​I Sat in My Car for Twenty Minutes Before Going Inside

Dear Delyara, I sat in my car for twenty minutes before going inside. I pulled into my driveway after a brutal twelve-hour shift, turned off the engine, and then I just... froze. I couldn’t lift my hand to open the car door. I sat there in the cold vehicle, listening to the engine block ticking as it cooled down, staring blankly at the front door of my own house. I knew exactly what was waiting for me inside—bills on the counter, endless logistics, and a life that requires me to be strong, capable, and completely unbreakable every single second of the day. My hands were shaking on the steering wheel because I just didn’t have the strength to put on my brave face yet. For those twenty minutes, the car was the only place in the universe where nobody expected anything from me, and I was terrified to leave it.