Who are you when no one is around?

When the eyes aren’t on you? I think they call that integrity. But how do you define tears? Maybe they’re what happens in the calm, when it’s actually quiet, when there are no distractions left to outrun what has been following you. The weight you’ve been carrying finally lands on your chest all at once, and every emotion you’ve been holding back, the good, the bad, the ugly, the selfish, the shame, the grief, pushes past the barriers you’ve spent so much time building. We wear waterproof mascara, concealer, and foundation because we don’t want the world to see us unravel, because we’re trying to protect the facade. But you can only maintain a facade for so long. Eventually, even the waterproof mascara gives up. The tears wash away the mascara, the concealer, and the foundation. They wash away the performance too, leaving behind the person underneath. The one who isn’t pretending anymore. The one who is simply who they are when no one is watching.