Amita

"Someone isn't telling the truth and I want the lies to stop and I want them to stop NOW!," a woman named Amita shouts to the top of her lungs as she circles her father's office in the middle of the night. For the past three weeks her name was slandered with malicious accusations that she did the most awful thing a person could do to someone she loved with all her heart.

The room was large and had two lamps in the entrance but Amita didn't bother to turn them on. Sliding her hands across the white office walls that glowed from the street lamp outside, she noticed that her head felt funny; it throbbed as if it had collided with something quite hard and her stomach felt vacant and queasy. The emotional trauma that she had been dealt was taking its toll and tonight she realized she couldn't take anymore. "Every day there is something new; new gossip brought up behind my back and there isn't a goddamn thing I can do about it." A mess of thoughts raced through her mind and she continued to circle around the office. "I am helpless and those that have accused me of that horrid thing won't even look me in the face and talk to me. These cowards are going to fess up to what they have done and I will get my life back." She was in a hazy fury and her entire body felt like hell had taken over. Again, she paced around her father's office and ran her fingers across the wall. And then stopped. She felt something hard, smooth and cold. It was one of the five rifles that hung on the wall of the office. She looked around and began reading the plaques above her father's gun collection out loud. "Winchester 1892, Winchester 1893, Winchester 1894..." Tears rolled down her cheeks and the tiny seed of betrayal that was planted merely three weeks ago grew larger, stronger, and filled her soul with a fire that she was about to unleash. "Winchester 1895. I choose you." She pulled the gun off the wall and sputtered, "I will take each one of these guns if I have to and put it to those liars head's if that's what it takes to get the truth." As she said these words, she imagined having the people that began the nightmarish rumors tied to a chair, unable to move as she pointed the gun at their head. These people- two girls that she was only an acquaintance with would be squirming and plea for their lives "Perhaps the only way to control all of this is to threaten these people by threatening to pull the trigger." Her thoughts continued with questions unanswered. "Why would someone want to ruin my relationships and destroy my life? I barely even know these girls. Is there really that much unwarranted hatred in this world? How naive I am to believe that everyone has goodness in their heart and to trust that people are honest." With that final thought she put the gun down, slumped to the floor and decided that there is a learning experience in everything. And on this night, she learned that she had been too trusting and while there may not be a reason for any of this, her naive trust in others is what put her guard down and blinded her from seeing the truth. Is her trust and belief in the goodness of others foolish? Should she trust no one from this day forward? Her answer was simple: "No, I will continue to be who I am and I will always have trust in others however, my trusting eyes are not as innocent as they once were, and due to this, I will be more cautious as life goes on."