Hello dear readers,

Story time! Today, I've chosen to tell you about my own experience and how I've learned (the hard way sadly) the value of my trust and how I should not waste it.
This is not a TEDx-style article where I will tell you a happy story. This is real, this happened to me and trust me, I would not want you to live the same experience.
This article will be broken down into a classic structure, I'll be talking about the background of this story, how everything started, how it got complicated and how I've ended up (mostly my conclusion). For the TL;DR friends, you can skip to the section "In a nutshell: ..." where you will find a quick roundup of every section.

The background story: How it all started up

In my first year at university, I didn't have much friends. Even though I was living in the same city since almost 10 years and with my parents, it was hard to be with people you know at the university because simply put, students are too scattered between universities across the entire country after their graduation (that's how the Tunisian public education system works, maybe I'll talk about that in another article).
Being as introvert as I was, I didn't find any reason to socialize. But soon enough, I came into contact with few people I started to hang out with. One of them was someone I'll refer to "M" and who became a good friend of mine. The Tunisian educational system being what it is, M failed while I continued. We got less in touch but kept in good terms and hanged out with some friends when the occasion was possible.
After three years studying, I've graduated and had less news of M who had moved to Canada to study and work. Fast forward another three years and M was back in town for some obscure reason. He was not banned but he couldn't get back to Canada for one year.
Things started to become more complicated for M when he had to leave his parents home because of some complicated family problems. He was at first hosted by one of our friends then eventually at my parents home when I offered him to come. Everything was fine, he tried to help as he could, tried to make us feel he's not a burden and even helped me in few work tasks.
The deadline of one year was almost over, he was really happy he'll be back to Canada and resume his life. He was holding some grief about his family but we've supported him and told him that we are his family if he needs us.
Almost two weeks before the deadline, my parents had to move to a small appartement. Me and M went to a friend's appartement temporarily. Of course, we've helped my parents move their stuff and paid some visits to them in the meantime.

In a nutshell: How it all started up

I had a friend that I knew at the university, we were close. One day because of circumstances of his own he was homeless, I invited him at my parent's home while we would wait for his situation to be resolved. My family was really supportive of his situation and everything was fine.

How things got complicated

My mother often invited us to come by her appartement for launch. Of course M was with me and we went there, ate something, then took off after a moment. After launch, M went to the balcony to smoke a cigarette (I don't smoke so he was on his own) and to access the balcony, he had to enter my mother's room. I didn't pay attention, but he started shutting down the room's door. My mother didn't pay attention too but she noticed that.
Two weeks have passed, M packed his clothes, mom washed and ironed everything for him and he was finally going to take off to Canada. His flight was with Royal Air Morocco and he was pretty excited... Well everyone was excited for him, he was finally going to get back to his normal life.
Two days after taking off, he was off-radar, I kept trying to reach him but with no success. The day after, he sent me a text saying that he got stuck in Morocco because he didn't have a parental warrant (which was obviously some kind of excuse I guess) and that he's back to the capital. He said he's at one of my friend's house and that he does not have money to buy a ticket to fly back to Canada now. I asked him what's his plan to which he said he'll figure out something.
I told him that he's always welcome at my place and that he should come back or contact his parents so they can help him.
A few weeks passed by, I've called M several times to ask him to come back to figure out something. We could even try to contact his family so they could buy him a plane ticket or something. Yet he kept inventing lies, saying he can't come. My friend at the capital called me to tell me that M is still at his place and that it's becoming really awkward. I asked him to bear few days the time I could come to the capital and talk to M and explain my friend the sticky situation.
Now, all this seems like just some unfortunate events that could happen to anyone. But let me tell you about the plot twist.
Coming one day off work, I found my mother crying. I asked her what was wrong and she was really upset but didn't want to tell me. After insisting, she asked me to sit down, to remain calm and proceeded to tell me:
"I have my box of jewelry always on the dressing table, you must have seen it somewhere (I nod with my head for a yes). Well, it's been three days and I can't find it. At first I thought I've put it somewhere and forgot, but now, I'm sure, it's not here, I've searched EVERYWHERE."
I answered her saying that maybe my little brother took it? He's 6 years old so maybe he thought it was a toy. She answered:
"I know, that's what I thought at first, but I'm sure your little brother didn't take it, I've put it in the wardrobe after... Well after feeling uncomfortable that M was entering my room to access the balcony and closing the door at each time."
I started to make my own conclusion, my mother saw it in my face, started hesitating but I asked her to continue:
"Look, I don't want you to do anything foolish. But I'm 100% sure that M took my jewelry box. Remember that day both of you came for launch but then he decided to change his clothes? Usually he goes into the other room, that day he decided to go to my room and he took his backpack with him. He stayed there way too long and when I started worrying and checked on him, he was doing something in the wardrobe wide open."
I cannot really describe to you how mad I was, but I was helpless. I had to find out if he really did it though and that's why I decided to go to the capital as soon as possible, check on my friend's place and interrogate M about all this.
Few days later I went to the capital, met my friend who's hosting M and told him about what M may have done. My friend offered me some help and we confronted M about the situation (no worries, no one got hurt). M didn't confess, but didn't try to give any legitimate explanation as to why he did all those actions. He was lying, we both saw he was lying especially when he said that "He wouldn't do that to my mother knowing she does not have much jewelry of value". My mother indeed didn't have much of a value in her jewelry box, but that was all what she had. My friend impatient kicked him out of his place and we didn't see M after that. After few months, some friends told me that he got back to Canada but that he's having issues there too. I didn't hear about M, he didn't try to contact me or even contact our common friends.

