A Threat From Depression by Raechel Daniels

A Threat From Depression by Raechel Daniels

I hide behind gentle laughs and idle conversation. I have a charming smile that doesn’t quite reach my eyes, one that is easily mistaken for sheer exhaustion. I have a knack for acting. I love pretending that everything is okay, setting aside the problems that eat me inside for the sake of others.

I know how to plan, how to bide my time well.

No one even suspects a thing until it is too late. I’m too quick. I’m too stealthy. I’m too unstoppable. After all, how can they lock away something they cannot catch? How can they catch something they cannot recognize? And so I exist, undetected, dwelling among them all. Until I strike.

But some know better. They know I am an evil mastermind. A liar. A thief. A killer. That I am the knife slowly whittling away at the rope of life, the barrier between others and happiness, while they desperately climb toward the top. That I whisper to them, repeatedly telling them that they are not worth the trouble they cause, that all their problems are their own fault, that everything is tumbling down around them and cannot be fixed. That I steal their dreams, their hopes, their ambitions, their rational thoughts until they believe me. That I threaten to take their very breath from their lungs, their very blood from their veins. That I lie dormant, patiently awaiting my prey to fall into the traps I so carefully place for them. But even those rare few cannot contain me, cannot eliminate me.

I am your mind at war with itself. I am your insecurities, your isolation, your fear, your regret.

Know my name. Recognize me. Tremble at my power. Or I will force you to your knees.

I know the damage I cause. I pride myself on the destruction I bring. And I am not. Going. Anywhere.