Think of tragedies like death or separation. Then condense it. Such as 'Mother gone. Empty world now.' You need to strip away all the extra details and get to the core of the sadness in a very concise way.
Use relationships. 'Family split, home broken.' When a family breaks apart, it often means the safe and warm place we call home is no longer the same. It can be due to divorce or other family issues, and it's a very sad situation.
Gift, rejected, sad. Imagine you put a lot of effort into a gift for someone. It could be a handmade item or something you carefully selected. But then that person rejects the gift. It makes you feel sad because not only is the gift not appreciated, but also your feelings behind it are ignored.
Think of a relationship ending. Like 'She moved on. I'm left in the past.' It's about capturing that one moment of pain or loss. You can also consider the loss of a dream, say 'Dreams shattered. All hope seems to fade.' Here, it shows the despair that comes with the loss of something one has been hoping for.
Use strong verbs like 'lost' and 'die' in it.
Think of fears. 'Darkness fell, something grabbed my leg.' Darkness is a common fear, and the sudden action of something grabbing your leg is very scary in just 10 words.
Use simple, spooky elements. For example, 'Dark room. Strange noise. Gone.' Just pick a common, yet eerie setting like a dark room, add an unexplained and menacing sound, and then a final word that implies something bad has happened.