A Puzzle That Refuses To Stay Still

By Manha Usman

Everyone thinks that once a puzzle is complete, the picture remains the same. Although that might be true for most, but not for every puzzle.

It starts off colorful, bright and exciting. Young hands bind together pieces of the people they love and adore. Ignorance blinds them of the ugly truth underlying the puzzle. 

As the years pass, some pieces start appearing as though they’re too sharp, and don’t fit in to the puzzle. The colors start dulling. The picture shifts. Almost unnoticeable at first.

Time slips between pieces and they start warping, some even start falling off. The picture now has cracks. Where gentleness once lived, now exists narcissism and deceit.

Every truth unveils a new piece, every change drags another piece out of place, changing the picture slightly every time. 

We keep rebuilding, desperate to make it look like how it used to, something that gave us comfort, warmth, and safety. 

But no matter how much you try, the puzzle keeps moving. 

The person keeps changing, the picture refuses to stay the same.

Everything once known about them becomes a set of misplaced pieces. But as time unveiled the truth you realize that the price of the truth is the comfort of not knowing.

Each revelation forces the puzzle to rearrange itself. 

One day when you look at the puzzle that you kept trying to solve, you realize that the picture that once felt recognizable and safe,  familiar and inspiring , has now turned into the one thing you despise the most.

By Manha Usman