Does anyone notice

I cannot force anyone to care about me. Love is not begged for, listening is not implored. So I remain silent. I keep everything inside, like a river beneath the skin that finds no outlet. I have decided not to share anything anymore. Not out of pride, but out of tiredness. Because every time I opened my heart, someone looked without seeing. It’s easier to say, "he's exaggerating" than to sit beside me and remain silent. So I smile. I pretend. I breathe deeply when no one is watching, and then I hold myself tight alone, in the night, when the pain returns and no one knows. I don’t want to be a burden. I don’t want to ask for too much. Just that, sometimes, I wonder if anyone would notice the emptiness I would leave behind.