To Lie. To Bully. To Judge.

My sister recently had an art show at one of our hometown coffee-shop/galleries. When we were thinking about venues I thought that the one we chose would be a safe one, considering the scandal that I was involved in seven years ago. The problem is that although I thought that the owner of the shop (who I sort of knew, having been invited to a party,at her house and having brief conversations with her from time to time while getting my coffee) was neutral to the scandal. She was not. She gave me all of her stoic glory, her magic dead eyes, and stern disposition, even after many years.

The scandal involved my ex best friend, and myself being involved in a fray that was initiated by her. It's something that I never got over, because fighting was something that was so foreign to me. But it happened all because she wouldn't let me go.

Our friendship was over, she was in a relationship, I found other friends, and we just didn't hang out anymore. And it really wasn't the fact that she was in a relationship that skewed our bond. It was that she started to treat me differently, like in a super negative uncomfortable way, and she did it a lot around other people especially.

The last straw I think, was when she yelled at me over the phone for having a disagreement with her about Radioheads documentary "Meeting People is easy" I rented it because I am a Radiohead fanatic, she on the other hand could have cared less about Radiohead because I think that she considered them "Too mainstream". The argument ensued because of our two opposing views. There is a point in the film were Thom Yorke says that he could care less about stardom and the perks of being famous. And he also said that he could care less that Tom Cruise made a special trip to see one of there shows. My point of contention was that throughout the entire documentary, Thom seemed kind of like, a parody of a really self important famous person. Also, if he didn't care about Tom Cruise then why did he allow Tom Cruise to use two of Radioheads songs in " Vanilla Sky" a movie that Tom Cruise both starred in and produced. At first it seemed like we were having a normal conversation because she perked up at the thought of Thom Yorke being anti- superstar. She was like "Fuck Tom Cruise" But when I tried to bring of my points of contention, she shrieked through to the phone.
 "Let Me Make My Point!" I remember looking at the phone and holding my breath. I was so stunned that she was so bothered, that I meekly responded with an "Ok." When we hung up I decided that it was over. There was nothing else that I could take.

For many weeks I avoided her, like seriously, ducking, running. Until I realized that I needed a dress that I lent her back. Usually I wouldn't have cared about clothing. but, this dress was particularly expensive, and it was pretty fabulous. I sent her a text asking about it, and she replied asking for her book that she lent me.

Instead of meeting at a coffee shop, like I wanted, she suggested that we meet at her house, I didn't want to. She said that she could come by my house, and I told her that I would be unavailable, So she said that she would leave it with my neighbors. Unfortunately, she called me, and said that I was scared to meet her. I guess she was aware that I was avoiding her. I told her to drop off the goods. I stayed put where I was for an hour. But, I wound up, catching her when she appeared with the crumbled Kroger bag containing my dress. She asked me to step outside, so that she could talk to me, the neighbors left us alone, I remember she looked at the door when it closed. We both did. We said horrible things to each other. But it was when I  told her that she should win an Oscar for best actress that she lost it, and pulled my hair, she completely snatched me backward, and I just hung there, for what seemed like an hour. It was like my life flashed before my eyes or something. But instead I was seeing our friendship. From the laughter, to the serious conversations, to the comfort, and apple pie. All in a flash, all was lost.

I remember that I wanted her to be off of me, I wanted it to be over, and I remember that I couldn't feel, anything. When the neighbors broke it up, I was ushered in, and told that she was bleeding, I however remained. untouched, except for the crochet hat I was wearing, it was a goner. I was told that she was filing a police report, so I filed on also. I was later told that she needed plastic surgery because I ripped her earring out, leaving her with a split ear. She also told everybody several blatant lies, that I jumped out of the bushes and beat her up. That I went crazy, and beat her up. That I attacked her. She also was getting a kick out of being the center of attention, and telling people that I was going to Jail. I was told that she was making jokes about it frequently.


I couldn't believe it, but, that happened.She even took it to trial, issuing a warrant for my arrest for first degree assault, in which a sheriff actually served me. I was booked, and fingerprinted. Which she bragged about to various people in our social circle. People began to shun me, approach me make comments about how I was going to jail, sneer at me talk about me in low voices when I entered an establishment. Laugh at me when I walked by. I even acquired a nickname, which is just to horrible for me to write about (it was racist)  And I didn't do any of the things that she accused me of. All I did was defend myself, and I didn't even know what I was doing, when I was doing that.

When we went to court, She lost, because both my lawyer, and the judge asked her questions that she cracked under. I guess, It was hard for her to get asked logical questions,under the guise of a big lie.
I don't know how she explained her loss to everyone, because I sank into a deep depression, I wanted to end it (I wanted to die). I stopped talking to everyone. I couldn't tell who was on my side or not. I don't know if that was the right thing to do. I don't know if my silence helped me. I guess it didn't from the way the owner of the coffee shop acted.

My life completely changed after that, I know that to this day, I still have flashes of the way she looked when she snatched my head backward, how I hung there suspended, and how I nearly let the lies, and false judgments of other people ruin my life force.

Sometimes people lie, and sometimes there is no instant justice. Maybe one day people will know what really happened. There is of course more to this story, because when is anything cut and dry and short and simple.