Once Upon A Time –

...it Was Imaginative People Who Tended To Lie. Lying Required Making Stuff Up, And Only Imaginative People Were Good At That.

I Am Sorry," I Whispered. "i Am Sorry For All Of The Ways That I Failed You. I Am Sorry That I Was Not There To Save You, Or To Die Alongside You. I Am Sorry That I Have Kept You With Me For So Long, Trapped In My Heart, Bound In Sorrow And Remorse. I Forgive You Too. I Forgive You For Leaving Me, And I Forgive You For Returning. I Forgive You Your Anger, And Your Grief. Let This Be An End To It.

There Are People Whose Eyes You Must Avoid, Whose Attention You Must Not Draw To Yourself. They Are Strange, Parasitic Creatures, Lost Souls Seeking To Stretch Across The Abyss And Make Fatal Contact With The Warm, Constant Flow Of Humanity. They Live In Pain, And Exist Only To Visit That Pain On Others. A Random Glance, The Momentary Lingering Of A Look, Is Enough To Give Them The Excuse That They Seek. Sometimes, It Is Better To Keep Your Eyes On The Gutter For The Fear That, By Looking Up, You Might Catch A Glimpse Of Them, Black Shapes Against The Sun, And Be Blinded Forever.

It Was An Overcast Late November Morning, The Grass Splintered By Hoarfrost, And Winter Grinning Through The Gaps In The Clouds Like A Bad Clown Peering Through The Curtains Before The Show Begins.

She Was Plump, With Dyed Red Hair And A Face So Caked With Cosmetics That The Floor Of The Amazon Jungle Probably Saw More Natural Light.