The Silent Diary

**Date: [Today’s Date]** **Dear Diary,** Today has been the absolute worst. I don't even know where to start. I thought staying with my friend would be a refuge, a sanctuary from everything else going on, but it has turned into a complete nightmare. I feel so utterly alone and unwanted. My friend, or should I say "so-called friend," has completely forgotten about me ever since his girlfriend showed up. They have been inseparable, and I’ve been reduced to a ghost. It's as if my presence means absolutely nothing to them. It started off subtly with inside jokes and whispering. They’d exchange glances and giggles, leaving me scrambling to understand what was so funny. Was it about me? Was I the punchline of their private jokes? The tipping point came yesterday. We went to the store – something we used to do all the time, and it was one of the few things that made me feel like everything was normal. We walked up and down the aisles, them sharing secret smiles and me trailing behind, pretending everything was okay. Then it happened. I got engrossed in looking at something on the shelf, and when I turned around, they were gone. Vanished. I could feel the panic bubbling up inside me. I walked up and down the aisles, thinking I’d find them, but they weren’t there. My heart started pounding. How could they just leave me like that? How could they forget I was even there? I had no choice but to start walking home by myself. The walk was long and humiliating. Every step felt like a reminder of how little I matter to them. When I finally reached the house, all I wanted was some sort of acknowledgment, an apology, something to prove that they weren’t complete assholes. But no. They were there, laughing about it. LAUGHING. They found the entire ordeal funny. I stood there, staring at them in disbelief, feeling tears stinging the back of my eyes, but I refused to cry in front of them. They didn’t even seem to notice how upset I was. They didn’t apologize. They didn’t even realize how hurtful it was. Or maybe they did and just didn't care. The whispering has gotten worse since then. I hear them whenever I walk into the room. They stop talking, look at each other like they've been caught, and then give me these condescending smiles. What are they saying about me? What’s so important that they can't say it aloud? I feel like I'm suffocating here. This is not the friendship I signed up for. I thought I was more than just a convenient guest, someone to be discarded when more interesting company showed up. I feel stupid for ever thinking I mattered to him. Maybe I have overstayed my welcome. Maybe the whispers are their way of telling me to leave. It tears me apart because I have nowhere else to go right now, and the thought of leaving makes me feel even more alone. The pain of feeling so insignificant is like a knife driving deeper every day. I thought he was my best friend, my confidante. Now I see that I was just a placeholder, somebody to keep him company until someone better came along. I don't know what's next, Diary, but I can't keep enduring this. I need to find a way out of here before I completely lose myself. To feel so utterly invisible and unwanted is a torment I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Until next time, [Your Name]