Magic [W. KOURY]

ten

Florida, United States
Present Day

"So, Ria, how old are you exactly?" Weston asked me.

I wanted to tell him the truth. I wanted to tell him about how I was so old that I had lost count. I wanted to tell him that I could look as old or as young as I wanted. I wanted to tell him what I've seen, what I've done, where I've been, who I've met, but I couldn't risk losing him... I couldn't lose another friend. "I... can't say... but... I can tell you a story..."

Weston's eyebrows raised and a smile spread across his face, "A story? About what?"

"A story... about my first love. Well, actually, my first love that I followed through to marriage. I've loved several men in my life."

"Marriage?!" Weston squeeled. "Just how old are you?"

"Again, I can't say. But I'm going to tell you about him." Weston settled into his seat and I began my story. "His name was Jessie Lance Everett. He and I were in a movie together in the late 1920's, it was called "Love On Fire." We played two lovers: Ty, short for Tyler, and Anna-Marie. It was a wretched film, but it brought me and this very handsome, smart, charming, man together. Our wedding was secret, and for about a month only two other people knew of it, then one of them betrayed us and told the press. We left Hollywood and grew old together in a country house on the east coast. He died at the age of 84."

"That's tragic," he said in mock of a movie that I couldn't place. "Did you... have any kids?" he asked.

"No... not with him at least... but I... I have a son... or... I had a son... he wasn't my only kid, but... he was the only one I got to raise..." I stuttered as tears began to form in my eyes.

"Hey... what happened to your son?" Weston asked sincerely.

"He died from the Plague..."

"I'm... so, so sorry..."

"There was nothing I could do... he thought I was dead..."

"Why did he think you were dead?"

"Because... technically I had. Well, he was a grown man when he died, and I had let myself grow old and... you get the idea? If I didn't make myself young again, I would have died, so I let him believe I was dead. I made myself a young woman and befriended him and his lovely wife... and then they both passed before she could conceive a child..."

"What was his name?"

"Philip."

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So now that we've dwelled in the past... how about the future?

Also, I'm sorry that these chapters are filled with randomness. I really want this story to be more about Maria than Maria and Weston. I want to explore different things, like what she has experienced having lives thousands of years.

Comment your thoughts💞