The Small Town

Once upon a time, I had a best friend who was smart, bold, headstrong, and kind. She was fun, and we used to be close. She told me stories about her boyfriends, told me all of her complaints and shared with me all of the secret couple-things they did. As time passed, she grew more accustomed to the life she had chosen- that of living in a small village. A village where petty gossip caused tidal storms of drama, and the people fed off of the drama like insects. Some stood out amongst the buzzing of the insect wings- butterflies amongst vile scavengers. They were destined to drift on the winds, though some became trapped in the small town, like flypaper, and some would spend the last of their days in that small, sad town.

Once upon a time, my best friend stood out. She was different- open minded, loving, sweet. Then she fell in love- not with a person, but with the small town. She wanted to live a rough-and-tumble life, cutting her own firewood and drinking whiskey around a bonfire. Over time, she became petty and cruel, morphing from a butterfly to a housefly. She surrounded herself in gossip, allowing it to feed her and poison her, to change her into everyone she used to hate. She allowed herself to believe any scrap of "truth" that passed someone's lips, her antenna twitching at the mere mention of an interesting tidbit here and there.

Once upon a time, I knew a boy who lied. Not to hurt, not to scheme, just to lie. For pity, for friends, maybe even for love. He was also kind, and protective of his friends, and he would always listen when you needed it. He wasn't a bad person, just a lonely one. One day the boy who lied moved to the same town as the girl who was petty. It wasn't long until they would fall in love...

Once upon a time, the boy who lied and the petty girl fell in love, or the closest thing to it. They spent every possible moment with eachother, and for a while, it was good. Then, it became dangerous. The petty girl had spent too much time in the village, had grown too petty, and could neither trust nor believe the boy who lied. In a place where people fed off lies and drama, they were a match made in hell.

Once upon a time, I was best friends with a girl who became petty, who fell in love with the boy who lied. I was close with both of them, and I spent all my freetime with them, and then I told them the truth. "You're too dependant on eachother," I told the petty girl, "Perhaps you should take a step back to look at your relationship?" But she would have none of it, and cast me out of her sight. She trusted me no longer, and because she wanted nothing to do with me, the boy who lied was not allowed to be my friend, either.

Once upon a time, there was a boy who lied and a petty girl, and that was it. They had no friends, because the petty girl either didn't like you or she didn't trust you, and the boy who lied did whatever she told him to. They talked about people, and she thought she was better than everyone else while he wished he didn't love her so much. And that's the end of this tale, happily never after.