[A short story, based on the prompt: “Write a story about one event from the different perspectives of multiple friends…”]
Mark
I couldn’t believe it. I was rubbing my eyes and looking at them again and again. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe the drink I had earlier was mixed with chemicals that made me hallucinate. I would prefer it if I was to be the crazy one. Maybe everything was a figment of my imagination. Stories out of the mind of a psychotic person. But I can see them clearly. They are standing together in the middle of the street. They are close to each other and gentle. In an improper way. He even hugged her by the arm for a bit. Intimate with each other and loving even! How could they? Nick and Emma. 2 of the people that I thought I knew like the palm of my hand. We are friends since I can remember myself and there is no secret between us in any way. Or so I thought. Emma has been in a relationship with John for almost 3 years. Who is also a very close friend and part of the group for a long time. Now everything is compromised. Our friendship, our little hangouts, our lives in general. And how can I handle something like that, what if I tell John and then the everything erupts in flames? And I should tell him, how can you hide something like this. Something so important and radical. Oh look he is showing her some pictures. She seems upset and moved. I think she is crying actually. What is going on? Now she hugs him passionately as if they have the most tender relationship. How could they hide something like that for so long? I mean Emma is the sweetest woman I have ever met in my life. She is sensitive and caring and empathetic to others like no other person could ever be. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. And John is in love with her like head over heels. If he learns about it, he is going to be blown away out of his mind. And he is the last person on earth that would deserve something like that. He loves and cares for her as well. He would do anything in his power to make her happy. I even know a little detail that nobody else in the group does. Last week he shared a secret with me in a very sensitive matter as we were having a good old Jack on the rocks. Although hesitant in the beginning he opened up eventually. He was planning to ask Emma the question. He wants to marry her. He is ready to dedicate his life to her and was about to propose her. Yet she is apparently not up to the task to receive such a gift. For her heart is given to someone else. And how I wish for that other guy to be a foreigner, someone we had never met in our lives. It had to be one of our closest friends. This is going to be devastating. But I have to tell him. I have to let him know, or the weight of this knowledge is gonna burden me down to death…
Emma
Yesterday I had the saddest day of my life. I woke up in the morning ready to plunge into the most beautiful Saturday a person can fathom, with some shop-therapy and prime expenditures. I stopped by my usual bakery to have one of those tasty crunchy toasts they make. Ohh..they are so good my mouth is drooling just thinking about them. Then I walked by the river breathing some clean fresh air, just before I set about going for some gem-shopping on some good places I had set my mind on. Everything was going well till I got a message from Nick about an urgent matter. He wanted us to meet the earliest possible which really stressed me and put a hang in an otherwise carefree day. He asked me to find him in a nearby area to talk for a few minutes. I didn’t know what it was all about or what he had in mind but I accepted to meet him as asked. John is a good person and whatever is going on I would love to help him the best way I can. I took another walk before the meeting over the barn street where John’s favorite shops are. I wanted to get him the best gift I could find because I could see that this last period was draining to him and he was constantly on the rush and deserved a nice gift. So I picked out the very best watch the store ha to offer. A truly magnificent piece. Don’t ask how much it cost! I knew he was going to love it so any consideration would be secondary. After that, I set about finding Nick. He was waiting for me in the arranged place but It didn’t take long to notice how anxious and distressed he was. Not the usual Nick I knew for so long. I asked him if everything was alright but he bypassed the question and drove me to a near bench. He told me he had something very serious and important to tell me. And I could only fathom how my heart was pumping up like crazy, ready to burst out of my chest. His attitude was signing he had a very distressing matter he wanted to reveal. And although skeptical and very hesitant in the beginning, he finally told me. John, the man I was deeply in love with and would do anything for, was having an affair. I couldn’t believe it. How can someone be such a double-face and lier? How can someone play such games with others as if they don’t matter to him at all? I would surely be to see some signs? Or even sense some sort of distance from his part? But there was no recollection of any abnormality whatsoever. I asked him if somehow this was all a mistake and maybe he was taken for somebody else. Maybe there was some other reason that we didn’t have at our disposal. But he was quite definite. He actually happened to see him with his own eyes in a tet-at-tet moment with the other woman and just to make sure he even took some pictures. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them. My life collapsed in a sheer moment.
Nick
There is nothing about him I don’t hate. Not a single thing. His attitude, his behavior, his smile, his whole face! He is the most despicable person I have ever met. A few days ago we were having a coffee together with the rest of the group, and I wanted to bring about the fact of how much progress people in the medicine department are making. As a medical expert myself I have the opportunity to witness the daily advances first hand and see the amazing benefits they bring to humanity by their constant and laborious effort. New medicines, health research, bio-enhancements, there is simply not one area without tremendous advancement in the last periods. But still, he wouldn’t listen. He had to make his little point, just to look as if he has an opinion on all matters. He kept mocking the very things so many people put their sweat on daily. This guy is a lunatic! Someone should just acknowledge the fact. And he opposes me in every chance. Not even that, I actually think he wants to confront me with any chance just so that he looks better. This wasn’t the first time he was doing something like that of course. His competitive style is something we have to deal with in our little group for a long time. And I shouldn’t speak about all the smugness and pretentiousness he carries with him. He always wants to have the last word, the best equipment, the most expensive style, and win in all areas and never lose to anybody! These people are the abomination of our society. They care only about themselves ignoring everybody else. I wonder what his little girlfriend Emma finds in him. Alas, he probably found a way to trick her with his sweet little lies of what a good person he is. It’s all a deception though. And I can see through it! So knowing about it I decided to set everything straight by teaching him a little lesson. I already had a nice gift for him yesterday in the little pub we were hanging on when he fell into the nets of sweet little Natalie. And who wouldn’t be! This girl is pure fire! Little did he know though that she was set out for her charming play by me! And our little fellow fell right into the trap. He couldn’t take his eyes or hands out of her for the whole night! I had all the time in the world to take some pictures of them in the most intimate positions, just to have some evidence. All of which are gonna be displayed to Emma soon, opening her eyes about the devil she is having a relationship with. I know it’s gonna be hard for her in the beginning but it’s for the best. In the long run, it’s gonna work out for her one way or the other. She should actually be here any minute now. We set an appointment to meet each other and I can’t wait to see her expression when she witnesses her little prince mudding away in the dirt like a little pig. It’s gonna worth every last penny of it…
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