Deceit

Prologue

I opened the manila envelope, acting as the barrel of a gun which held the bullet.

The letter inside was the bullet. Waiting. Waiting to be ricocheted around my chest, puncturing my heart.

The imperative letter changing my life in a matter of seconds. The whole 29 years of building myself into whom I am now - just to have my foundations wiped from underneath my feet.

Hesitatingly pulling the letter out, my eyes scanned the words, processing each and every last one.

I didn't need to know the unabridged version of the dictionary or every language in the world in order to understand just one simple three letter word and one basic, ordinary two letter word on that page.

"Not." and "No."

To this point, my entire life has been a lie.

That's the beauty about deception though. How deeply the lie can be embedded before it's revealed.

Deceit.

The action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.

Events that have taken a long time to come together, allowing it to fully unfurl in that one precise moment when everything comes together for the endgame. Acting like a bulldozer, destroying anything in its path, not caring who gets hurt.

Hurt.

The inevitable feeling that arises from deceit.

Feelings.

Sadness. Anger. Misery. Sorrow. Heart ache.

The sudden downpour of emotions paralysing me. Not able to move. Just sitting there by myself in the gloom of my office.

The door started to creak open. Shifting my head towards the ever growing gap, I squinted my eyes at the sudden appearance of the shimmering ray of light illuminating the ethereal celestial entity that was moving closer to me.

They extended their arm out, gesturing for me to seize their hand in my own to go with them.

But, in that minuscule second just as our hands were about to touch, they whispered,

"Sienna..."

"Worse than telling a lie is spending your whole life staying true to a lie." - Robert Brault.