A STORY WORTH TELLING

Lisa’s hands shook as she lifted the notebook out of the box.  A thin layer of dust coated its otherwise unremarkable surface.

She held her breath as she gently wiped a layer of dust off.  Sure enough, in the bottom corner, scratched into the surface with black pen was one word.  It rolled off her tongue in a hushed whisper.

“Veritas.”

It actually existed.  She glanced up.  She should really wait to open this in a controlled environment.

She didn’t.

She pulled her hands inside the sleeves of her shirt and gently grasped the cover and pulled it open.

The writing was messy scrawl in black pen, but the first line read quite clearly.  “Truth and the Darkness.”

______________________________________________________

Six months earlier.

Jason sat on the edge of the bed with his hands clasped.  His suit jacket was discarded and his shirt was untucked.  He just stared at nothing.  Lisa sat beside him, ever the doting wife.  On the floor lay a crumpled piece of paper with only the top line visible.  “Your services will no longer be required…”

She rested a hand on his back.  She’d known him long enough not to say anything, so they just sat in silence.

A month later he was not okay.  She could tell he was going through the motions; exercising, applying for jobs, hanging out with his friends.  But the pile of beer cans in the trash spoke otherwise.  He was withdrawn.  He wouldn’t speak to her, not about anything real.  

“Hey, I wrote a new article about the new exhibit in town.”  she offered.  Normally he delighted in supporting her writing career, but he simply nodded.

“Cool.  I’ll check it out.”

She opened her mouth to say something, and then smiled sadly and grabbed her keys and left.  

Jason sighed as he grabbed his gym clothes and packed them into his bag.  May as well get a workout in.  He grabbed his phone but only made it to the door before he stopped.

His thumb paused over a flaming dragon on a plain black background.  It said simply “When success is no longer enough, the real journey begins.  Click here to discover Veritas.”

He hated clicking ads but something about this called to him.  He felt grounded and real, for the first time in a while, and even the smallest hint of that beckoned to him.  He clicked and after a brief pause the door to the World of Veritas opened.

His bag dropped.

______________________________________________________

Lisa entered the house at the end of the day with a flourish, balancing her purse and five bags of groceries while trying to open the door.  Pretty standard for a mid week grocery run, and she would have made it if she hadn’t tripped over the gym bag sitting in the middle of the floor.

A bag of apples spilled out in her frantic attempts to maintain her balance and three apples rolled lazily into the kitchen announcing her arrival.

“Jason what the hell?!” she called.  

No answer. 

She peeked into the living room.  No Jason.

She glanced out the window into the backyard.  No Jason.

“What in the world?”  His truck was in the garage, so where was he?

She wandered upstairs and into the bedroom and found the last thing she ever expected to see.

Jason sat cross legged on the floor with his back against the foot of the bed.  He had his obnoxious noise cancelling headphones on and his eyes were closed while his head nodded slightly.

“Jason?”  Lisa called.  But of course he didn’t hear her, his headphones were on.  She touched his shoulder and he cried out as he jumped.  The headphones came off on one ear and sat uneven on his head.

“Are you ok?” She asked.  “What are you doing?”

“Babe.  Have you ever meditated?  I’m on mars and this monster is chasing me and there’s this blind guy that might be the one who brought me there in the first place.  I’m not sure if he’s a God, and there’s this ship that saved the world, or actually the universe and there’s these portals…”  He finally stopped, breathless.  

Lisa looked at him confused.  He looked alive for the first time in a month, but what was he talking about?

“I thought you hated that stuff?”  

He paused.  “Ya I do.  But this, this is different.  It’s not sci fi or fantasy, well, it is, but it’s me.  I’m the hero.”

“Ok.”  she said, still unsure.  “Where did you find these…meditations?”

“It’s called Veritas.  It means truth. I had to look that up. This guy created a whole universe back in the twenties.  I haven’t even started into the books but some of the poetry is cool.  It’s…I don’t know…I’m just inside my head, you know?  And there’s so much in there!”

Lisa nodded.  Whatever this was, it seemed to have lit a fire, so she decided to just let it play out and ask him about it later.

She put water in a pot and set the gas to high.  While she waited she took out her phone and searched “Veritas”.  A wide variety of video, audio, and written content immediately came up. The first headline caught her eye.

VERITAS: Founded by Adam Kolozetti.  Explore stories, meditations, workshops and philosophy for those who are ready to discover who they are.  

Twenty minutes later she sat on the couch, the boiling water forgotten.  Her journalistic mind had gotten the scent of a story, and she was down the rabbit hole.  Who was Adam Kolozetti?

______________________________________________________

A week later her and Jason were sitting out on the patio enjoying the sun.  Jason sipped on flavoured water which Lisa noted.  He was lost in a thick book.  On the cover was a flaming dragon.  Veritas Cycle Book One:  The Truth and the Darkness.

He suddenly spoke up.  “Hey, at my old job, do you think I was happy?”

Lisa sputtered.  “Ummm…I’m not sure.  What do you mean?”

“Well, I was successful.  I enjoyed that.  But do you ever get the sense that something was missing?  Like, I was meant to do something else, but I was so distracted by my own success that I couldn’t see it?”

She paused.  She wanted to be careful here.  In truth, for the last few years Jason had been distant.  When he was home, he had great moments but she could tell he looked tired.  They hadn’t really been connecting in the way she wanted.  

“I think you were distant.  You weren’t present.”

He nodded.  Catching something in her tone.  “I wasn't, was I?”

She nodded, putting her hand to her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes.

