Are you all right?
Yes, she answers, always, without fail, because there's no reason for her not to be.
Smile, bow, retreat. It's automatic.
When that small part of her cries out come back, she crushes it.
Because no matter how much she wants someone to listen, someone to care, she knows that if anyone did, she would never be able to get the words out.
She doesn't even know what they would be, doesn't know how she feels anymore, if she even feels at all, she's so empty and somehow, even though it feels like it shouldn't, it hurts.