1
‘You knew, didn’t you?’
Truth sits opposite me, perched in their usual chair. It’s two in the morning, the sky beyond the windows shrouded in deepest indigo. Sleep has proved evasive, my mind preferring to rifle through years of accumulated musings and experiences rather than switching off. On nights such as this, it is only a matter of time before the knock comes, and Truth arrives at my door bearing another revelation.
Tonight they have come wearing one of their more masculine guises, though there have been many over the years. This guise reminds me of a portly, overgrown owl with a dash of eccentric academic. Keen grey eyes peer at me from behind large, horn-rimmed glasses. A thatch of greying hair and a smattering of lines around the eyes and mouth suggest middle age, although Truth is, in fact, ancient. How they appear on any given day depends on what will make the person they are visiting feel most comfortable. It appears that tonight, for whatever reason, I am most at ease in the company of a male, middle-aged university professor who resembles a slightly mad owl.
‘You knew right from the beginning how that relationship was going to end.’
I don’t need to ask which relationship Truth is referring to. There is only one I went into knowing it wouldn’t last.
‘Yes. I don’t know if it was instinct or intuition, but I knew in my bones that he wouldn’t be my forever.’
‘You were merely interpreting the evidence in front of you.’
Evidence.
‘Can I show you something?’
‘I was hoping you would.’
Truth smiles, and it makes their face look more owlish than ever. I hoist myself out of the chair and cross the room to a white chest of drawers in the corner. Opening the bottom one, I quickly locate the object I am looking for. As my fingertips brush the purple felt cover I hesitate. No one but me has ever laid eyes on the contents of these pages. But the purpose of these visits is to set things free, and what could be more freeing than showing Truth these words which, until now, have been strictly for my eyes only.
