A little while ago a friend and I did a prompt exchange since I haven't been writing much lately and I was looking for a bit of a stimulus. She gave me this:

Yelling: truth! Truth is like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold. You push it, stretch it, it'll never be enough. Kick at it, beat it, it'll never cover any of us. From the moment we enter crying, to the moment we leave dying, it'll just cover your face as you wail and cry and scream.

So here is my offering for now. It's not very creative and I might redo it later, especially that last part. Just thought I'd put this up before school starts and I forget to write this for her and/or put it up here.

Uncover the truth.

The truth will reveal itself.

There is no use in hiding the truth.

LIVE=EVIL

+Truth breaks faith.

The sun beat down on him, hard, strong, unwavering. He felt it as it heated his black hair, caused his forehead to form beads of sweat that he had to occasionally wipe with his free hand. In his other hand he held flowers – lilies, they were always her favourite. Lilies reminded him of her, just like her, pure and strong and innocent.

Nearby was a mall. He could feel the air conditioning each time someone opened the door to go in. Hardly anyone came out at this time of day. It was too hot to. He thought of going in too, but he decided that he would wait outside, just to make sure they met up properly. He checked his watch – 1:30. They had arranged to meet at 1, but he was sure that something was just keeping her from coming on time. She was so, so busy.

He saw a car approach where he was standing, black, tinted windows. Out of the passenger side door came her, smiling, patting her sundress as she came out. She smiled gently, a smile he knew was just like everything the lilies in his hand represented.

“Sorry for being so late,” she said in that beautiful voice, the one he could listen to all day but rarely had a chance to do such a thing.

“It’s okay,” he replied, almost automatically. He knew that he was hopelessly and terribly in love, but that she was everything he could hope for. Almost too good, sometimes, which was why he tried so hard to make himself better.

She turned back to the driver of the car and looked for a long time, and for a moment he thought he saw her eyes sparkle, her smile turn mischievous. But she would never be like that. He must have been watching too many TV shows.

+Truth dashes hope.

His hand was shaking from the cold, trying to steady the umbrella that was keeping him dry. The raindrops hammered above him, slamming down and sending vibrations through his arm as he kept on holding it up. Lilies were in his other hand, underneath the umbrella – he couldn’t let those harsh raindrops hit those lilies, damage their petals into shapes that weren’t presentable any more.

He wondered where she was. Maybe she was delayed by all the rain.

Reaching into his pocket with the hand holding the lilies, carefully trying not to drop them, he pulled out his cell phone. He looked at her picture set on his background, pushed 1 on his number pad and the ‘call’ button. After all, she was his number one, and he was hers – right?

An image of that moment flashed past his eyes.

The familiar dial tone rang in his left ear as he waited for her to pick up. After five rings, he heard the sound of someone answering the phone. It was a girl, but not her; it was one of her friends, he recognized her by the voice. He asked for her, the one who owned the phone, the one whose lilies were clutched in his hand as he gingerly held the phone.

She wasn’t available, he said, she was at the washroom. They were at a large study party for the upcoming exams, why wasn’t he there?

Oh, he was busy, he replied. He would call again later.

He hung up. A few moments later, the phone dropped from near his ear, clattering on the ground. The lilies took up too much room in his hand.

+Truth holds love for no one.

She was going to come back from a long trip today, one that took her overseas all summer. He was excited to see her; again, he had bought lilies for her, the same as always. Though that always didn’t come around as much any more.

He hadn’t known when she was going to come back – he emailed her constantly, hoping that she had internet access where she was, but his messages remained unanswered. He had only known that she was returning today from a message she had left with some friend. He didn’t remember who, he never hung out with them any more. Maybe it was a surprise for him, but he was going to surprise her first.

He walked to the ‘Arrival’ area of the airport and looked up at the nearby screen: her flight would arrive soon, it said.

He sat down on a chair and waited.

For a long time.

Finally, the time had trickled down to the moment she would come, the sign changing from ‘4:15 PM’ to ‘arrived’. He watched, from where he sat, for the familiar innocent face.

The first stream of people came through. Immediately, he saw her. She was at the front of the crowd, scanning the crowd for someone – not him, how could he have known she was there, right? – but maybe for someone he knew. But it was another man who met her, not her father, not any friend from school.

They walked a little bit, walked past the crowds to what appeared to be the privacy of a corner behind a pillar, though from where he sat he could still see them out of the corner of his eye. He watched, by the light of the closest fluorescent tubes, as they chatted amiably for a few moments, finally looking into each other’s eyes for a long time.

The mysterious man suddenly pulled her in close, his hand reaching down lower than where her back could possibly be. As if in response, her hand reached behind his neck, bringing his face down to what could only be her own.

A single lily petal fell to the floor.

At that moment, he felt his world shatter.

The truth is a heartless thing.

And yet, the truth is life.


Yeah. The title I got while thinking of Maou, the whole distorting the truth thing. Doesn't help that, you know, Arashi sang a song called 'truth'. XD Definitely a few influences on my writing. The last part gave me some trouble, since it was originally a lot longer than the first two and I wanted a bit more balance...

And I shouldn't be up right now. I'll never get up in time.