Not the Whole Truth

Brian Semmerson was a good man. At least everyone thought so. But then came the uploaded video of him killing his wife. His world was turned upside down. Everyone turned up against him. The hero had fallen.

***

Brian and his wife, Joy were a good couple. They laughed and enjoyed each other’s company often. They were even expecting a baby in five months. Everyone supposed that Brian was a smart man, because no tensions between his wife ever arose. He had never been seen to go to the bar. If he was drinked, he went to a friend's house instead. He didn't smoke or take drugs, despite his body having some when they tested him at the scene of the crime. He only has one tattoo which is a heart wrapped on his shoulder that said, “J + B forever.” Maybe the ‘J’ wasn’t Joy after all. Many gossiped, searching for a reason that their dear friend and coworker would do such a thing, but I guess you can never really know a man.

***

The 2nd video made matters worse. Not only was Brian a murder, but he was a liar too. Almost everyone ate it up. Consuming themselves in the story. Many people couldn’t believe it. Brian didn’t say a word, nor did he argue. They say when they found him, his hands were shaking, while he held his dead wife in his arms. Maybe he just regretted it. A lot of people started making theories, spiraling down in a hole, building up lies upon lies. It was almost like the tower of Babel. Maybe not anyone could truly stop a liar.

***

Brian was in prison, 2 weeks after the video, he didn't speak, just stared down at himself. The life had gone out of his eyes. Some hoped maybe it was an accident, but how do you accidentally stab your wife? How does a man come into the dark of the night and take a life? Mostly his mother wouldn't dare believe it. She had simply said, there were no signs. Some people mocked her, but truly, there were no signs. Maybe she just wasn't remembering it right. That had to be the problem.

“He was a good man. He wouldn't harm Joy or his unborn child,” She had pleaded.

His family received the worst of a mockery. Many people believe that people are murderers because of their parents, but sometimes they're just born into this world. Evil reins in every man's heart, but some believe that Brian’s sin was one of the worst. That simply couldn’t be.

***

He hadn’t spoken until 2 months later.

“That’s not the truth.”

The crowd roared at him. There was no proof of it. But truth be told, the video was hazy. The liars didn't accept that, they simply said he was a liar. Maybe those people were hurt that they had to find out that Brian Semmerson was not only their friend, but a beloved hero. He saved many, even them. Villains were no match to the masked hero. Now it seemed they had all forgotten about that. Maybe they didn't want to remember. Maybe it hurt that they were not found trustworthy in the eyes of Brian Semmerson.

***

Brian lost weight in prison, lots of it. He was a skinny man, when he went on to stand as he tried to plead the truth. He said to all those who would listen that he did not kill his wife, but the killer was still at large. The reporters and media ate it up trying to twist the story. ‘Murder trying to pin on someone else to get out of prison.’ Only none of what they said was the truth. Not caring what they would do to him, whether he was in prison or not, he knew the villain was still out there roaming the streets. He feared for his fellow citizens. He told them the story. The truth.

***

Brian Semmerson had hired a nanny in hopes that a woman would care for his wife when he was working out on either job. She had played the long game with them and even contained a surprised face when she had seen him in his suit. The woman had cooked and cleaned. He almost didn't believe it. She had more tricks up her sleeve. Brian had come home to his wife from work but was drugged by the woman to make him sleepy. She had made a torture for him, watching his wife bleed out. The woman had done so, by a knife. Perhaps it was that she was blinded by her own anger and sadness, that she took a life in the dark of the night. He had told the audience that her brother died in a fire, and he wasn't quick enough to save him. It was during the fire season. When Brian and firefighters were really busy. Many say his wife would be alive if he had only been quick enough or smart enough, but he simply retaliated, saying “It could have happened to anyone.” A few men, couldn't believe a woman, successfully took over two adults, but she did. That was the 3rd video, the truth. Brian only hoped it would change a few minds, at least until he could prove he was telling the truth, but so far, he couldn't. You see, the woman, had been the one to spread the lies and post the videos. She had simply edited the 1st video, but the 2nd was entirely true. She had muddied the waters between the truth and the lies, all so she could have the power over those around her. Brian Semmerson was truly the masked hero everyone had once adorned. He was no liar, not like the people the news and media spread him to be. They simply ate away at him. Spreading lies just like termites.

***

It wasn't until eight months later the police had found Rachel Mitchem. An anonymous tip had revealed that Rachel, the woman Brian had spoken of in his testimony, was still here in the city pulling the strings. The police confiscated her phone and were able to find the whole video. It seems that she had kept the video as a trophy. Truly she was a sick woman. And to make matters worse, she was in charge of the whole news. The truth had been revealed. Yet some people still can't seem to believe it. Brian Semmerson was released from prison, but even with the truth, people still hammered down on him. His life was still ruined, and his wife was still gone with his unborn child. Truly even if justice was served, it seems Rachel had still won. At least people would be safe from the maniac. Even after, all those things' people had said and done, he had chosen to forgive them.

“If I was given all the same evidence as all these people, I would’ve believed it too.” He spoke.

The only thing he did not do was tell the audience the whole truth. He couldn’t. Not only did one hero disappear, so did two. For this city did not only have one hero, but two. Joy Semmerson had trusted that nanny, let her guard down, shown the woman kindness, but I guess nothing can change a person with that much evil in their heart. Brian Semmerson was gone after all that. He bid his goodbyes to his wife’s grave and left without a trace.

***

Maybe it’s true that evil eats away at a person's heart, spreading around to others, infecting them like a disease. They take what they want, leaving no scraps. Nobody knows where Brian Semmerson is, but even 13 years later, the story still simmers, the same whispers and gossip. But the truth was still not the whole truth. Maybe mankind cannot truthfully tell something.