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Chapter 5

      After the old man told me the story, my tears suddenly flow down from my eyes. I finally understand what he was talking about and said, "it was you, Sam, how?" the old man replied, "well, I told you I will see you again before my last breath, and I did, have I?" He touches my face with his rough hands and wipes my tears, "you still look beautiful, same as before, but how?" he asked, "well, the thing is I never get old, even if I die, I never get old, this face is only I got for 1000 years and this is the reason, I need to hide from the people I encounter. I am sorry for not telling you because I know you won't believe me." I said, then even after I said that he never got scared, he just smiled and still look into my eyes, "well you never know." he said in a funny way and I smiled. 

      After the talk, I lie down in his shoulder and said, "thank you for the wonderful years we did in the past Sam, I actually never forget you, you know.", then he touches my hair and replied, "me too, Annie, me too, but I would also like to thank you for letting me go, I found myself a beautiful and wonderful wife and I become a great father to them. Thank you for all the things you've done in my life. You change me to become a better man" I smiled at his word and said, "Sam, would you like to sleep on my lap?" he then smiled and said, "of course for the last time." He lies down on my lap and he sleeps, later on, my eyes started to cry again because I know it is already his time, his right-hand falls down on the sand.

      A moment of silence was heard, even the sea and the wind accompanying the silence of the surrounding. Seeing him again and dying on my lap is the happiest and most painful experience I have today. I kiss him on the forehead to say my final goodbye, and I called 911. The ambulance nurse asks me what is my relationship with him and I said, "I am his granddaughter." After they left, I kneel down in the sand and cried. There is no one around here so I just burst into tears. When suddenly, a jacket was put behind my back. I stop crying and look who it might be, then I saw my surprise it was, "Mr. King... what are you doing here?"

      After the death of Samuel, I cried alone on the beach when someone put a jacket on my back. I look behind me to find out who it might be and I saw Mr. King. To my surprise, I said, "Mr. King what are you doing here?" "Well after, my guards woke me up, but I did not find you there so, I ask them to follow you. I saw you here with that old man and I don't want to interfere, so I let you talk for a while until you called the ambulance." I didn't notice that he is here all this time, and I hope he doesn't hear what we've talked about.

     I wipe my tears and stand up; he gives me his hand as a support but I choose not to use it. "Well thank you for the concern, Mr. King, but I need to go home now." I walk away but he grabs my hand and said, "Why are you doing this to me? Why did you come into my life? Why on earth did the sky let us meet? Why?" I stop for a second and we just stay like that for a moment, but to answer his question I replied, "I also don't know, but what I know is that if you don't want to meet me again, stop looking, finding, or coming to my office. Find someone you love and find someone that is not me." I remove my hand from his hand and left.

      In the morning, I go to the office again, Mr. King is not my client anymore so I don't find him in my office, which is good. After I report to Jacob, I went to the rooftop. I go there to write my book and look at what normal people do every day, and what is the difference between my time before. When I was a child, my family is poor so in order for us to survive, we plant crops and exchange it for other things. Corn into bread, Vegetables into meats, and others. Our village is simple like others and still, there are crimes to pay, but one day, in our quiet village, a pandemic killed hundreds of my people, because we lack resources and knowledge unlike today; many people died including my parents and some of my siblings. 

      We don't know the cause of this illness but among our family who survive it, is only me and my sister who live. After everything that happened, my sister and I decided to leave and move into another place, we thought that if we move, we will find a safe place but we are wrong, it was not. After visiting every village, we saw nothing but dead people. People who turn into bones, until into dust, and because of this my sister was about to lose hope, and give up, but in order for us to survive I told her that we can do it, we can find a place to rest and live. While we are on the journey, walking, without anything in our hands, my sister collapsed in the middle of the desert. Her temperature is high, and she is shivering, I don't know what to do because we got nothing, so I just sit down and put my sister's head in my lap, "Athena, we can do it. Don't give up on me please, I need you, please don't leave me." Tears were falling into my eyes and she touch my face and said, "Ysha, I know it is hard and lonely, but you have to survive. There is a reason why in this very journey you are still alive, so even without me, I know you can do it. Live for us, and be someone else" After my sister's goodbye she close her eyes and died with a tear falling from her eyes.

       In the middle of the desert, I buried my sister's body and I continue to walk in the endless desert. After walking in the desert for a long period of day and night, I felt that it was too burdensome, I got dizzy and I needed water. I started hallucinating and seeing my family and sister's faces, "Athena, Mother, Father, Peter, Simon, please don't leave me let me be with you please!" Then my eyes started to close and I feel that my body falls on the sand and everything went black. Then, when I open my eyes, I found myself, lying in the middle of the forest. I don't know how it happened, but I remove that question in my mind, when some different people saw me, "Ser, chto nam delat' s etoy zhenshchinoy? (Sir, what should we do with this woman?)" "Voz'mi yeye i pozvol' nam sprosit' yeye (Grab her and let us ask her)" I don't know what are they talking about but it seems that they are colonizing this area and this era is different from mine.