365 Days

Not A Mortal Anymore

Ugh, what a long day at work... I unlock my front door and walk in. My feet feel great once I take off my shoes after a stressful day at work. I toss my bag and jacket on the sofa to my right. Just another boring night in. I use the restroom, make myself a cup of chamomile tea and sit on my couch ready to tune out the world around me when... 

Ahem!

Great, don't tell me my new apartment is haunted.

"Nives!" Ok, that doesn't sound like a ghost to me. I open my eyes and sitting on the coffee table before my is a small child with wings and a tutu. 

I close my eyes again and ask, "What do you want?"

"Wow, I don't think I've ever gotten that reaction before! My name is Uzoma, can I just say how much I love your ebony skin?"

"Mhm."

"Well alright then." What does it want? "I'm here to give you the greatest gift any human could ever wish for!"

I open my eyes and sit up straight in excitement, "You brought me Choco-Flan?!?"

"No," it says with a confused look on its face. "What is that."

"Well you know, that yummy Mexican dessert," It still has a confused look on its face. "It was chocolate on the bottom... it shakes like jello....never mind."

"Ok back to why I'm here. You can win a vial of magic nectar to give you immortality!" It says jumping off the coffee table floating in the air. It seems really excited.

"No thank you."

W-what?!? Why not?"

"Does it come with Choco-Flan?"

"Sure, Where's the closest place to buy it?"

"No," I say shaking my head and resting my elbows on my knees. "I want the one that my childhood best friend's mom used to make for us."

It rolled its eyes and annoyingly said, "Fine!" In the blink of an eye we were outside my old friend's house. I walk up to the door and ring the bell. Once...twice...trice... Trice....is that even a word? The door opens and an old man stands behind the screen door. 

"Can I help you?"

"Hi, I was looking for Doña Martha....Maria's mom..." I say with hopeful eyes.

"Oh dear, are you little Nives?"

"Yes...It's me." Do I know this man?

"Oh child, Martha, my wife has been in heaven for 7 years now and Maria won't visit until summer." That's right, it's Maria's father... A sad ache pokes at my heart.

"I'm sorry Don Adrián."

"Don't be deary, Martha is saving my a seat in the garden of heaven." I smile. Don Adrián had always been nice to me.

"Ok, well then have a beautiful rest of your day." I go to shake his hand but received a hug that warmed my saddened heart.

"You too my dear, you too..." I smile, say a finale goodbye and begin to walk away. 

"So was that your friend's dad or something?"

"Yeah."

"I like old people."

"Yeah."

"You OK?"

"Yeah." It likes old people? It...What is it? "What's your gender?"

"I don't have a gender. I'm like a snail....but with wings."

"A snail with wings, that sounds disgusting."

"Hey!, I think it's cute."

" I don't." It sticks its tongue out and I shoot it a smile of triumph. "So now what?"

"Now we discuss the terms of agreement for you to keep the nectar."

"I don't have my Choco-Flan so therefore I don't want your immortality juice."

"Don't you want to at least know what your life would look like if you did take it?"

"Sure, what the hell, why not?"

*****

I see myself in different settings. In one I'm working with kids, in another I'm with animals. In one I'm building structures in rural areas, in another I'm alone. In every different scenario, I'm in a different part of the world. I don't see myself working in any of the scenes I see and in all of them I'm smiling, I'm happy.

"This is your first 200 years. You travel all over the world helping any and everything that needs help. You take advantage of the fact that you no longer need to eat or sleep to survive." I'm speechless.

The world swirls around me and new scenarios begin. In all of them I'm always surrounded by books and beige walls.

"Your third century is spent studying and learning ways to better humanity. You go to school to learn everything you ever were interested it."

In every peek I get, I never see myself unhappy. I see myself change looks as well as I see the world change around me. I don't see a single thing wrong with taking the Vial.

Suddenly the world changes once more and I see myself and Uzoma sitting in a small cabin. It's sleeping in the middle of the air and I'm sitting in a rocking chair drinking tea. I walk outside and see that this cabin sits in a small valley right below the tree line of a group of mountains. The air is fresh and the clouds seem so close, I feel like I can almost touch them. I raise my hands like a kid pretending to be a plain and run as far as I can. I'm laughing and can't help the occasional 'WooHoo'.

I tripped, fell and even that didn't stop me from laughing. I laid there, insilence, staring at the clouds passing by, feeling the wind on my bare toes. Uzoma popped its head inches from my face.

"So...? What do you say? Want to take the nectar?" I sit up, the smile fading from my face. It's sitting crisscross, floating in mid air. 

"I don't know anymore..." Uzoma extends its little arm out towards me, vial in hand. "Is it permanent?"

"You'd be Immortal, how permanent do you think that is?" I bite my bottom lip and look at my toes. I look at it's cute lavender pixie cut hair and at its clear, almost luminescent, fairy-like wings.

"Will I get wings like yours?"

Uzoma giggles a little, "Immortal or not, you're still human."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

*****

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