Secret Identity

I was in 7th of 8th grade when Samantha Adams was first introduced to me and my friends. If you asked her, she was fairly short, slender, long blonde hair, pretty, and incredibly sweet and athletic. She got along with most everyone, and had a couple boys she was interested in. By 9th grade, she was quite popular. There was just one small flaw with her... she didn't exist.

That's right. Samantha Adams - Sami to her friends - was a figment of my imagination. I can't recall how or why she was invented. I believe she was simply a character from a short story of mine. But no matter - she was great. She used to leave notes in the lockers of a couple boys I had crushes on (Nate and Tony.... poor poor boys). Eventually she was tucked away... or, rather, moved to either Wisconsin or Pennsylvania or something. But, she has been known to come out every now and then (Of course, now that she's being made public, I suppose I can't use her again).

So why do I bring up Sami?

A few weeks ago, I noticed a friend of mine add a couple friends to facebook. But, I was a bit suspicious of these "friends." It was fairly obvious they weren't real. But the person who had done this didn't strike me as the type to have any secret identities. So, I brushed it off as me simply being paranoid and assuming everyone is as psychotic as myself.

I brushed it off... until tonight. Tonight I was browsing another site and found this friend had an account there. And while the friend used her real name, her profile name was different... and had the same last name as the friend she'd added to facebook. Quite interesting indeed. Why on earth would this person create a profile under an assumed name?

I know why I did it in Junior High School - I was a silly stupid teenager who wanted to let a guy know I had a crush on him, without me actually doing the talking. And, I know why Sami came back many years later - she was spying on a friend (well.... was going to spy... it didn't work so well, and she ended up blocked from the site). But this person? Quite interesting indeed.

There are some people you just assume do not lie. And this is one of those people.

But, I have learned that everyone lies. Everyone is willing to deceive another for one reason or another. Everyone has something to hide.

Everyone has a secret identity they only show certain people, and for certain reasons, and others will never know who or what this identity is.

Of course, I am not one to judge. In addition to Sami, there was also my imaginary boyfriend Johnny (he was a drug dealer from Florida)... and Johnny's twin brother Jason (he was a manager of a porn studio). And then there have been my multitude of online screen names and my pen names.

And yet, with all the secret identities I've had, this one... this friend... the thought just makes me shake my head and wonder.

What do you have to hide?