Smoke and Mirrors

Trying not to let the itch show. The bite of ignorance and stupidity leaves an unseen mark on the flesh of the mind.
If you scratch it, it bleeds. That’s all they want to see. They enjoy seeing their words damage you. At the sound of your rage or pain from their attack, they swarm in to feed off you in your moment of weakness.
They make you feel alone. They isolate you from help and push you further into the corner. They want to use you to disguise their own fear of prosecution, to feed off you until there’s nothing left.
But through it all remember this.
You are not alone.
They are afraid of each other.
You are strong.
They are weak.
They measure themselves by an unspoken standard that no one really understands. They are afraid to step out of line, to cross the boundaries in which they have imprisoned themselves. Constricting themselves tighter and tighter they squeeze out their emotions and their differences until they all resemble the same crushed prototype.
They see nothing in themselves but a mortal covering. Trying desperately to feel something they throw themselves at each other making promises they cannot keep. Knowing each other for years yet never truly knowing each other. Never truly knowing themselves.
And through the smoke and mirrors of all their jeers and their hardened outer shell you finally realise something about your long time enemies.
They need your help.