"A Liar in Disguise" by Ahmed Almejerfi

The True Lie, and The Lying Truth

Once upon time, there were twins who were born at the same day, night, and hour. Everyone

knew those two men well. The first one was called Honest whose honesty made him very

popular. He never lied to anybody in his lifetime despite the troubles he got from that. Unlike his

brother, he cared a lot about being clean. His clothes were very clean and he always took a

shower three times a day. He was recognised by everybody because of his special clothes which

he got from a famous tailor as a reward for his honesty. Unfortunately, the tailor died after that,

leaving behind him that legacy. Some of them said that he had a golden tongue while others were

jealous of him. Everybody liked him, and liked his courage. Whenever he walked in the city, he

overwhelmed each and every one around him with his smile. Everybody wanted to be his friend.

On the other hand, there was another man called Liar who was well-known for his lies. Lying to

everybody was his only way of making a living. He lied to the grocer, to his neighbours, to his

brother. People hated his attitudes that caused them nothing but discomfort and troubles. Unlike

his brother, he hated taking showers, and his clothes stayed dirty for months. Once, he lied to his

friends by telling them that there was a treasure in a land near their houses. He sold the

information for one thousand dollars. And then he ran with the money after having created

enemies for himself. He didn’t know where to go so he managed to meet his only brother. When

the two brothers met, they decided to walk.

Liar said, “ The weather today is very beautiful”

Honest didn’t believe for the first time but when he look at the weather, Liar was saying the truth

for the first time in his life. They played around together and then they decided to leave. They

continue walking until they found a lake near them.

Liar said to his brother, “How about we go swimming?”.

Honest was very hesitated. He said “ No I can’t, the weather is kind of cold so I think it is better

not to go swimming”.

“ No, no, the water is worm and if you don’t trust me, you can try it by yourself”

Honest went down and touched the water. For the second time in his life, his brother was saying

the truth. The water was really worm. He took off his clothes and joined his brother; and they

started to challenge each other as well. The first challenge was a race which Honest won.

Liar said “since you won, it is my turn to decide the next challenge.”

Honest agreed upon his suggestion and said, “ Give me any challenge, I will beat you.”

Liar, with a cunning smile in his face, said, “Let’s see who can hold his breath under the water

longer than the other.”

After they started the challenge by holding their breath under the water, Lair immediately went

out of the water and took Honest’s clothes, put them on and ran away. When Honest felt that he

was no longer able to hold his breath, he went out of the water, and discovered that Liar lied to

him and took his clothes. Honest was very scared and looked for him, but he couldn’t find him.

He took his brother’s clothes and put them on. Now, everybody hated Honest because they

thought that he was Liar. He told them the truth about the clothes but nobody believed him. He

was caught by the people whom Liar lied to about the treasure and he got beaten. He became the

laughing-stock of the whole town. They threw tomatoes and sometimes rocks at him each time

whenever he went out of his house. Because he was loathed by his whole hometown, he went

back to the lake and disappeared forever. Since then, Liar has been roaming the world with

Honest’s clothes fooling everybody, because the world cannot recognise Honest anymore.

The End

#creative_writing #my_prose