Pain brings me back.
Every time I open my eyes it's to this anguish,
blinding me to all else.
It's the only thing that convinces me I'm still here.
Faces flash.
Hands hold me down.
None of it registers.
None of it sinks into me like the burning torment of my body.
The agony radiates through all of me.
The only thing I can do is surrender to the blanket of dark
where I feel nothing, see nothing.
Where even nightmares cannot find me.
Where I can cease to exist.