Hidden Fangs

Dearly beloved,

You are a snake: a deceitful man. For years, I proudly proclaimed you as my betrothed, paraded you before society, and clung to your arm with a smile, only to be met by the cold indifference of your side profile. I believed you to be my beloved, yet all along, you were a hissing viper; skulking in the shadows, lurking, scheming. Oh, what a sickening revelation it was to unmask you. "You are a blessing," I used to say, "God gave me you"...who knew I was lying beside the serpent himself? 

How does such a reptile even manage to don the mask of a human? What shapeshifting gift did the devil grant you to blind me so completely? Was it your venom that made me delirious, your scales I mistook for scars as I held you in my arms? Were your words so charming because they were long and forked, like that of your species’ tongue? 

All this time, I thought we were soulmates, two happy spirits entwined into one when in truth you were wrapped around me, squeezing the life from what was genuine and leaving only deceit in its wake.

The wide leaf you gave me, claiming it was coltsfoot for me to use as a cloak, turned out to be poison ivy, a gift that only served to irritate and wound. You wrapped it around me with such false kindness. If your kind could deceive the first woman to ever exist, how could I, so naive and trusting, escape your wiles?

As I lay here entangled in the coils of your lies, the truth slithers closer, hissing in my ear. I see you for what you are, an እባብ with no heart, no soul, just cold, calculating eyes that sought only to deceive. Your venom may have clouded my mind, but it is no match for the clarity that now pierces through.

I once believed I could tame the beast within you, that my love would warm the cold blood running through your veins. But no more. The time has come to sever the head of the snake that has coiled itself around my life, suffocating all that was pure and true.

So here I stand, unflinching, the weapon in my hand. As I pull the trigger, it is not out of hatred, but out of necessity…ending the life of a creature that never deserved to wear the mask of a man. May you slither back to the shadows from whence you came, never to poison another heart again.

P.S. Stop calling me.