In a nutshell: How things got complicated

My friend's situation was resolved, he was able to get back to Canada where he was working. Two weeks later, my mother discovered that her box of jewelry was missing. The only person who got to her room several times was my friend and no thief could have entered the appartement. My suspected friend had problems during his flight and stayed at a common friend's place. Before discovering what he did, we called him several times to ask him to come back to my town but he refused stating some obvious lie.

The conclusion

If you have read all this story, you might think that it was just a series of unlucky circumstances. You might also think that I was too naive to lend my trust to someone just like that. I was devastated, my friends were devastated and disappointed. But most of all, my mother was really upset, she treated M like me, like her own child and he didn't hesitate to do something awful.
Yes, I didn't have any proof against him, nothing really tangible. But I know when someone lies, when someone uses you to get to his intentions then disappears with no trace. After all this, I felt some grief about M because he did hurt me and my mother mostly. But with time, I've tried to forget.
I've decided to tell you about my story not because of hate, but because I don't want people to make the same mistake. Of course you should help your friends or people you know and who are in need. Of course you should support your friends when you can. But be careful, observe and pay attention to the individual seeking for help.
Here are some handful examples of people who's actions prove they don't deserve your trust:

• You know that he/she lies to other people, you've witnessed him/her lying or some of your common friends told you that he/she often lies. If he/she's able to lie to other people you're not an exception.
• The problem he/she is telling you about seems so unlikely that you wonder if it's even real.
• Resurfacing friends or acquaintance are a red flag, that friend you knew 3 years ago suddenly starts to talk to you again and seems missing you? I call it lies.
• People will be really dissuasive when they will tell you their stories. Be attentive and ask them again about it all after a moment, if there is some inconsistency, you know what to do.

In a nutshell: The conclusion

You might be tempted to trust someone. I'm the person who can trust people easily, I'm very introvert but can become very empathetic towards people. You can be tempted to help people like I do, but there is a fine line between helping people and giving them an opportunity to strike you back. Be wise, don't lend your trust easily, help those in need but don't put everything you have in people. Only time will prove to you their value.

Feel free to comment and give me some feedback

Was the article too long? Did you feel the need to skip the the TL;DR sections? Do you have something to say about this story? I'm really interested in your point of view and especially if you like this kind of stories. Feel free to leave me a comment and thank you for your time.