(en) the Tower

I think I just felt what it’s like to be a hikkikomori, cooped up in one’s room isolated from one’s own family.

While my extended family was downstairs celebrating my mother’s birthday, I was upstairs in my room the whole time, lying on my bed. It’s not a big house, so as long as they aren’t whispering, every word they speak reaches my ears. This thing where I hear words without being there feels especially lonesome. I probably feel so because it’s strange for me to be uninvited to something that I should be a part of.

“should”…?