Lies

            The first words I ever spoke to a person outside the Centre were a lie. Even then I understood that the truth…would not be accepted by everyone. I was a Pretender. My whole life had been a deception, the lies told to me, the people I had to become. My whole life I was trained to become something other than I was, whatever that was. “You can be anything you want to be,” Sydney told me, and I can, anything except myself. Who am I, after all? The lies are more true than reality, sometimes. When will there be truth?

For now

            Every lie I tell protects the Centre. I’m looking Bailey Malone in the eyes—a good man, an honest, careful man—and I’m lying to him. If he knew the truth, he would help me, as would most of the people I’ve helped over the last four years. But I lie to them, perpetuating what the Centre has done to me, perpetuating its lies.

            Someday the Centre and I will deal with each other. I will take the Centre down. And there will be no more lies. But for now…the Centre holds all my answers. So it must continue. For now.