene, quietly. I just stop showing up where it matters.

Sounds cruel? It’s not cruelty—it’s curation. It’s not meant to hurt. It’s meant to protect. That’s how I survive. Some people notice. Most don’t.

My feelings?

I’m good at turning emotion into structure. I reshape what I feel into sentences, into voices that sound like someone else. Writing gives me distance. If I can restructure it, I don’t have to own it. I sculpt pain into paragraphs. I bury truth in metaphor. That way, it doesn’t feel like mine anymore.

People think they know me through what I write. But what they really see is fragments of me, scattered just enough to feel like closeness. Just enough to feel intimate. Never enough to be certain.

When it comes to expressing my emotions?

I’m good at writing what I refuse to feel aloud. On the page, I confess. I unravel. I burn. I let the truth spill in metaphors and half-admissions, letting ink carry the weight of it. But in life, I hesitate. I sidestep. I smile when I should speak. I downplay what hurts. I make jokes out of the things that fractured me. In writing, I let the fire rage. In person, I pretend I’ve never been burned.

I keep my fire hidden—unless someone’s already been scorched by it.

Is it ambiguity I’m good at?

The art of lingering just long enough to leave an imprint, but never long enough to be held. Of being almost everything—almost open, almost soft, almost yours—then slipping away, leaving behind questions.

And maybe, more than anything, I’m good at becoming unforgettable in the most inconvenient way—not through force or presence, but by being the question no one ever quite answers. The maybe that echoes. The almost that stays.

Maybe that’s the only way I exist now.

To answer the questionI’m good at things that hurt me quietly. The kind of pain that doesn’t scream but settles in slowly. That haunts in small, patient ways. That lingers long after the moment ends, reverberating in places no one else can hear.

Copyright © 2025 Shimmering Muse. All rights reserved.

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  1. Adarsh G Avatar

    You are having wonderful skills

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Shimmering Muse Avatar

      Thank You, Adarsh, for seeing that. I appreciate you!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. flytheraven Avatar

    You are beautiful. Never loosing that sensitivity to know when someone is telling you exactly how they need you to respond for them. It’s a selflessness to listen and most don’t listen. You protect them and yourself. It’s beautiful. Thank you for sharing the parts of you that are healing to the rest of us. ❤️‍🔥

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Shimmering Muse Avatar

      That’s such a beautiful thing to receive. Thank you, love.I don’t always know if I’m getting it right, but I try to lead with care. Thank you for seeing that, and for holding space for my words the way you do. Your kindness is deeply felt. I’m so grateful my words could offer something healing.❤️‍🔥

      Liked by 2 people

  3. yassy Avatar

    You really write deep. Makes me sit up and think. I like the rawness and depth and detail of emotions in your writing.. lovely 🥰 lovely 🥰 lovely 🥰

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Shimmering Muse Avatar

      Yassy 😘
      So grateful it reached you. Lovely meets lovely🥰
      Thank you for feeling the depth with me.❤️

      Liked by 1 person

      1. yassy Avatar

        Thank you for sharing your epic talent ❤️😘

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Shimmering Muse Avatar

          Thank you for being so warm and kind ❤️😘

          Liked by 1 person

          1. yassy Avatar

            🤗❤️😘

            Liked by 1 person

  4. Grey Man Avatar

    I’ve long been holding the idea that you are also a product of your environment. Due to social, familial, and/or other reasons, you have to have this ambiguity about you or you’d either shatter or conform. We both know you’d never conform. It’s not you. Submit? Yes, we both know you can and have and long to again to the right…person (you keep choosing the wrong ones).

    As a fellow observer of the “in between,” it’s been a pleasure and continues to be a joy to read your pauses, your side-eyes and your soft inhalations you don’t think I hear. I also notice when…your…humidity rises. ;)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Shimmering Muse Avatar

      Ah, so you’ve been taking notes?
      I must admit, it’s intoxicating to be seen by someone fluent in the in-between. Dangerous, really.😏
      I’ve always danced between submission and refusal.
      As for the “right one”…maybe I like getting burned first.
      Maybe I never learned how to be held without fracturing.

      Noted… noted that you notice when my “temperature” rises, maybe I’m a little flustered.😉

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Grey Man Avatar

        Sweet of you to confirm my “temp” predictions. As for liking to get burned first? Defense again. You have a high level Black Belt in relational Defense Tactics. ;) Maybe this is a time for some bondage. ;) Emotionally anyway. You know I love it when you describe me as dangerous. You’ve done it a couple times today. Thanks, Shimm, the Romantic Ninja.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Shimmering Muse Avatar

          Lol, I’ll take the black belt—my defense game’s tight, fine-tuned from years of dodging both intimacy and idiots.
          But bondage, emotional or otherwise? 😏
          Maybe, juusssst maybe, I’ve just been waiting for someone who knows how to tie the kind of knots I don’t want to escape from. Someone who makes surrender feel like safety.😉

          Oh yes….dangerous suits you. You’ve been quite lethal in this comment section, making me question myself and keeping me thinking.
          See now, to reply, I’ve got to use more than charm… I have to think.🤭

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Grey Man Avatar

            High praise and tantamount to admission of arousal for a Sapio to say I make her think. “Thank you!” I’d say with a wicked, knowing grin.

            Liked by 1 person

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