Chapter 4 – The truth

Christina’s home was pretty modest. It wasn’t big or shiny. In fact it consisted only of 2 bedrooms and a rather big lounge room with kitchen. She lived there with her brother.
- “Morning. Who is this?” he asked.
- “Hi Pete. This is Vince. Vince – Pete.” She introduced them.
- “Nice to meet you.” Vince said.
- “You’re one rude guy.” Pete commented.
- “Actually Vince is the first not rude person I’ve seen in a long while. That is why I brought him here.” Christina said, “Maybe he can help us.”
- “So… he doesn’t lie?” Pete asked with astonishment.
- “Yeah.”
- “What is he on about?” Vince asked Christina.
- “Well here’s the deal…” Christina began.
They all entered the lounge room and sat down. Christina began explaining and Vince listened, while Pete just sat there too.
- “A few months ago something happened. We’re unsure what, but one morning we all woke up and the world was different. It was different in a way that everybody was lying to each other. It’s as if some force grabbed a hold of our minds. We all have succumbed to it…” Christina began.
- “So wait a second. You aren’t consciously aware of lying?”
- “No, we are. We just do it because it makes us feel good. Whenever we don’t lie we don’t feel right. It’s like an OCD now – we get panic attacks when we speak truth. Most people don’t like to experience that and so they just keep on lying.”
- “That is something. So why aren’t you lying?”
- “I lie sometimes too. It’s just I made myself learn to speak the truth. I fought myself for 8 months. At first it wasn’t working, but eventually I grabbed a hold of myself and now I am more or less normal. I tend to lie less to people I trust. Pete too began the exact same a few weeks ago. It seems to go easier for him than it was for me.”
- “How does the world carry on with this? I would’ve expected it to be trashed within weeks.” Vince commented.
- “Oh it was heading that way. We had rebellions, riots, God knows what else. In fact the world was plunging down within days. It’s until Michael Cass became a president. He was the one who influenced me to fight myself, for he was the first person to overcome lies in his mind and spoke the truth. And he began convincing people to do the same. He brought the world more or less on track. But about a month and a half ago he was assassinated and now we have a new president Gar McKin, who is no different to most people – a.k.a. a liar. The world is going down once again.” Christina explained.
- “So you don’t know how it all began?” Vince asked just to be sure.
- “No, absolutely no idea. The thing is, now that everyone is lying, we don’t know who speaks the truth anymore and who doesn’t. 99% of people lie.” Christina replied.
- “Lying is fun, I mean it’s bad, but it’s fun sometimes.” Pete said.
- “I never approved it.” Vince admitted.
- “Me neither. I was horrified when I succumbed to it.” Christina said.
- “So where are you from then, Vince?” Pete asked.
- “I’m from LA.”
- “So you’re from around here?” Christina asked.
- “What? This is not LA.”
- “It is.”
- “You’re lying.”
- “No, honest to God truth this time.”
- “Where am I?” Vince said quietly to himself, “Have I been… oh no.”
- “What?” Christina and Pete asked in one voice.
- “I was trying to fix my wormhole machine. I think it transported me into a parallel universe.”
- “Now it sounds like you’re lying.” Pete said, “stuff like that doesn’t exist.”
- “It does. I’ve been working on it my whole life.” Vince said.
- “Looks like it worked then.” Christina smiled.
- “Yeah. And now I guess I can’t get back home.”
- “You are home. This is still your home town. Just a different take on it.” Christina reassured him.
- “I guess so. Well if I’ll stay here for the rest of my life then I must make sure the world snaps out of this nasty dream of lies.”
- “You can live with us if you wish.” Christina suggested.
- “Thanks. I guess I’ll need to know both of you a little bit better.”
- “Well you know me. I’m Christina, and I am 28. My job is…”
She paused here and didn’t want to say it.
- “Come on, go ahead.”
- “I’m a hairdresser. I know at my age I should be pursuing better jobs, but I enjoy it.”
- “Nothing wrong with that.” Vince reassured her.
- “Pete is a university student. He is 26 and is in the final year.”
- “Oh, what does he study?” Vince got interested.
- “Engineering.” Pete said.
- “Good speciality.” Vince commented.
- “No problem. Though the universities are not functional anymore, so I’m stuck.” Pete replied.
- “Well anyways, let us get you comfortable here so you can feel at home.” Christina said to Vincent.
- “Thank you again for doing this.”
- “Don’t mention it.”