I kept thinking about that word.
Attention.
It followed me everywhere.
In class, I noticed how teachers remembered some students' names easily.
How some faces were always noticed.
How others faded into the background.
I had always been in the background.
Until now.
My phone buzzed during lunch.
Unknown Number:
Do you know the rule yet?
I typed back.
You keep talking about rules, but you never explain them.
A pause.
Then:
Unknown Number:
Attention creates pressure.
I frowned.
Pressure for what?
Unknown Number:
To become something.
That didn't help.
I put my phone away.
Later, in the corridor, a teacher stopped me.
"Good answer in class today," she said.
I nodded, surprised.
That never happened before.
My phone buzzed immediately.
Unknown Number:
That is the pressure.
I stopped walking.
So what? I answered one question.
The reply came slower.
Unknown Number:
One question becomes expectation. Expectation becomes watching.
I swallowed.
And watching becomes… you?
There was a long silence.
Then:
Unknown Number:
Watching becomes choice.
That night, I sat at my desk, staring at my notebook.
I wrote two words.
Invisible
Visible
I didn't know which one scared me more.
My phone buzzed one last time.
Unknown Number:
Soon, you will see what happens when someone refuses the pressure.
I stared at the screen.
Someone else.
Not me.
And somehow, that felt worse.