Every life has a lie...

His wife leapt across the room so fast that her head seemed as if it was about to spin.

Through her rage-filled eyes you could see so clearly she was filled with the most absolute anger, an anger that could kill a man with one look and have naughty children scurrying under covers to hide. By the time everyone else in the room had realized what had transpired and react it was too late.

Her long manicured fingers which were 2 minutes earlier tapping rhythmically on the table in front of her were now wrapped around the Strangers neck, a stranger who had been silently standing in the corner, a stranger whose very existence would soon be revealed. The stranger was blindsided by this act of violence but then she knew that coming today, today of all days she had to be prepared for the worst.

Waking up this morning however heartbreaking was a necessity to survive, the pain seemed to have all but washed over her and even though the pills and alcohol were no longer needed to numb all feeling and senses within her anymore the emptiness and loneliness still lingered like the scent of a beautiful perfume a woman sprays to remind herself of a more happier time in her life.

The last few months had passed in a blur. The secrets that had been uncovered and unearthed still haunted Megan's mind but at least after today she would put to rest once and for all the anxiety and frustration that haunted her dreams at night.

Over the past months Megan had laid in her bed each night wishing she could still smell the scent of his cologne in her apartment. Any proof that he ever slept in her bed had long ago been washed away but memories as we know can be etched into our pure existence of day to day life never to be forgotten or lost. It was these thoughts and feelings that pushed Megan to make herself present in that room, however terrible it would be.

It was a past she thought she buried that came back to haunt her which had Barbara fly across the room like a crazed lunatic and wrap her long taloned red nails around Megan’s neck and squeeze. It was also the small little black notebook that Megan grasped in her hands that was the key to every answer that Barbara’s eyes were fixated on. Barbara knew this as well as Megan, you see Barbara was not aware of the fact that the small little black notebook had been removed from his coffin at the funeral only a mere 10 minutes after she had placed it there. She did not know she had been watched that very day... and watched she was as she tried to bury her torrid secrets along with her dead husband.

Yes, she knew she had to stop Megan speaking, and she would stop at nothing to do it… even if it involved murder.

It wasn’t incestuous and it wasn’t adulterous... but it was love. It was the kind of love only a daughter knows and feels for her father. Megan had idolized her father from afar for so many years, she knew who he was as he was always on the television. Coming to realize that her father had one of the most recognizable faces in the country made her beam with pride, it was the pretending to not know him that killed her.

Bruce had made contact with Megan ten years earlier. It was during a sunny spring walk in the park that the two met. Now looking back Megan knew it wasn’t a coincidence that Bruce knew to find her there. She did after all walk her dog daily at the same time and it seemed ironic to her that Bruce happened to have the exact same breed of dog, what she didn’t know was that unbeknownst to her, Megan’s father had been wanting to meet her for quite some time and had spent years secretly searching for her.

Growing up Megan was led to believe her parents had passed away from the horrific Virus that swept across the globe as she was born. A virus that took so many people from their loved ones that she never thought to question the stories told to her. Never did she ever think to doubt the story that was given to her and never did she know how far from the truth it really was, that was until she snuck into the room three months ago for her final private goodbye with her father before he was laid to rest and saw a woman standing beside his coffin leaning forward whispering into the ear of the body that laid there, the body of her father. Megan watched Barbara hide a small black notebook in the coffin. The black book her father told her existed that would uncover her truth and existence. The very same existence that Barbara was trying to hide from the world.

When Bruce became ill he knew he wanted Megan to care for him, she had the same beautiful soul of his first wife and each time he looked into his own daughter’s eyes it was as if he was looking at Violet. He knew Megan not Barbara would offer him the love and care he needed when his final days approached. He now despised Barbara.

The cancer had spread quickly by the time he came to live with Megan. To the both of them this was a chance to know each other and a chance to say goodbye. They may have missed so many years together but it was the last few months connecting that taught them never take a moment for granted.

Megan had bought her father the cologne he loved so much, it reminded him of a happier and healthier time when he traveled through Europe, so each morning after he showered he would spray himself… not to head out for the day but to get back into bed, the bed he would take his last breath in and the bed that he wanted to lay in with a scent that reminded him of Violet.

