Every day was hell,
a private hell,
as people you
had stood behind
held back,

when it came to standing up for you.

Every self-doubt raised,
every scab scraped raw until it bled.
Too hard to comprehend –
and yet you did
and yet you do.

Holding onto truth
becomes the test –
the rest is noise.

But noise becomes the loudest
thing you hear.

So, you are alone,

feeling like the world is schizophrenic,
guessing what reality really means.

And then you realize
all you thought you were is gone.

They’ve rewritten ‘you’ to suit their lies!

You succumb…