Men are more fragile than they think, and far more immortal than they can imagine. What does immortality mean to me? That we all want more time; we want it to be quality time.
Humans may be the only creatures on Earth who spend considerable time thinking about the fact that someday their lives will end.
Joan D. Vinge
For every path you choose, there is another you must abandon, usually forever.
Standing by the graveside of my son, no my grandson, I guess it should be great-grandson, I can't even remember. I'm like the man named Abraham in the Bible, the father of many generations.
Ages have passed, and I'm still here saying goodbye to one of my generations. He was such an intelligent child, all my kids are. Most of them were usually called geniuses, and they excelled in science technology, and engineering. Inventing one machine or another for the development of society.
The more solutions humans find to better their environment, the more problems they bring to themselves, but for every solution brings new problems. Unlike other fathers, I have been the one laying my kids to rest; I just hope one day will be my turn.
"I may not have told you the truth..." hmm! I thought I have mastered these lines; I should be used to this by now. I never had the opportunity to father a daughter; I guess it was also a price I paid for immortality, like I said a solution leads to another problem.
Likewise, I did not choose this life, I did not ask the gods to make me immortal, and if I had my chances then I will choose a normal life.
It's sad, but I don't feel the pain anymore. As I said, I'm already used to it, but I can't continue dropping flowers for my children.
"I will just drop this here, and make sure you plant it," I have always wondered why we always place flowers on tombs. If there is another life, then it must be filled with beautiful flowers.
What does it look like to be dead for real? To me, it's like taking a nap and in the next few minutes, I'm up again. I've been shot several times and got involved in multiple accidents yet I wake up without a scratch on my skin.
Drowning myself was the best part of it, you can't even imagine waking up in the depth of the sea over and over again, "Farewell son, and my regards to your mom, I don't even remember her name anymore."
I have traveled around the globe, I have married from different parts of the world and I've also watched some of them age and die as well. Immortality is a curse, it doesn't give meaning to life but everyone around me prays for it, how I wish they could have a taste of it. Sometimes I see myself as a God but unlike God, I don't have the power to create life, but I am good at taking life.
Every morning before stepping out of my apartment, I always say a prayer and I have just one request, 'death should visit me as I step out today'. But it feels like the gods are paying deaf ears to my prayers, death has cheated me, and I have lost all my loved ones to the cold arms of death, maybe this power has made me too cold for death.
I had worn my black coat for every funeral and a woolen newsboy cap autumn with a black pair of shoes, my favorite pair. It's a cold gray afternoon with a dull sky, and it's threatening to rain, I don't seem to mind if I get wet, I just stood still, many questions swirling in my head.
The dark cloud begins to grow as thunder and lightning struck the sky, I'm not the only one paying my last respect to the dead, but I don't seem to care as they all walk away, into their cars and to their various homes, terrified by the howling of the wind and the sound of raindrops hitting the trees. The sound of raindrops started, I felt one drop on my shoulders, and it did not leave another sign before the full downpour of rain drenched my coat.
"No matter how much you weep for them, they will never come back, not even a sigh from them to show they can hear you. Standing under the rain won't help either," a female voice came from behind me.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. – Matthew 5:4" I replied without caring who she was or why she was there.
"I am truly sorry for the loss of your father. Please accept my condolences, but I need your help?" she said, closing the gap between us.
This must be a joke! My father? Heh! What ridiculous talk!
"You seem to know the man very well?" I asked putting both hands in my pocket, "I'm not so sure if you do, because if you do, you can't even tell if I'm his son from behind,"
"Hmm, I'm sorry. My name is Marvel," she said as she placed her umbrella over our heads, shading us from the heavy rain. A curtain of rain beat down from the heavens, causing her difficulty to steady the umbrella.
"Young lady, as you can see I'm here to say my last words to my son and not to make friends, so if you don't mind, you can as well get this umbrella off my face" Maybe she is one of his mistresses, but she looks very familiar? Anyway, I don't care who she is.
"I'm sorry! I know you don't know me, but I need your help," she said, and I could sense she was terrified, but I don't know why, and I don't give a fuck. Who comes to a funeral ground to ask for help?
"There are some men over there, they have been following me around," she said pointing to a particular direction
I turned my gaze to the direction she was pointing, and just like she said, some men were standing there, but they could be anyone
"Those are some fine gentlemen, I think they probably just want your cell phone number, you look sexy in this suit," I said, glaring at her from head to toe. Taking another look at the guys, I knew they were not gentle in any way, I was only trying not to be involved in whatever troubles she must have gotten herself involved in.
"It's a long story, sir, I had seen them a night before my father was murdered," she said gripping my hand, "Please sir,"
"Ok, don't worry, just call 911, and you will be fine," I said pulling my arms away from hers.
"Ok, can I use your phone, mine is down," she said showing me her phone, I'm not with mine either, I guess I have no other option.
"Or maybe, we should walk up to them and ask why they are bothering you. They've been standing under the rain since it started, if they wanted you dead, I believe you would've been by now," I said, putting her phone away from my face.
I have the power to freeze them since it's raining, I can with water, snow, or ice, but I will end up getting exposed, and she might freak out.
"I think they are armed, I saw one of them pulling out a gun. It's too risky, confronting them will only get us killed. And once I take one step from you, I'm sure it's going to be my last day on earth," She pleaded.
I can tell she's telling the truth, and besides, killing a bad guy is not a new thing to me. But I should not be seen killing someone in public; the government is looking for people like me. That's if any other exists on this planet. Why would they want her dead? A question I did not care to ask
I turned around to see if I could find her a safe place, while I handle the situation.
"Look over there, behind the tall tree there is a little hut, wait for me there," I said and inhaled sharply.
"No, are you out of your mind?" She pulled me back, "Do you want to get yourself killed? I just told you they were armed," She whispered, bringing her voice down like they could hear her.
I've been waiting for death, but it's not forthcoming, maybe I should go and look for it myself.
"Marvel, you just do as I told you and don't look back, run as fast as your legs can carry you, and wait for me there, go now," I ordered with a commanding tone.
She began to run. When the men saw her running, they quickly jumped inside their car, but the engine refused to start, maybe the car battery is dead because of the cold weather, or maybe I just froze the car engine. I increased my speed, and before they could get out of the car, I was already close. I made sure no one was on site, before approaching them.
"It seems your engine is refusing to start?" I said with a smirk on my face, who smiles under the rain?
"Do you need help?" I asked this time with a frown; I think my question triggered their anger,
"Fuck off! You piss of shit" one of them pulled out his gun and pointed at me, but unfortunately for him, it was too late.
"Freeze!" I said, and they both stood still. Ok, I can make that possible without saying the word 'freeze' but I like acting like a cop so freeze it is, I control everything liquid with my mind, I don't really need to say a magic word or cast a spell.
With just a wave of my fingers, I willed the drops of rain, turning them into a sword, and sliced off his neck, I turned to the other side of the car and chuckled. The other man was frozen in an awkward position, which caused my laughter.
"Hmm, I think you deserve a better death since you made me laugh," I said, still chuckling.
I'm usually not the type who takes pity on people I've tagged as an enemy. I placed the ice sword on his chest and slowly pushed it in, piercing into his beating heart.
There were no signs of blood even after killing the duo. It was all thanks to freezing them. I turned around and walked away from the scene after I was done.
"Wow! An easy kill"