I told them I was sick

I told them I was sick.

They looked at me like I was lying.

Like I was the kind of person

who calls in sick to watch television.

I was actually sick—

fever and everything,

the whole textbook thing.

I recovered. The proof came and went.

But the doubt stayed.

It's stranger than the sickness.

The doubt doesn't leave.

When they see me now,

I can still see it—

that flicker of disbelief,

like they're checking

to see if I'm faking recovery too.