Does love lie?

"I swallowed my pride and did what had to be done" he said calmly as his nephew stormed around the small living room.

They lived in the outskirts of Austin, Texas. There house was rather small but it felt as though it was filled with an infinite amount of love. The most homey room was the living room. They always spent time in there living room. It barely fit a couch, a table, and two chairs but the fire place made the room toasty and comfy. Well, I should not say that. The room was not particularly comfy at that moment. Anyway, I digress lets get back to the story.

The boy was kicking the empty chair and was undoubtedly enraged.

"All I wanted was one person who loved me! I have lost every single person in my life and still I ache for one person who loves me unconditionally".

The boy kicked the coffee table until the stack of books on the table where knocked over.

He was not mad. He was past mad. It was as though the devil possessed his body. As though all of his soul had been swallowed by a black monster that refused to let go.

"Son" the uncle said sympathetically as he stood out of his rocking chair and attempted to hug the boy.

The boy stormed towards his uncle and shouted, "How dare you call me son. A son is someone you love. A son is someone you cherish. A son is someone you trust. A son is someone who you like god dammn it!"

The boy took a deep breath and continued on his tangent.

"A son is not someone who you screw over. A son is not someone you take opportunities from. And a son is most certainly not someone you hate!"

The uncle stood there saddened by his nephew words. The boy was the closest thing he had to a son and he felt betrayed that his nephew did not feel the same.

"You are my son" He said. "You are the reason I live. You the reason I try so hard to do better. If you weren't my son I would not do this to you. Everything I do for you is out of love and I hope you realize that one day".

The boy walked over into the kitchen. The kitchen was even smaller then the living room but was quite modern considering the rest of the house had not been remodeled in 50+ years. It had white cabinets and butcher block countertops. The flooring was even new. It was a dark oak wood that was the same color as the rest of the house, but was in a much better condition.

The boy walked towards the fridge and garbed a coke and the box of cigarettes sitting next to the fridge on the counter.

He walked back to the living room and sat down.

"Son, don't smoke. You know that's a slippery slope. You have already quite once. Don't quite again."

The boy realized his uncle was right and handed the pack of cigarettes' to the trash can on his right.

He stared into his coke can and did not speak for quite some time.

After about 10 minutes the boy had become sick of the quietness and spoke to his uncle in a calm voice, as a single tear ran down his bright red face, and he said, "All I have ever wanted was someone who loved me unconditionally. I thought that would be you but now..."

The boys body felt as though the devil had squeezed everything inside him and now he felt nothing more then emptiness. He felt as though he had an epiphany that his desire to be loved was nothing more then a dream. The one person he truly felt loved by had destroyed his one hope for a better future. He felt as though he almost deserved this fate. He realized his years of self doubt might actually... be true.

The uncle garbed his nephews hand and pulled him into an awkward and forced hug.

The boy became exhausted from all his yelling so he let his head drop unintentionally on his uncles shoulder and in the most weak voice he said, "Why did you do it? Why..... I mean.... It was my dream".

The boy let go of his uncle and looked at the books all over the floor. They were all entitled Join the Army. Each book was covered in annotation and highlighter. But what was most important, one yellow letter on the top of all the books was entitled, Acceptance to the United States Army War College.

The boy had dozed off looking at the letter but realized he must finish his question. He tried to build up the courage to ask the question. The question that ate him up inside, the question that made him question himself, the question that made him question his uncles love towards him.

"Why did you tell them I was sick?"

The uncle sighed and attempted to shield his nephew from his tears but he couldn't. The middle aged man sobbed so hard the boy though he might have a heart attach. The uncle tried to catch his breath and in a achy voice he said,

"I watched you dad die. I watched you mother die. And.... I can't... I can't... it would kill me to watch you die. Even..... even if it meant revealing your depression to the army".

"But uncle" the boys tears had died down by now and his heart felt cold as a statue.

"You might have cured your pain... but.... you caused mine".

The uncle stared at the boy struck by what he just said. They were still in hugging distance from each other but they were not touching each other. They both looked at each other with love, hate, and emotions so complex they could not quite understand how they truly felt. They just stared into each others eyes until one of them finally said, "Ok".