By Carter Martin

I’ve always been frightened by everything.

When a moth flew into my room one night, I didn’t open my window to let it out, I hid under my blankets and cried myself to sleep. 

Now I’m twice as old and think I would do the same thing. 

I don’t know what to do about that.

My family wanted me to be safe; they wanted me to live without worry, for the world to be softer for me. 

But that could never happen.

The lights always turn off, the bugs always bite, everything will always hurt. 

The world moves faster than the cuts and scrapes on my legs can heal,

but they always do.

I don’t want to sit before a beautiful world I’m too afraid to touch anymore. 

I want to feel the excitement of life through more than the eyes of an observer.

But for now, I hide in the curtains, waiting for silence, 

waiting to fall back asleep.

---

Carter Martin (he/him) ‘26 is a VPA film major and art photo minor from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He wants to be a cinematographer, but for now he works at the VPA Cage. He loves to develop photos, make wire sculptures, and watch movies with the people he loves.