The October Amaryllis

Chapter 105 - May 19th, 2020 - 10:45 A.M.

The most awkward thing happened right before our first group started. We were watching Planes, Trains, and Automobiles when the counselor walked in during that scene where Neal dropped around nineteen F-bombs. She gave us a look of pure contempt.

"What are we doing for the group today?" Angella asked with a bored expression. I don't blame her; this place sucked.

Certainly not getting drunk...

"Today, we will do an activity to get to know each other better. Have any of you heard of Two Truths and a Lie?" she asked with a synthetic smile. I could tell she hated us deep down; the counselor was the very definition of Lawful Evil.

We all nodded in response, and she asked us who wanted to go first. I tried to get it out of the way as soon as possible, so I volunteered to be the first one to go.

"Okay, so here are the two truths and one lie; I have over a thousand songs on my phone, I experience tastes far more strongly than most people, and I have published a book."

"Clearly, it's the book," Stella replied, laughing.

"I don't know; it might be a thousand songs; who has that much space on their phone?" Thomas asked, squinting his eyes in suspicion.

"Well, I think it might be that he experiences tastes more strongly than other people," Devon said confidently.

"So, which one was it, Clive?" the counselor asked curiously.

"I do not have a thousand songs on my phone; I had exactly 768 the last time I checked," I replied with a smug grin; I knew then that I had fooled nearly everyone.

"Wait, so you actually had your book published?" Angella asked with wide eyes.

"Yup, I used the Kindle Direct Publishing website online. It was a piece of cake. Didn't cost me anything either."

"What is it called? We gotta know, dude," Devon asked excitedly.

"Refraction, it's about this former Olympic fencer who becomes an alcoholic after his career abruptly ends. One day, he gets an idea to write an autobiography so the world can see him from a more empathetic angle. It's basically a book within a book."

"Do you have a pen name?" Thomas asked curiously.

"I do! It's D.B. Wallace." I picked the D.B. part as a reference to both D.B. Caulfield (Holden's older brother) and D. B. Cooper, who committed the only unsolved air piracy in history. I'm obsessed with the D. B. Cooper case, but I fear we will never solve it. As for the Wallace part, I picked it as a nod to Niander Wallace from Blade Runner 2049. You really should give both of the movies a watch; they're outstanding. I especially love that Gaff guy who made origami figures; he was undoubtedly a strange fellow...

"Alright, everyone, let's get back on topic," the counselor said in an annoyed tone of voice. I wish humanity didn't exist sometimes. All we do is ruin everything... I would have killed to have seen a thylacine in real life, but noooo, society had to be a piece of garbage. Rest in peace, Benjamin.

Devon went next, and I honestly expected his two truths and a lie to be extremely easy to figure out, but nope, he made fools out of all of us.

"Okay, here's what I got; I've never gotten a grade lower than an A for a class, I own a snake, and I got to go to the front stage during a David Copperfield show. Let's see how you all do," he replied with a tiny smile. He knew he was going to stump us massively.

"I don't think you've ever owned a snake; you don't seem like the type of person who would have one," I said confidently. It's hard to explain, but reptile owners have a certain vibe to them; a lot of them are just a bit crazy.