If someone says “can I call you later?” my body starts writing horror stories

Dear Delyara, I know how irrational that sounds. Later could mean anything. A normal question. A favour. Something practical. But my nervous system doesn’t wait for facts. It fills the blank instantly. That is what anxiety does. It uses empty space like paper. By the time the real call happens, I’ve already had five private versions of it and survived all of them badly. I wish I knew how to leave space empty until reality arrives. I still don’t.