A/N: Guys... I did it. I won Script Frenzy. I AM A WINNER. :D 108 pages at official count--I made it! (Insert happy dance and much cheering here.)
I actually finished a few days ago, allowing me to start on Ch. 24. I was surprised how easily I slipped back into the style and the first person writing; script narration was getting on my nerves. I'm excited. :D Anyway, if you're lucky, I'll finish 24 before I go out of town for the weekend on Friday; if you're not, you'll see it Tuesday or Wednesday.
Also, with regards to reviews: I will get back to them now. The only reason I haven't yet is that French project I possibly mentioned which isn't finished yet due to computer issues... So I'll either respond to reviews tomorrow night or Tuesday or Wednesday, most likely. Unless I have internet on vacation, which is entirely possible.
(Remember: Interlude equals Angst)
-o-
I will never lie to Gaara.
I don't know when I decided it, but I did, just like I decided that I would die by his hands. I know, for absolute certain, that no word I speak to him will be anything less than the truth.
And if I have lied to him before, may I burn in Hell.
Chie-sensei says that no one can trust me, and he has to be able to. Don't you understand? He has to know that he can trust me.
She's wrong, of course. There are plenty who can trust me—her, for one. And Abura and Eiri, and maybe Isane and Shihai and the others. I bet they could trust me.
But they don't know that. They don't know it for sure, because I've lied to them—again and again.
But… not Gaara. Gaara can trust me.
He can always trust me.
Even when lies slide from my lips like waterfalls of falsehood, even when I twist my—friends—around my fingers like puppets, even when everyone in this world believes what I say… He needs to believe because it's true.
They… they just need to believe because it's convenient, because it's—
Oh, Sand.
She's right.
She's right.
I spin lies like the spider in her web, and dance through deceits for… for fun. They don't even mean anything anymore—they don't even keep me—or him—alive.
An addict. I'm an addict. I lie when a truth would do better. I'm addicted to deceit.
They can't trust me.
None of them can.