Heroes Finding Themselves in the Flicker by Serenity Chrisman

Some battles happen in a room.
Some happen on a battlefield.
Some hide behind a smile,
where pain is carried quietly.
Some carry memories they can’t erase,
while others fight wars
they can’t run from
Some wear a uniform,
proud and strong.
Some silently wonder
where they belong.
Some carry the weight
of unspoken fears,
hiding their struggles
behind laughter and tears.
Not every hero comes home.
Not every scar has a visible name.
Not every battle is witnessed,
and not every life remains the same.
Some heroes live in a world
that never seems to stop—
always laughing,
always moving,
always bright.
Yet their world flickers,
not with light,
but with storms
inside their minds.

Slipping, shifting,
each moment marked
by invisible lightning
no one else can see.
They stand somewhere
in between—
the bright outside world
and the breaking within,
caught in flashes
of their own existence.
Not from strobe lights,
not from neon skies,
but from the weight of loud noises,
heat pressing in,
thirst left unanswered,
nights without sleep,
and stress that lingers
like a shadow
they cannot outrun.
Sometimes they are unseen,
not because they vanish,
but because they don’t know
how to stand in the light
without fearing
they might shatter in it,
or fall,
or lose pieces of themselves
they may never find again.
Their minds speaks
in different kinds of storms
silent absences
that steal moments away,
powerful waves
that take control of their bodies,
and trembling rhythms
that leave them exhausted,
trying to understand
what just happened.

They drift,
sometimes away
from the ones who love them most.
Memories slip,
not gently,
but suddenly,
like something taken
before they knew
it was theirs.
A conversation pauses,
and for a few seconds,
they are somewhere else—
long enough to lose the thread
of what was happening,
long enough to wonder
what they missed.
Other times,
their bodies become
battlegrounds,
moving beyond their control,
until they come back
feeling lost,
heavy,
and tired
in a way sleep
cannot always fix.
It feels as though
they are living
with a broken switch
one sudden overload,
and everything goes dark.
And they wonder
why their minds
won’t stay still,
why life reshapes itself
again and again
after every storm.
Memories fade
like a gray moon,

hidden behind the darkness,
still there,
but distant,
sometimes difficult to reach.
Years of learning to live
with the unpredictable
have made them strong,
but never unbreakable.
Resilient,
yet fragile.
And still,
they gather the pieces
scattered between storms,
trying to bring them together
into something whole.
Trying to understand
who they are
beneath the uncertainty,
beneath the fear,
beneath the battles
the world may never see.
Because heroes aren’t only
the ones who fight on distant lands.
Some fight battles in silence,
with trembling hearts
and tired hands.
Some wear their courage
for the world to see.
Others hide behind a mask,
wishing they could simply be
understood without explaining
the pain they keep inside,
without having to pretend
that everything is alright.
Because even when
the light begins to flicker,
even when the storms return,
even when they struggle

to recognize the person
looking back at them
They are still here.
Still trying.
Still growing.
Still finding their way.
Still trying to find
themselves
in the flicker.