What Lies Beneath

What lies beneath the surface is not always what is reflected. That is the rule that Melissa Gordon found out the hard way. She stared out across the expanse of the sprawling city before her, and sighed. Her world had been flipped upside down, and she was adrift within the resulting chaos. She ran her thumb nostalgically over the bracelet around her wrist, her eyes darkening and softening with remorse at the memories that crashed over her in unending waves.

 

Why had they let her down like that, what satisfaction had that brought them? All of them, so-called friends she’d known for years, whom she’d trusted with her secrets, and if it had ever come down to it, with her life. All over a stupid little misunderstanding, and the tyrannical manipulation of the girl who played their puppet master.

 

            Her gaze rested on the glittering ring around the third finger of her left hand. She tilted her hand this way and that, momentarily captivated by the glittering of the diamond in the sunlight. The misunderstanding may have been petty, and ridiculous, but the reason behind that was nothing short of extraordinary. A soft smile played at the corners of her lips now, and she fisted her hand loosely, and then relaxed it.

 

            It had all started three weeks previous, when her best friend, and boyfriend, had proposed to her. She said yes, though it went against the social norm of society. Usually, people waited until they were out of university to get married. At least that is what she was told. She’d been elated, and quickly went to her friends to celebrate.

 

            Instead of the happy congratulations and well wishes she’d been hoping, expecting to receive –for these girls were like sisters to her, and tended to share her emotions– her news was greeted with scornful reproaches, and catty inquisitions as to why they had not waited. Her happiness successfully evaporated, she’d fallen into a subdued quietness, allowing the outgoing, and the wickedest girls of the group to once again take center stage.

 

            Her façade was short lived, and she sought out other friends, determined to find someone to share her excitement. Once she’d found them, she told them of the scorn of those she’d trusted most. They stood up for her, and allowed her to see who her true friends were. When she told her fiancé, he confronted her ‘friends,’ demanding they grew up and became less small-minded. Their replies were half-witted at best, and only proved to disgrace them in Melissa’s eyes.

 

            And then, the puppet master pulled her strings, and spun a web of lies so intricate that Melissa herself seemed caught up within the sticky threads. One after another, the deceptive, catty girls turned their backs on her, leaving her emotionally exhausted, and bruised, though still standing by the ones she’d never believed to have stood by her, and the one who had stood by her all along.

 

           

Now, when they passed, on the streets, or when they crossed paths on campus, they would pretend that neither one existed. Foolish and childlike, Melissa understood, however it kept things from getting blown from the proportions that had only recently began to mould back to their regular shapes.

 

Their disguise shattered, revealing mere reflections of who they truly were. Their roles were as complex, and breakable, sheets of glass. Melissa had thought that their friendship could have lasted for years to come, though that seemed naïve now. Mankind did not do anything, unless it was personally beneficial. Her nose wrinkled at the thought, and then smoothed.

 

Perhaps she had been swindled, and her trust in people severed, but she now knew where she stood. She was among true friends now, as trivial and fragile as that title may have become in her eyes. She would play the part for as long as was required, as long as she wanted to. However, the idea of walking away was no longer as jarring as it had been in the past, for she now knew, she would never truly stand alone.

 

Reviews

[bookworm94]

Very deep. The beginning was vey good.