He didn’t say anything.  He just put his arms around her.  

______________________________________________________

Two weeks after that they attended a Veritas event in town.  Lisa had surprised Jason with tickets she had come across in her reading.  There was no parking so they had to park around the block and walk.  It turned out the entrance was a martial arts gym.  An old faded sign read “Lionheart Muay Thai, Beginners Welcome!”.

Inside was nothing like that.  Lisa could feel the energy in her bones where she walked in. Jason was like a kid at Disneyland.  

A friendly woman smiled at them.  “Tickets?”  She scanned them.  Ok she said, grab yourself a set of headphones over there and a mat.  We’ll start soon.

The headphones were black as well.  A giant screen projected a floating hologram of the flaming dragon.

They found a corner and huddled together against the growing crowd.  It was mostly men, but of all types.  Office people.  Bikers.  Outdoorsy types.  

Then the lights dimmed.  “Welcome…to Veritas”  a voice boomed.  “You are here because you have forgotten who you are.  You have accomplished great things but you have fallen asleep and somehow you long for something more but you don’t know what it is.  You drink or you smoke or you exercise or do something to fill the void because you don’t even know what you are looking for.  You are here because finally you found a place of wonder. A place that asks you to have courage in the dark while it transports you to a different world so you may finally face what you have been missing.  Your truth is waiting, my friends.  Welcome to Veritas.”

Around them people started donning their headphones and assuming comfortable positions either lying down or sitting up.  Lisa clicked the switch on the left side to on.  A deep knowing voice began to speak.  It was kind and rumbled with a gentle rhythm.

“Oh my God.” Lisa thought.  “This is Adam’s original voice!”  

The voice rang in her ears.  “The dark, it changes me sometimes.”

Jason quietly grabbed her hand and without realizing tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

______________________________________________________

The next day Lisa borrowed book one of the Veritas cycle.  To say she consumed it would be an understatement.  She didn’t mind sci-fi or fantasy but this was different.  It pulled her into a world that was described in such vivid detail she felt she could reach out and touch it.  The ideas and philosophies stayed with her long into the night as she and Jason spoke and connected at a level they’d never fully experienced before.  

“I think I understand it now.” she said to Jason one night as he was scratching his head.  He had just posed the question “Do I allow myself to be known, or merely admired?”.

Lisa had stopped being shocked by this.  He was on a journey, and she had joined him

“What do you understand now?” he asked.

She pulled her notebook closer.  “Well, on its own, the Veritas cycle is an exciting book that is beautifully and cinematically written.  I mean the characters are so relatable, it’s wonderful.”

She paused.  “Although it poses many philosophical questions, it doesn’t explain what we have experienced fully.  It’s only part of the puzzle.”

Jason nodded thoughtfully.

She kept going.  “Think about it.  Adam didn’t just write a novel, he created a way for you to experience it as if you were there.  He combined imagination and spiritual practice through story, because he understood that story is what changes people.”

Jason was awe struck.  “Oh wow.  Jim needs this.”

Lisa gasped.  “Oh my God.  This is a story!.”

______________________________________________________

Lisa sat at her desk the next day lost in the throws of research.  Who was Adam Kolozetti?

He grew up in Calgary, Canada.  An avid martial artist, his first novel described how Veritas began to form.  But there was more to that.  She knew it.  

He had subsequently published a non-fiction book on organizational performance which really, was the concepts of Veritas applied to large groups of people and described in more technical terms.  

The then followed up with three books of the Veritas Cycle.  Book one, two and three, each which introduced a new character but then set the stage for the three to come together.  There were then dozens of Veritas Cycle novels, short stories, and fan fiction.

His socials showed his interests, and indicated an evolution from sharing his hobbies to being of service and helping others.  But who was he really?  Where did this start?  Someone doesn’t go this deep into their own soul without writing something down.  So where were the journals?  Notes?  Rough drafts?

He had died seventeen years ago and was survived by three children.  She had tried to reach out but had been blocked by their agents who had simply informed her that all historical items belonging to Adam Kolozetti were property of the estate. 

“There’s always a way.”  She chewed her pen.  Across her screen pictures of Adam from social media were splayed across her screen.  One in the corner showed an obviously drunk college kid having the time of his life, while the one below it showed a deeply kind man accepting an award and embracing the presenter.  Still another showed him with several buddies on a fishing boat.

Wait.

I wonder if his friends are still alive?

She sat up.  “Search for pictures of Adam and other men his age.  Scan for recurring faces.”  The AI got to work.

Sure enough.  The same faces over and over.  Bingo.  His friends.

A dozen different names came up.   Nine had passed.  One she couldn’t find.  Another was in a home but she hit pay dirt on the third.

“Hello? I’m looking for Ernesto?”

A kind elderly lady answered.  “Oh I’m sorry, Ernesto passed last year.  Can I help you?”

And that is how she found herself in the late Ernesto’s attic sifting through old boxes.

______________________________________________________

The journal was old, but in good shape.  There were a few other odds and ends but she left those.  Her and Jason sat in the kitchen staring at it.

The unspoken question hung between them.  “What should we do with it?”

Later, the question haunted her as she sat at her screen.  Her cursor blinked at the end of a full page but she had stopped.  The journal sat open beside her.

The last line read simply “There was really nothing extraordinary about Adam that stood out.  He was an ordinary guy just trying to do his best.”

She stared at it, then slowly she reached over and closed the journal.  

Then she highlighted the last line.  

Delete.

One letter at a time she replaced it.

“Adam was an extraordinary man, with a vision to change the world.”