The Immortal's Therapist

I've had to take three of the really nasty epilepsy pills, so my brain is ten different kinds of fried. I was not able to make the next episode of The Humanity Integration Project, but I was able to write up this post and give you a story from my archives. I hope you enjoy it, and hopefully the next episode of The Humanity Integration Project will be up tomorrow.

So yeah, here's today's story, this was copy and pasted from an old word document, so the formatting will probably be a bit off so sorry!

October 9 2009

The Immortal’s Therapist

          He spoke to me as he laid on the soft couch I set up for him. He stared at the ceiling; I had painted it a pale pink to calm my patient’s nerves. Him and me have had many sessions together, no matter the cost he wanted to see me everyday. I didn’t know what to make of him at first, this crazy man who claimed to be an immortal. It took until the day he walked in the office with a knife poking out of his heart for me to start believing him.

         When I looked at those dirt brown eyes of his I could see the shadows of the infinity eternities he had experienced. He gave off the aura of youth; I felt ten years younger just standing next to him. The immortal was frozen at the age of twenty with the echoes of time trapped under his fair features. He had evenly toned muscles, honed to perfection over thousands of years walking the Earth. At thirty I seemed to be his senior by ten years, but he had lived longer than me by millions of years.

         In one earlier session he pulled out a rock and set it on my table. He said he had named it “friend” in an ancient language that no longer existed. He told me that the rock was the only thing that never left him. He made friends throughout all those eons, but they all left him eventually. He said how he pretended that the rock carried the spirits of his passed friends, and whenever he wanted to talk with someone he once knew he talked to the rock.

        I have heard tales of every part of history from him. He had picketed with workers during the great depression, and before that he had dinner with George Washington, and before even that he fought the Persians alongside the Greeks. The stories of battle he had for me were incredible. His immortality allowed him to go into any battle he wanted while being guaranteed to come out alive. Throughout time he had the privilege to pick any side he wanted and fight for whatever he wanted. He told me how sometimes he even switched to the other side for kicks. He said he never felt allegiance to any place because he had walked them all before. As he traveled the globe he had gained the ability to become any one he wanted. Over the years he had mastered the ability to change his appearance with makeup and other tricks. On Monday he could be an African, Tuesday an Asian, and Wednesday a European.

       I asked him once how come he was so sure that nothing could kill him. In response he told me of the time he had walked across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean without being killed by the pressure, lack of air or food, or the frequent shark attacks. He joked about how he was waiting for them to build a spaceship good enough to launch him into the sun to see if that could kill him.

Today’s session was different from all the rest. Today he said something I could never have guessed he would say. And I really wasn’t ready for it.

          “Doc, you know how I’ve told you of all the people I’ve been married to?” The immortal stood up from his chair and approached me. “Of all the women I’ve met and had children with?”

         “Yes you have told me tales of them over and over, you’re quite the romantic.” I couldn’t quite tell where he was going with this.

          “Well, I’ve fallen in love so many times it started to find it boring.” The immortal sighed, sitting back down in chair.

          “You told me this too. In fact I think you said that’s why you haven’t dated in the past two hundred years.” I smiled as I remembered me getting bored with my past relationships too. But I could never truly relate to the experiences of the immortal.

          “Well, I’ve fallen in love with someone again. I’ve married thousands of women over the millennia, but none of them ever made me feel like this. It seems after eons of trial and error I’ve found the perfect woman, you.” the immortal looked me straight in the eye, and I could see that he wasn’t kidding. He had fallen in love with yet another mortal. I wanted him to love again, but I’m not sure if I wanted it to be me. “But there’s a problem, as there always is. I know you will disappear like all the others. And then I will mourn for the next hundred years. Or forever, I’m not sure I can handle the loss of another.”

I truly pitied the immortal. To him nostalgia had cursed him for all eternity. I think that’s why he loved our sessions so much. Telling me of the memories revived them; it made him feel like he had never lost them. But also I talked to him about all the experiences, and since I knew a lot of history he probably thought of me as another immortal. I told him about World War II as if I had been there alongside him. He loved that, more than any other pleasure he had discovered over the years.

            “I’ve kind of fallen in love with you too.” I admitted. I had over our many sessions, but I always thought it to be one sided. He told me again and again about all the women he had met over the eons, and how amazing they were. I always thought I wouldn’t be worthy to be added to the list of the god’s brides.

           “Well that’s good for you, I would always be here for you if whether you like it or not. But I’ve felt losses hundreds, no, thousands of times and it has become a great burden. And I think that the loss of you would be the greatest one yet, and it may even break me.” He looked as though he was about to cry.

          “I don’t know what to say,” I said quite bluntly, “I can’t deny that I will disappear, but it isn’t that why you have the rock?”

           “It isn’t good enough!” he yelled for the first time in front of me. Over the years the immortal had become so strong that nothing seemed to have bothered him. I thought he had managed to tame his emotions over the years. This is the first time I have ever seen anger come from him.

          “Calm down.” when I said this I used the softest tone of voice. Soothing the patient is one of the biggest parts of being a therapist. “Everything will be alright.”

          “Alright? Like hell it’ll be alright! You had to be so damn perfect didn’t you? I’ve wanted for someone like you for a long time, and now I’m afraid to have you just because I know I will lose you.” The immortal began to cry. The tears that came out seemed to have been waiting for thousands of years to appear. I had no idea what to say. I couldn’t deny the fact of my eventual death. The room quieted so much I could hear my breathing, but not his. And that’s when I realized he didn’t have to. It took me what seemed like one of the immortal’s eternities to finally figure out what to say.

             “History repeats itself. Have you ever heard that expression?” I said.

              “Yes I have, and its very true, I know it for a fact.” the immortal’s tears slowed down a little. He began to sit upright, leaning towards me.

              “Well, I’m part of history right? Shouldn’t I repeat too? You keep telling me about all you have lost, but have you really? You know it all comes back, and so will I. When I die, and I can’t say I won’t, I want you to keep searching for me until you find me again. Will you do that for me?” I smiled at the immortal.

              “You think I’ll be able to find you again?” He looked at me with a doubt in his eyes. He didn’t seem to trust my words.

              “Of course you will. If there’s one thing I know you’ve become over all those years its stubborn.” He laughed and so did I.

             “Okay Doc, I’ll do that for you. Now, can I have the honor of treating you to dinner?” He stood up and held out his hand, I took it and we walked out of my office together. I looked into his eyes again and I saw true happiness for the first time in him.