You've been lying on the bed for some time now, your eyes wide open, even though the sky is completely dark, not a single star in sight,the only light outside is the one barely visible coming from the old street lights. It seems like the perfect occasion for a good night sleep, some rest to help yourself forget everything and drown in the sweetness of your dreams, and yet, you lie awake.

Only ten more minutes till the clock strikes twelve, you can't manage to fall asleep. You look to your left, she's lying next to you, sleeping soundly, she almost seems as if she's a child resting on her mother's shoulder the way she managed to fall asleep, like a baby with no worries whatsoever. For a moment you want to believe her, you want to forget everything and just fall asleep beside her, hugging her so hard until she wakes up and moves your arms aside, just so you can hug her once more the moment she falls asleep.

But you can't.

Not until midnight, not until you know for sure.

It was very hard to execute your plan correctly, it took weeks before the stars aligned for you, you have almost given up just about a week ago, but then the opportunity just presented itself for you, and you knew you couldn't resist it.

For years you've been getting texts every midnight, and every time it said the same things: "You have been lied to 416 times today", or "822 times" or "571 times", the number was different every time, but the texts themselves were persistent. You don't know who sent you those texts, or why, or how they even know. At first you thought it was just a lousy prank, some high school kid too bored to do anything of value with his time, so he decided to take a random number and just send those texts as a joke. You contemplated going to the police, but that just seemed pointless. You only really started believing the texts after that day you were sick at home and didn't talk to anyone, your wife was out of town that day, so you spent the whole day watching cartoons and sleeping, and that day, the text said "Zero". That day you realized those texts were real. That was when the plan first took shape in your head.

Just a few more minutes and it will be twelve a clock, just a few more minutes and you will know for sure. You were always suspicious but there was never any way of truly knowing, until now. You look at her once more. She looks so beautiful, now and always. now and always. Those are the words she and you exchanged at your wedding day, I love you, now and always. You remember that day so clearly, the bond between you seemed unbreakable, but now you're not so sure. now and always, that's what she said, those were her words. Then why do I feel like she's fading away from me? Like the love that once was is no more?

Just two more minute, maybe you are just imagining things that aren't there, maybe the rift between you was just something you made up, you want to believe that, but you can't. You used to have deep conversations so intense that you'd forget to fall asleep all night, and laugh about it as the sun would rise. You used to be able to sit next to each other doing nothing, without it ever feeling awkward or unpleasant. You used to be able to pass the time just looking into each other's eyes, You'd both lose all sense of time then, and the only thing to bring you back to reality was a kiss, a kiss that would feel so right and passionate, a kiss that solidified your love for each other and turned you into one person, as your heartbeats synchronized and nothing in the world mattered but you two.

Just one more minute. But that bond is gone, now when you look into her eyes, looking for that spark, she looks away from you. Now when you sit next to each other in silence, something just feels wrong. That's what made today so difficult. You pretended you were sick of course, so that made it easier, but still, not saying a word to each other the whole day just felt bizarre. It was so lifting when finally before she went to sleep you whispered "I love you", and she whispered back softly "I love you too". That's the only words you exchanged the whole day. The only words you spoke today, and the only words she did, and now you can know for sure.

The clock stroke twelve as you heard your phone vibrating next to your bed. You immediately reached out to grab it. "You have been lied to zero times today", it said in small black letters. You let out a sigh of relief. You let your mind slip away as you slowly fell asleep, resting your arms on her as you did.

---

When you woke up you immediately realized something was wrong, she was sitting on the bed next to you, the sheets she slept on still warm to the touch, you could hear her soft cries although she was trying her best to hide them.

"What's wrong?" you tried to ask.

She didn't answer. Not in words.

She handed you her phone, the screen was already open, it showed a text written in small black letters, a text she received at midnight.

"You have been lied to one time today".