underwater - by jaron - the way home

People often catch me with a vacant look in my eyes. I stare out into space, as if stunned by an immense atomic bomb dropped in the distance, shattering buildings and turning the world into a black ashy splotch. They instead see a cream-colored wall, or perhaps a blank-canvas-blue sky. I suppose I look pretty deranged in those moments. They say, "Jaron, you good? You look kind of sad." I snap out of it of course, ceasing the blank stare. I respond with an embarrassed laugh, "Yeah, I'm good."