Born during the turbulent times after the end of the First World War, the philosophy of life at the time preached that life was short. Hence I, Marcus Williams, who was born on 29th Feb 1920 had learned early about the fleeting nature of life and to appreciate life itself no matter how good or bad things are.
Fortunately or unfortunately, this inscribed a desire within me to live a perfect life, and most of my childhood and teenage were spent trying to understand what a perfect life looks like.
As my family was quite affluent with a prosperous business and multiple houses in the best neighborhood on the West Coast of America, we led a life much better than the average person in those times.
Thus the first conclusion I reached regarding a perfect life was to be as rich as possible and once I reach the goal I can have whatever I desire.
However, as I reached my early teen ages, I soon trashed that thought as I realized while money can buy most things and is a necessity, it is not enough to live a perfect life.
I didn't even have to look that far as my parents, close relatives, and the parents of my close friends were all rich but money was not all they had. While there were many differences, one thing they had in common was that they had separate goals and money was just a means to an end, not the goal itself.
Thus while pondering, I realized that the most successful elders among his family, relatives, and social circle all had many things worth just as much if not more than their riches.
During their course of life, they had made a world that was their own, a world where they felt a sense of belonging. This world included their spouse, parents, siblings, children, and a very close-knit group of friends or connections they had made during the different aspects of life. In short for every part of their journey, they had someone they held dear with whom they could share that journey.
Thus in my late teens, I concluded that the perfect life is all about companionship. An old soul for my age but such was the reality back when people were still mourning the losses of their loved ones and international tensions were at an all-time high implying the chances of another war that could be just as dreadful if not more.
In 1939, the dreadful happened, and thus began the Second World War. It, however, did not make a lot of difference in my life as America was not a part of the war at the time. Unfortunately, that changed in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor and drafts were issued for the young and healthy men.
As my family was among the upper-middle class with some connections, I was able to ignore the draft for quite some time, however, the war lasted much longer than anticipated and at the end of 1943 at just 23 years old, I had to answer to the draft and fight for this country.
During my two years of service, I experienced a much different world compared to my rich and cozy lifestyle in Los Angeles. Military was for the tough. However, the draft demanded that even ordinary citizens fight in the war. People who have lived a peaceful life would never have the stomach to be able to survive in a kill-or-be-killed world.
Thus the military made sure to make everyone tough. If you can't run, run every day. If you can't pick up luggage to help with logistics, run every day with luggage. If you find it gross to crawl in the dirt, crawl until the skin falls off from your elbows and then some.
While life was extremely tough in the army, humans are extremely adaptable creatures. Within 3 days, we had accepted our situation. Within a week, we were almost getting used to the rough exercises and lifestyle of the army. Within a month, we were deemed ready to fight in war.
Even during the harshest training regimes, we had something to look forward to. For most of us, it was letters from our family or loved ones. For those who lost their loved ones, it was the day they would claim the lives of their enemies and see a twisted form of justice served.
Thus through, similar aspirations and trauma, bonds formed in the military hoping to last a lifetime. Soon in 2 months since enlistment, it was time to move to the front lines.
I do not have a lot of memories of my time in the military is not very clear to me as these are memories from more than 80 years ago, however, I do remember the faces of those I had lost and kept in touch for as long as we could with those who survived.
However, one thing that war taught me was to be grateful for life itself. Being surrounded by death made me want to feel as alive as one can be and thus as I returned from war after 2 years, the first thing I did was buy a ring and propose to my girlfriend.
Thus for the first time, instead of seeking perfection, I was seeking happiness in life and acted spontaneously, and to my delight, I got married to the most wonderful woman I had ever known.
Many people equate being married to being settled and they might not be wrong. The rate of change in my life decreased tremendously. Sure there were many new things happening every once in a while but the frequency was quite slow and the goal of life was to maintain stability with occasionally exciting things.
So most of my married life consisted of working toward growing my business during the day, relaxing at home with the family at night and at weekends, enjoying leisurely activities like cinema, drinks or dinner with friends, and similar activities.
Every year we had a tradition of two long vacations, one with close family and the other with friends. A few years after the marriage we had twins and our lives got much busier but fulfilling at the same time.
