Prologue

Friendly Fire

(Sam Peterson's Tale):

Prologue

The truth is a funny thing. It is something that always resides inside you; but you never quite know the power it can withhold if you set it free. This power can be a good thing sometimes. The liberated truth can be a loosening of a grip that you’ve always felt at the pit of your stomach. It can make you feel like you’ve just had a rib crushing boulder lifted off of you. But sometimes it can also be the ultimate cause of the casting of silence between you and your loved ones. Sometimes, when you least expect it, you realize that a rib was left broken, and has stabbed your insides, causing you to bleed internally and end everything that you once held dear.
That is why the truth is a funny thing. That is why I lived my life as a marionette in the grueling hands of inaction and caution. I never dared to risk the truth escaping me. I never dared to take a chance and lift that boulder off of me, for fear of puncturing my already injured insides and losing everything I cherished.
I never dared to because of Bobby Geiger.
But then I finally acknowledged that obstinate voice in my head that told me to let go. And when I realized I couldn’t live on as a fearful, heedful coward, I relinquished the adamant truth reserved inside me. I let go.
And it was because of Bobby Geiger that I did so.