All Her Lies

Prologue

She’s crying again, but the body is gone.

It was a clean strike, barely any blood. What’s there to cry about? I want to slap her. We should be popping champagne. Americans have such a childish view of death. Our culture is full of it. We watch it in movies, we play it in video games, we read it in books. Every day, it entertains us.

And yet whenever we see actual death, we wail and moan like it’s the most profound tragedy. As if life couldn’t possibly go on.

But life always goes on.

I can’t say this because she’ll think I’m a monster. I try to touch her, but she jumps away. She’s scared of me. That’s too bad, but not unexpected. I have work to do before I can win her over.

But here’s the truth: in my experience, death isn’t always a tragedy. Sometimes it’s a portal into a new life. Sometimes it gives freedom.

Truly, sometimes death is the most glorious miracle.

You’ll see.