Short Story
I am not selfish. I repeat, I am not selfish. All I did was for love, true love – the kind of love that is once in a lifetime. And wouldn’t I know it? My lifetime had been going on for so many years. But when I saw him for the first time, I realized he is the one. But I think I am going ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning.
I was 21 when I became immortal. An experiment went wrong in a science lab that I was visiting and I was subjected to some radiations. Something changed in my DNA and I became immortal. Don’t ask too many details, please. It was hundreds of years ago and I don’t recollect a lot of it. Just know that I am immortal and let’s roll with that.
Over the years, I had many and many love interests. Being 21, my desire for companionship was eternal. But being immortal, I had to leave those love interests before they got too suspicious. It was not too much of a trouble to me. I had no interest in any of them. They were just there at the right time until it was time to move on.
Then I saw him, and it was like lightning has struck through me. An electric jolt filled my entire body whenever I looked at him or met his eyes. I had heard of true love, but it was the first time that I experienced it, and I loved this feeling. I did not want to let go of him. It took me a while to track him down, figure out where he lived and where he worked, who lived with him.
Incidentally, it turned out that he was married. That would have been enough to deter someone else from him, but not me. I had to try, at least once. I decided if he was happy in his marriage, I will let go. It would be painful for sure, but I could be a bigger person. But I had to make sure. So I found a way to be associated with him and started flirting with him. He responded to my flirting and that was hint enough for me. He must not be happy in his marriage. Why else would he respond to my flirting? That was my calling, alright.
Now all I had to do was to get rid of his wife. That was very simple. I did not want to wait for him to ask it for me. I knew he would ask. He was my soul mate. He had to ask. But I wanted to get to that stage fast. The plan was very simple – I was immortal with an impenetrable skin. A car accident, for me, is like eating a cake. And within a few days, his wife was dead. Initially though, his reactions surprised me. He looked like he was devastated. He did not leave his home for many days and became a shadow of his existence. It must all be an act. After all, he was my soulmate. He did not know it yet, but he is, of that I am sure. He should not be so devastated. He should just be sad so that I can get an entry into his life. But why would he be so devastated at her death?
I started visiting him more and more. I, too, can play act, and pretended to be sorry for his loss. However, his acting was getting on my nerves. Why could he not just stop pretending and be with me? Then one day, I decided to seduce him. After I seduce him and make him come to me, I could make him believe that I was the one for him and we could live happily ever after. I went to him and tried everything that I knew worked on men. But he refused to be seduced. He was not even paying any attention to me. He was only gazing at his wife’s photography and crying. In a fit of anger, I hit him. How could I know that my strike could kill him? After all, it was just with a chair that I hit him with.
Now I was devastated. How could he be dead? We were supposed to spend our lifetime together. We were soul mates. And that is when an idea struck me. If we could not be together in life, we could at least be together in death. I smashed his face to a pulp. Now they could not have an open casket.
At his wake, just before the coffin was rolled out, when there was no one around, I entered the coffin and laid next to him. I stayed with him when he was buried. The sound of sand covering the coffin was music to my ears. We were getting engulfed together. It was a dream come true for me. Slowly, the oxygen in the coffin started depleting and I was getting sleepy. Even when I knew I would die soon, I was happy because I would finally be with him.
So you see? I was not selfish. I did it all only for true love.
