Goodbye, Alison

You know, almost worse than the feeling of being set up, is the confusion of not knowing who to trust anymore.

It's been almost a year since I wrote about Alison*, and we haven't seen much of one another lately, but I've always considered her to be one of my old, true friends. Now, in light of some recent events, I don't know...

There's a pretty ugly situation afoot right now: theft, cover-ups, conspiracy, possible destruction of evidence, lies, betrayal - the kind of stuff you'd expect to find in a Presidential campaign, right here in River City. And I'm part of it; I didn't do anything, but I could have a hard time proving that.

What's almost as bad is that, knowing as I do that I'm innocent, I have to start looking more closely at the people I've always trusted...and one of the first on the list is Alison. And that calls into question a whole list of other people and things. Like Alison's old boyfriend, who was (is?) also a good friend of mine. And like the real reason I don't live in that house anymore.

It helps a little to remember that, whatever anybody did, it wasn't intended to hurt me. It's just my bad luck that I'm the one left holding the bag.

I'm willing to do whatever I have to do, to convince the people that matter that I didn't do anything wrong. But I'm not willing to take the fall for anybody and everybody who acted dishonestly in this situation. I can't afford to take that fall. It could happen anyway, though. The evidence is all circumstantial, but it looks very bad, and I'm scared.

Yes Virginia, innocent people do go to the chair, and trusting the wrong person can cost you everything you've got. In a perfect world, it wouldn't be like that - but this obviously isn't a perfect world.

For a much more poignant view of another side of the same die, click here.