The scent of her father no longer lingered around her, it was now in draw. Her dad’s draw, that she could not open for each time she did she was haunted of the lost years with her father and Barbara’s despicable lies and betrayal.

Barbara thought her dark deep secret had been buried with Bruce in the coffin, never did she expect to come face to face with the same eyes she had looked into 33 years earlier. The eyes of a baby crying out for her mum to feed her and hold her.

The torturous tale of this woman’s betrayal was about to unfold and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. As Barbara’s fingers were ripped from Megan’s neck her children looked on in horror wondering what or who had possessed their mum to act out in such violence. Neither Kate or Jason believed their mother could ever hurt a soul, well that was until they read the contents of the black notebook their mother kept for all those years. They stood shocked with disbelief and disgust on their faces.

Years earlier when Bruce was married to his first wife they had struggled to fall pregnant. Violet was the love of his life and even though she knew she may never bless Bruce with a child he knew he could never love another woman the way he loved Violet, he was happily in love just as the two of them. After hearing these words Violet took Bruce on the most romantic getaway to Europe. The last beautiful holiday I guess you could say it was for them.

You see while over in Europe Barbara caught sight of Bruce with Violet one afternoon and decided she needed to have him for herself. She divulged a plan to steal him away from his beautiful loving wife and this is where Barbara’s obsession with destroying Violet began.

Barbara followed the pair all over Europe eating where they ate, visiting sights they saw and even staying in the same hotels all so that she could use this to draw Bruce in later on. Barbara moved to Manhattan one block away from Bruce and Violet’s brownstone and soon began to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse. It was one day a few months later when she saw Violet leaving a doctor’s office with a growing belly that she felt herself slipping away from reality.

During their romantic European holiday Violet managed to fall pregnant, even though to them it was a miracle to Barbara it was a disaster and she devised her plan to once and for all pull Bruce away from Violet, even if it meant killing Violet or worse the baby herself… Violet had just found out she was having a girl and as Violet walked the few blocks home she felt she was safe with her face mask on never suspecting the help of a man to cross the road would also be the hand to spread the virus.

As the virus began to take hold of the world Bruce and Violet managed to stay safe and indoors so to not put the baby in harms way. Many people around them had fallen ill and with so many lives lost Bruce was not taking any chances at risking his wife and daughters lives.

The virus worked quickly, within a week Violet was hospitalized and told the baby may not make it to full term, Bruce was heartbroken. Barbara was now disguising herself as a nurse hoping to get into Violets room to administer the fateful drug she kept concealed on her into Violets IV drip, when she finally had her chance she executed her psychotic plan perfectly.

Violet passed away that night but not before giving birth and looking into her beautiful baby’s eyes one time... she named her Megan, after her own mother. Bruce unfortunately was not able to hold his wife’s hand or kiss her one last time as she passed due to the virus restrictions in the hospital, he was lucky though to have the support of nurses to help him through this difficult night, one nurse in particular was extremely supportive. Her name was Barbara and she sat with him holding his hand while he cried listening to how his wife and baby had passed away due to complications at birth. Barbara told Bruce she was the nurse to take the still born baby away. The baby Bruce would not see for another twenty three years. The same baby Bruce buried or thought he buried with his wife.

As all these memories were read out aloud date by date Barbara’s children looked at their mother in horror. She had kept this diary for 33 years hoping that it and all her secrets would be buried with their father. Not for one second did Jason or Kate doubt their own mothers handwriting as the anger in her eyes summed up her deceit perfectly.

Over the years their dad had spoken of their half sister that had passed as a baby. They saw the sorrow and pain in their father’s eyes as he spoke of his lost baby Megan. They both saw their dad’s eyes light up whenever he spoke of violet the love of his life.

They knew their parents met as their dad grieved for his first wife but did not know the role their mother played in killing Violet to make it all happen.

As the police arrested and handcuffed Barbara the final words she heard as the will was read included Bruce removing Barbara from his will and on top of the $20,000 Megan unexpectedly received on her birthday she now inherits a third of her dad’s 40 million dollar fortune.