Lie to Me. Issue #8

When meeting Luna we were both just wanderers making our way across the plain. Luna was caught up with some outlaws that had a mental grasp over her. I was self-assured for the first time in my life and confident in my own ability to solve a problem correctly based on fairness and compromise. When we crossed paths her gaze entrapped me with breathtaking beauty, her smile so bright I almost mistook it for the sun shining through the rainy day. Her aura was kind, warm, and welcoming.

People have asked me how did I know she was the one?

I’d always reply: “She is the only one I’ll change for, and she doesn’t even know it”. I’ll be strong, I’ll be steadfast in an emergency. I’ll stand between her and her demons. I felt like the universe allowed us to cross paths. I felt like I was made to be put through the heat and the hammering so that I may be tough enough to endure the challenges of life together, to learn and grow together, to be vulnerable, to be forgiving.

Luna and I were not together 4 months before the great sickness took hold over our land, we were forced to shelter together, we both were taking a massive leap of faith with each other and had no idea how we were going to pay for our home…and yet…we were happy? We had hope for each other. It made the muscles in my body pump with the passions of new love and my mind to think of us as one and not as I and us.

During the great sickness we experienced the world around us by exploring a personal hobby that we both highly enjoyed, films. As the turmoil increased in our town and uncertainty begin to grow, luna and I remained sure… all will be well. She was ever so supportive in my journey of self-improvement, introducing me to Machiavelli and De Montaigne. This leads me to the ideas of Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus. To explore ethics and history and psychology and practical skills. She encourages me to tell my cautionary tale of lies and manipulation in an attempt to sway the younger generation to a self-respecting path, the tale you have finished reading.

We agreed to marriage on the most best of holidays, Halloween, under a tree that has stood here longer than the birth of our nation. I was Westley, she was buttercup. Our family quickly grew and from just two we are now five members strong. We pushed each other to achieve what we know we are capable of. Not once did she judge me when I told her the story of what I had done or who I was. She showed me kindness, it was then I knew she was my soulmate.

The hardest part of this entire experience was having to face he people I have wronged and apologies for what I had done to them. Accept the responsibility for what I have in my life. To know that I must forgive a family that will never admit they are the reason I was who I was…I never considered that I could choose why I am who I want to be and staying consistent.

I am now a mental health counselor. I am a writer. I am stoic. I am a deceiver. I am a wrong doer. I am a father. I am a friend. I am a killer. I am a savior.

At the end of all things, it is the experience that we look back on, the kindness we give when we have no idea what is going on and compassion for one another because we are all people and we just want others to know I am a person too, I matter too! And you do.

My tale is done, and I feel closer to you now knowing that I have shared this…the worst experience of my life; and with nothing left to say I’ll leave you with this…

All will be well.

The End.

Thudd Walker.