Wooden Lies

Prologue

Pinnochio's always been a favorite Disney character, and a tool parents use to remind children not to fib. And he reminds adults of the consequence of their delusions.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

I wanted to be real, that’s all—

to have flesh and bones,just like you.

But I told them what I had to,

and they trusted me,

didn’t they?

I smiled at them, I nodded,

and twisted the truth—

until it shattered.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

Do they see me now?

The way my nose grows,

not just in front of my face,

but into everything,

curling up into dead knots.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

I wanted freedom once before—

to walk, to jump,

but each word carved deeper into the wood,

Splitting.

Splitting.

Splat.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

Real kids tell the truth, they said—

but I’m not real, am I?

(Not yet, not yet.)

So I say what they want me to.

(Wouldn’t you?)

A lie’s better than dead silence—

the hollow thump on the wood

where a heart should beat.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

But a lie never ends, does it?

One lie merges with the next,and I pull it,

Tug,

Pull,

Stretch,

longer, thinner,strung like a stiff puppet

with too many hands

pulling.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

Who’s pulling me?

Is it Geppetto?Jiminy?

Or someone darker,

Someone nameless?

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

The strings tighten with each pull,

and I hear the awful creakof my wooden limbs—

but I smile to please them,

hoping they won’t notice

my stiffness,

my tightness.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

They believed me once.

But now—they see my nose,

the way it stretches before me

making a path of no return.

Perhaps they’re lying, too.

(A lie defends another.)

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

If I could stop this—

just tell the truth for one moment—

but how can a puppet know the truth?

What’s real when all I’ve ever been is wood,

someone else’s dream?

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

I wanted to be real,

but all I’ve made are tales,

so tall that, in the dark,

when my strings are still,

they cast their shadow on the wall.

They’re always there—

growing,

Growing.

Growing.

So huge I’m lost beneath them.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

Maybe when I’m good,

I’ll wake up one fine day,

no strings, no wood—

just the truth.

🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺👹🪀🎭🎭🤡👺

I’ll be a boy, a real boy,

with a thumping heart

instead of splintering legs.

But until then—

one more tale,one more fib.

Just one more.

(It wouldn’t hurt, would it?)