Escape (because I can't think of a good title...)

Escape

TW: descriptions of how trauma personally affects me

There are things in this world that are too terrible to accept. Many people don't know how they should feel about those things, so they make jokes about them. Some people romanticize those terrifying things. They simply don't realize just how bad they are. They don't mean any harm when they talk and joke about these terrible things. They don't want to hurt those of us who've been through any of them, but they do. Someone makes a simple joke that almost everyone laughs at, but there's one person off to the side trying not to cry. They understand it's just a joke, but one word in that joke hurts them so very much. When that word is uttered, their whole world comes crashing down with it. It caves in around them, and breaks them down. Images of some past event crash through their mind. They're so vivid, so bright, but so very dark at the same time. They hurt, and the person wants to scream. They want to run as far as they can away from other people, away from the building they're in. Away from themself. They stay completely silent, though, and hide their shaking hands. They can't let anyone know that their own mind has betrayed them. That it is ripping their hair out, biting them, beating them. They silently try to get those horrible thoughts and memories to go away, and leave them alone. But deep down, they know: no one can escape their own thoughts.

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Yeah, that's it. It's short. Sorry for the awful title. Peace out! :)