The "ignoring traumatic event by imagining fantasy world" kinda reminds me of the anime Gakkougurashi/School-Live, where the story is in a post-apocalyptic setting but the MC still thinks that everyone is fine and alive and happy and going to school. It was a super interesting anime but the catch is that the plot twist was revealed in the very first episode, and while the MC was still delusional until the last ep we got to see what was actually happening through the POV of other characters.
I don't know if that'll help you, but I think that the idea of including multiple pov would make a super interesting story imo
edit just realized this thread is super old i'm so sorry lOL
