Maps.

So there's this girl I know and she's scared to death of everything.  Well, most things at least.  But there are two things she's scared of more than anything else.  One is getting lost.  The other's being found.

She's been given this map.  It's like an old pirate map and confusing as heck.  She doesn't know where she's going but she's trying to work out which way to go anyway.  And there are these people constantly giving advice, but none of them can agree and she's getting drowned by their voices.  She doesn't want to end up nowhere, at least not alone.

She doesn't want to be found because she knows people will be disappointed by what they find.  And she doesn't want anyone too close either.  Not so much because she's scared of getting hurt, she's been hurt before, it's okay, but because she's scared of hurting other people.  It's the guilt she can't stand.  She knows she'll screw it up.  And she'll leave you more broken than you were before.

It's not that she doesn't care.  She cares so much that she cries herself to sleep at night.  She's only living for others these days.  But if you knew she cared then it would all go wrong.

Stick a pin in your map and get as far away from her as you can.