Deceitful

He is a liar! He is narcissistic! He is Liam. Gael Helgason’s short story Bluffing follows the events of Gabrielle and Liam, a couple who go hiking up to a lake where they have a deadly encounter with a grizzly bear. This encounter leaves Liam in the hospital and Gabrielle unsure about his true intentions when he states that “[He] wasn’t trying to run away up there” but instead to save her. Is he a hero or a coward?  Is he trustworthy when the going gets tough or completely unreliable? Simply put to solve all of these questions, he is a liar and fabrication is his strong suit. The fact that he said he wanted to save her shows that he cares for her, but this ‘caring’ only seemed to manufacture itself after the bear attack. Before the bear attack he shows no signs of caring for anyone but himself, so saving Gabrielle seems like something he wouldn’t do in that predicament. He wants to leave and go to “…Yosemite, maybe New Mexico.” without even asking for her opinion on the matter. This in itself proves that if he indeed cares for her, it is only in a miniscule manner. He is also controlling, going as far as to insist that a certain “home-made cleaning solution…” should be used in their home and nothing else. Most of all, if he indeed did care for her then he wouldn’t have left her to face that behemoth of a bear by herself. Liam would’ve stood his ground with Gabrielle instead of “…running away as fast as he could.” Although Liam thought he might have fooled the world into believing he is a hero, certainly Gabrielle knows otherwise.

Nothing to live for
Her name is Patty. Patty was your average women at some stage in her life . She was smart, attractive, witty with a decent job working in a law firm. She had no other family, except a sister who lived with her and supported her throughout all of her struggles. Then one day this all changed...

Patty was busy working one night when her sister called her phone. She refused to answer it because she was busy working on a big case for her law firm and she didn't want to be disturbed. The hours went by with her sister still calling her phone constantly,yet Patty still shrugged of the calls and eventually turned off her phone. Once she had finished reviewing her case file, she lazily dragged herself to bed. Dragging the top half of her body, which would be followed the bottom half, much like a worm. She finally got to her bedroom and she was instantly asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
In the morning she awoke to the sound of her cellphone ringing again. This time she picked it up,assuming it would be her sister,but she was wrong. The caller ID was her sister's, but the voice coming out of the phone was male. The male turned out to be a doctor. This doctor told Patty that last night her sister was in a car accident and they needed a relative to supply the blood type she needed to survive. Patty dropped the phone, shocked at what she had just heard. She didn't need the doctor totell her the rest, because Patty knew what he would've said. Her sister was gone. Never to return to this world.

Patty blamed herself for what had happened to her sister. The only person in her life that she had cared about was dead and she considered it to be her fault. She went to the bench on the side of the road where they had made a memorial for her and she spent her days there. Even getting into smoking because she felt it was the only way to deal with the stress. She sat there for weeks on end, repenting to her sister for the fact that she wasn't there to save her. She wouldn't answer her phone and her law firm eventually fired her. The days turned to weeks, the weeks turned to months and the months turned to years.

Now she sits there,in an eternal state of grief. Patty is wearing a hat to shield her from the rays of the sun that day. In her attire are also a pair of earrings, a necklace and three rings. All of which belonged to her sister. She has been doing this for over 30 years now, just sitting in that one spot. Blowing through packs and packs of cigarretes every day. Her voice is a lawnmower now. She clears her throat countless times before she can even utter a single word. The over-excessive smoking is causing her already frail body to deteriorate even faster. Her hair has withered with time and become like an unwatered plant. The sea of sadness she has endured has long since turned her once still ocean like skin into skin that has been completely overrun with ripples. Her eyes have long since been drained of their vibrant hazel color. Now all that one sees in her eyes is nothing but despair. No hapiness, no joy, no love. Only anguish.

Now she just sits there. Awaiting the day when her existence can end and she can finally become reunited with her sister. Patty does indeed have nothing to live for.

Another day in the life of the Greatest performer ever

The crowd is chanting his name. The stadium is filled to the brim with fans eager to see his performance and how he will do.  Lutsha walks out onto the stage, with a mic in hand. His hand appears to be shaking, anxiety is radiating from him like a light-switch. He has never been in a situation like this before, but he knows he that he will get through it. His First time performing his raps and lyrical artworks to the masses of a different country altogether. He stares out into the crowd, hoping to see familiar faces but to no avail. He swallows his fear and proceeds to begin his performance, with Canada as his stage. . .

His vocal projection is bad in the first song, due to the fact he is nervous and sick. He still carried on though, because the show must go on. Near the end of the song, he feels dissatisfied with what he just performed. The crowd however, had not given up hope in what his performance might turn out to be. Lutsha knew that the only way he could go from here was up. He proceeded to perform his next couple of songs. Each one portraying a different trait of his personality. The first displaying his many hobbies such as reading, poetry, writing music and just plain socialization with friends. The second song dealt with the aspects of his life in Africa and how he dearly missed his friends and family. This, however was the last sad song he would perform tonight. The third song dealt with how he views himself as a smart,somewhat good-looking,intriguing,witty,humorous yet slightly mean person. This song would also speak of the many sports he had particapated in while he was in South Africa. These included rugby,karate,cricket and field hockey to name a few. With each passing song the crowd would become more attached and interested in the type of person that Lutsha is. By the time the concert had reached an intermission, the crowd had already gauged the type of person that stood before them with these lyrical masterpieces.

The crowd is chanting his name, ever so eagerly. Awaiting the second half of the concert to start. Sure enough Lutsha comes out and he gets things underway. The second half kicked off with a song that would describe different values he holds so dear to him. He values friendship,loyalty,respect and most of all trust. The next song would be a different one as he mentioned those he looks up too. He looks up to his mother, for her caring personality and her hard-working attitude. He also looks up to those such as Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela who fought against their separate oppression-related issues with words,rather than violence.

His next song delve into the types of movies and tv shows he watches. After jokingly mentioning the Notebook and Grey's Anatomy as his favourites, he eventually stated that his favourite shows include Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, The Vampire Diaries, Arrow and a wide array of anime. His favorite movie so far is The Great Gatsby. He also mentioned his obsession with James Patterson novels as he is indeed a great writer.

His show concludes with him freestyling as he did not prepare his whole act for the whole show. The crowd enjoyed his presence like it was Christmas day. They unwrapped every layer and peeked,just for a moment, into the things that make him tick. They seemed to like every little thing about him. From his laugh, to his hair. Every little imperfection was not judged by this crowd as they knew they were not perfect themselves.

Lutsha carries on with his never-ending performance. With Canada as the stage and all the new people he meets as his audience.