Deception

Cruel, unwilling, and lazy, the self-absorbed young man put on what he knew of his ostentatious, people-pleasing behavior to gain acquaintances. He played nice and made up things to say that he thought others might like to hear. He smiled unnecessarily, and he acted like the people whom he saw, people he perceived as upright and essential to the community. But when he made his entry past the first barrier, those whom he attempted to know perceived an odd air about him. He wanted love, and so he took it: he drained the people he met sensless until they could take no more. Newly acquired friends the young man gained became the people that died to him, the friends he lost.

Upon cold nights upon the cold years leading to the end of his existence, he sat alone, quivering by the rain that tapped at his window, desperate for love.

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