Happy

The skin was thick, she reminded herself. It enclosed both her and an invisible searing pain that boiled just beneath the topmost layer. Most of the time she could ignore it and pretend her skin wasn't a shell. But every so often, the pain would agitate and rise to the surface. She refused to release it. No words, no tears, no frowns. It remained inside of her. She decided to channel it and focus it on her work. It fueled her work ethic like no other chemical stimulant. Sometimes she feared the pain would seep through her lips or eyes, but she kept it all in check. She just had to remind herself, her skin was thick. Very thick.