Immortal

“Hello and welcome to world nightly news, I am your host Chris Barker.“ The same old shit he always did. “Today we have a special interest story, the woman who was immune to the cure for aging. Here is Rebecca Nielson.”

“Thanks for having me Chris.” It was a lie of course. I’m not immune. I just didn’t want it, but it surprised me I was alone in this decision.

“How does it feel knowing you will die?” he brazenly said to me, like it was something he was so unfamiliar with anymore. It is the same thing everywhere I go now.

“Chris the looming shadow of death is a very human thing to have. You think just because you never age and won’t die because of it, means you can’t die?” I said calmly making the truth known, the cure only made you stop aging.  “Everyone here in the audience can still die. It sounds horrible to say this, it makes me sound so depressing, but the reality is you can still be hurt.” I say and reach over and pinch him.

“Ow! Why did you do that?” he says retracting from me scared like I am some inhuman monster, unlike anything he has ever seen. They are scared of me, scared of the truth.

“To prove a point, pain is still a very real thing. Bullets, knives, anything can still hurt you and kill you. Murder and suicide are the only answers to wanting to leave this world. “ The words fell from my mouth but they only were received by deaf ears. “What happens when you get tired of living? A 100 years from now you will be alive and I will be dead, yes but what will you do with the eons you have left?” I ask the hard questions that they don’t think about. I stared at the camera recording every word flowing from my mouth.

“What do you mean by that?” he says, like he didn’t even put a second of thought into it. No one considered the repercussions of  such a decision.

“There are consequences for everything, they are not always evident from the start but they are there. What happens when you get tired of your life? What happens when you get tired of your wife?” I ask the questions they didn’t.  “Everything will become mundane.  You will search and search for new experiences until there isn’t anymore. Soon enough we are going to have to figure out a way to start life over again with out the Cycle of Life and death. We are going to need to erase your memories if you don’t want take your own life. Don’t worry about me, I will continue being human and will live a full happy life and die naturally at peace. Worry about yourselves.” For a moment I thought It was sinking in for everyone, there was horror crossing their faces.

            Chris laughed to dissipate the tension. “You are pretty young so you still have a long life ahead of you, maybe medicine will figure out a way to fix your immunity to the aging cure. Do you think you will take it then?” he asked imploringly hoping for the answer to put him and everyone else at ease.

            The answer wasn’t going to do that. “No, I am happy the way I am. The human condition will live on through me until I die, you will become something else. I am the only human who can reproduce technically so maybe we will see a diverging of species. One where evolution still acts and another where they are static living forever.” I could see the producer behind  the camera make the slitting the through movement to get me to stop.

            “Well thank you Rebecca for that, and glad to have you on the show. With that we will be back right after this commercial break.”