Before we knew it, we were in our forties and our children were teens. At this time, our goals were shifted to our retirement. Hence we continued working and had enough money saved for most of the important things in life.
We retired at age 50 and our daughter inherited the business with us being shareholders while our son forged his path as an engineer. Science and technology were booming and a machine called Computer was invented a few years ago and was said to revolutionize the world as the Industrial Revolution did.
We became grandparents in our sixties and I finally somewhat understood how some of my close friends would keep talking about their grandkids being cute every time we met.
Soon we were in our eighties and we saw the dawn of the 21st century. The world had become much more peaceful and much more connected. Computers have grown so much compared to just 30 years ago that almost every upper-middle-class family has one or more such devices in their homes and a lot of clerical work, bookkeeping, and similar endeavors are now completed on computers.
Life did slow down a little in the eighties and traveling became a little difficult due to health issues. It was like a fairy tale until now but soon we had to accept some harsh truths. One by one, a lot of my friends, siblings, and relatives passed away and our circle became much smaller.
Perhaps this was the first time in my life since before the war when I felt that our lives were not enough. We had worked hard all our youths and earned everything we needed and this was the time when we could enjoy our lives without a lot of worry. Unfortunately, there was no way to earn more time and I could sense that even for us time was running out and soon we would be no more.
We had finally crossed the 90-year-old mark and are still able to walk around without crutches which is considered fit for our ages. We have now become great-grandparents. The 10-year-old me could never have imagined that I would live to see this day being born in a war-infested world where many people did not even have parents, living until we have become great-grandparents with a loving family around us, it feels like the heavens have blessed us.
On one such unfortunate day in 2019, my world lost its brightest light, my wife passed away from a heart attack. We were both 99 years old at the time. And thus I lost the person who had been my pillar for the last 74 years.
Fortunately or unfortunately, at that age, you get used to people leaving you so after a few months, I was not as much of a wreck as the day I lost her.
Thus a few years passed and I'm now on my deathbed. In the solitude of the last five years, I have once again begun pondering the meaning of a perfect life. Not all things in my life went as I had desired, however, I can picture very few people living a life better than mine.
So, the only thing making me feel bitter is if my life is so perfect, why does it have to end? Why does my wife's life have to end? Why did all of my friends' lives have to end? Why are we fated to not live for more than a certain number of years?
Pondering such thoughts I realized that my time had run out. And so I turned my head with great effort to look at everyone around me for one last time and closed my eyes for eternal rest.
...
'It doesn't hurt anymore. That's Strange.' I'm sure I had taken my last breath on the bed with a ton of needles injected within me as I was on life support. Still, it doesn't hurt and neither does my body feel sore anymore.
While I was thinking if this was the afterlife, I heard a horrid shrilling voice.
[KEEP YOUR EYES CLOSED].
As soon as I heard that voice, I felt immense respect and superiority for that being and for myself, I felt that I do not deserve to breathe the same air as they do.
'Wait, breathing!?' I don't think I have been breathing ever since I closed my eyes on my bed.
[THAT'S RIGHT. A SOUL HAS NO NEED TO BREATHE.
CAN YOU LEAD A BETTER LIFE IF YOU HAVE INDEFINITE TIME?]
'Soul? I see, this might be something like the afterlife. Indefinite time? Right, close to my death I wished my life would never end. But I wished the same for those dear to me. After all, what is a good life if not being surrounded by my loved ones.'
[I SEE. YOUR WISH CAN BEEN GRANTED. NOTHING CAN BE GAINED FOR FREE. ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY AN EQUIVALENT PRICE?]
'Wish can be granted? Alright. If I can live a never-ending life where I am not the only immortal, I am ready to pay any price as long as it does not harm anyone I care for in my previous life.'
[ALRIGHT, YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED. THE FLOW OF TIME WILL NOT PUSH YOU TOWARD DEATH. THE PRICE IS YOUR LIFE.]
'Wait! What!?' Before I could gather my thoughts, however, I felt a force pushing me and soon I was falling. After 3-4 seconds of falling which seemed like an eternity, I fell flat-faced on what seems to be mud.
And Thus began my second life.