Painted Smile

Before I leave home each morning, I grab the invisible paintbrush and paint on a huge smile. I spend all day with an unatural smile, too wide, too perfect. As the day drags on, my smile slowly shatters, into flakes that peel off until Im home and I can finally rip off the rest, leaving me bleeding. sore, raw, and tired, tired from the facade, It's not that I'm sad or down, just that I'm not happy, not enough for society, just enough to survive. Survive the world outside, so they don't ask the questions I don't have answers too. or the ones Im too afraid to say aloud. It would make them real and alive.