driftea
Selected Wed, Jun 14, 2023
Maria, you have always been beautiful to me. I like the scar running across your face, jagged and white. I like the unique huskiness of your voice from your damaged vocal chords. I like the silhouette of your melancholic beauty veiled against a moonlit balcony from the very first time we met in person.
Ah, back when you were contracted to kill me. You never realized my true identity back then, of course. You had no idea at all that I’d usurped the position of your handler. I thought I would just use you to investigate your associates and to discover who was after my head. I thought I didn’t need to tell you because you were meant to be nothing but a tool.
Some people might say it’s immoral, the way we’re living now. You, working in black ops for the sake of a country that doesn’t love you. I, working in a false identity for a country I don’t believe in. Two idiots living in hypocrisy and sin, playing pretend and denying our true selves so that this farcical play can go on without reaching its closing act.
I say, I’m a happy man.
Maria…you’ll always be beautiful to me, whether you are dressed in that pure white wedding dress or stained with rust and grime. You should never feel ashamed of yourself or of the secrets that you feel you are hiding from me. You’ll always be beautiful, even if the last I see of you is your steely eyes behind the sight of a gun barrel.
So I am willing to continue this charade, forsaking my comrades and their dream to bring down this corrupt country. I am willing to stay by your side, extinguishing my true self to bask in your presence. I will never, ever reveal that I am the one who is passing down your orders. If anyone tries to reveal this secret…well, you’re not the only one who has been getting their hands dirty.
Maria, I hope you never have to see this letter, but if you do…
I’m sorry I could never tell you all this myself, even though I never will.
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Submitted by driftea on Tue, Jun 13, 2023 to /r/WritingPrompts/
Full submission hereThe prompt
Your spouse is leading a secret double life as an assassin, trying their best to keep it secret from you. This has never really worked, because, unbeknownst to them, you are actually their handler.
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