Forever

Conflicted

"Hey."

Henry looked up from the file and saw Jo standing in the doorway of his office. "Is something wrong?"

She shrugged. "No."

He returned to his file and tried to read. After five minutes of uncomfortable silence he put it down and decided to ask the question.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"You kissed me back." Jo pointed out. He smiled and asked her again, still wondering why.

"Because......" She sighed. "I down,t know. It seemed right at the time. Now it feels like something I did while I was drunk."

"Are you.... Excited... About the curse?"

"What curse?"

"Whatever you call it. A blessing or gift."

"Oh. It's interestingly mind-numbing. I keep thinking 'what happens if I die in public?' Y'know?"

"You get used to it."

"Wait, so.... How old are you?"

Henry rolled his eyes up the ceiling and leaned back in his chair, thinking. What year was it when he first died? He stuck his tongue in his cheek. In a way, it worried him-

"You look so funny doing that."

"Pardon?"

"Rolling your eyes, leaning back in the chair, tongue in cheek. Weird."

Henry simply chuckled in response, and finally remembered the year. "I'm 235 years old."

"How old were you when you....."

"35. My wife Nora had a grave erected for me with no body. Completely against the custom of back then. Can you believe it? She didn't know if I was dead, and she....."

"What happened?"

"It was ultimately nothing she did. I just took too long to get back. And- It's strange, to see your own gravestone. It had my name and my date of birth, and my year of death."

"Must have sucked."

He arched his eyebrows and blew air from his mouth. "Yes, it 'sucked'."

"Who else knows?"

"Abraham. Nora knew, and so did Abigail....." He didn't find it in himself to keep going."

"You okay?"

"Yes. Nora, she gave me away. Thought I was crazy when I tried to prove it to her."

Jo laughed. "How'd you try?"

The image and feel of the blade against his wrist, and his own shaking hands as he wondered whether or not he'd come back...."I was about to slit my wrist in front of her and stopped me by saying that she believed me. Then Nora had me taken away to a mental institution."

"Oh..... Ouch."

Now it was his turn to laugh. "Ever worn a straightjacket?"

"Uh, can't say I have."

"Good. I'd advise you to tell no one. At the first sign of anyone realizing your secret; Flee."

"Really? You're got to run? Why?"

"Truest me: Insanity, doing, awe, fear. All those combined into one. It's hard for them to distinguish the truth unless you show it to them, and once you do, they won't stop pestering you for how you did it."