You took a last pull on the cigarette, the soft crackling sound of the burning tobacco a familiarily calming one as you breathed the toxic smoke in deeply and stayed still for a few seconds, eyes jumping tiredly from passing cars, to passing humans to some busy restaurants infront of you, taking in the whole sight new york had to give at the ungodly hour of 10 am, while holding in the legal poison a moment longer than neccessary before finally flicking all that was left of the cigarette away and lazily breathing back out.

A little cloud appeared infront of you briefly, blurring your vision before the wind slowly carried it away and the busy street in front of you was clear in sight again.

This was one of the cities you never quite got over, the feelings and surroundings nostalgic, and yet, different but still familiar enough to remember it as home.

You hadn't been able to get used to the tall buildings yet, for it made your stomach turn upside down just by standing infront of it and looking up, always pissing yourself a bit when you got dizzy and your mind tricked you for a second into thinking it fell directly on you that exact moment.

But it weren't just the skyscrapers, as it was called, that always seemed to grow a bit taller with each visit, it was the technology as well, that had grown and is still growing with every passing day and that had implanted itself in ever corner of this city, on every wall, in everyones hands, in every restaurant and shop, on every street and everyones home.

It's not like you were complaining though, you loved it.

Back then, you weren't able to see a relatives face if you didn't live close by and the only way to keep in contact was to always exchange letters, which had been a pain in the , and you cringed just remembering those awful years you had to write and write and write some more, even after you felt like your hand was about to fall off, since, even though the thing everyone did was write, the revolution of a proper pencil was still far and thus made exchanging letters a hundret times worse. You hadn't touched an inked feather ever since though and you didn't think about doing so anytime soon. Those handwritten letters were enough for a whole immortality time, screw "for a life time". This was much worse.

Sending out money and goods had also been so hard back in the days, and it had always taken weeks, if not months till it had actually arrived, god knows what condition it had at that point, and if the reciever hadn't had send you a letter of confirmation for the deliverys arrival, there had been no way you had ever gotten to know if the delivery had actually arrived at all.

Not one bit comparable to now as the delivery service was much further developed and if you payed a slight more amount you even got the service of your goods arrival at the door of your reciever in less than 24 hours, how awesome was that?? And the goods were even insured??? So you got money back in case something happened to your delivery while delivering????

Able to live these times through the help of immortality was a blessing, indeed.

The buildings got taller, the technology steps and steps further, the streets wider and longer, yet the government turned more and more into a dissappointing show though the racism decreased slighty and the people got more open minded.

But the questions of the universe stayed the same, and you were also just the same, unable to answer the questions of your existence that had been endlessly nagging in your mind since years now:

"Why have I been living since almost a thousand years?"

 

 

 

You had accepted the fact months after the realisation hit you, but the question inside your mind never quite faded. How even, right? It's not like immortality has been a thing since forever. Haha yeah that was a pun just now.

Still, as much as you had enjoyed your few years of immortality, have been enjoying it up to this point and are still enjoying it, the endless life of course, has its downsides as well.

First you saw your family die and then your friends, slowly one by one. And when you made new friends a century later, they passed away as well and then it happened again a century later and again and again. While you, remained just the same, the aura of a 24 year old boy surrounding you and holding you tight, never leaving, not 200 years later, not 500. It's been exactly 999 years now, and you still looked just the way you did a few hundret years ago, yet an entire different being as you went with the flow, adjusting yourself to the evolution of humanity, every decade anew. And as time passed, trends happened faster, came and went quicker and you enjoyed it just so much more as it sometimes helped clearing your mind when these unaccountable questions knocked at the door that was your mind, again, crying for answers you couldn't give, weren't able to give.

 

 

You turned around and walked the few meters that were left towards the restaurant- well not quite restaurant but more like a luxurious fancy diner? -, they didn't allow smoking inside those places anymore. And that since a few centuries now, and it did make sense.. in a way... but a humans life span isn't much more than the average of 80 to 90 years so.. how much damage could a bit of smoking do?

The tall, muscular man in a tight suit with a microphone connected to his ear and some other equipment securely put on the side of his belt, stood next to the massive glass door and pushed the wooden handle attached to it back in his direction when he saw you walking up to him, giving you access to walk in and the slight ring that you got used to hearing from over the door, indicated your entrance.

High walls and pillars on each sighed greeted you with a long red carpet that had been rolled out on the floor, leading to and passing by the little reservation desk and continuing until what seemed like the end of the corridor. But you knew it just took a sharp turn up the stairs, half a meter before touching the big elevator that wasn't to miss and spread into a great hall that was to be expected one floor above.

The people here were well aware of who you were. It hadn't been the first time you visted this place and you sure weren't someone to just overlooked and passed by. Especially as a staff of a 5 stars restaurant slash fancy diner in disguise.

 

You walked right past the little desk and past the woman greeting you with a polite welcome sir, as you just slighty nodded to her direction with a smile and walked straight up to press the elevators button. The warmth of the entrance hall surrounded you fully now and you took your hands out of the black coats pockets, rubbing the gloves that you were wearing against each other, trying to warm yourself faster. How come I'm not immortal enough to keep myself from this -freezing cold. Pity.

The elevator doors opened with a ding and you glanzed at your left a moment before stepping inside the expensive looking 3 squaremeters spaced box. The invention of elevators had been one of your favourites. Stairs had hated you ever since you set foot on one and as classy as you may have looked, you always tripped for some reason. 999 years of existence and you never seemed to have learned how to walk up normal stairs. Pity.

 

The elevator doors closed with a ding again, after pressing a button to get the box moving, and opened again just a few seconds later, with a woman already standing next to the doors.

 

She also greeted you with a smile and a short Good morning Mr Kim. She didn't need to follow you to get you to your seat anymore though. He always sat at the window and everyone knew and no one bothered to change that. It's not like this place was busy on a wednesday morning anyway.

So you passed the woman a brief answer and a smile while already making your way out of the elevator, to the windowside, taking your gloves and coat off and lazily throwing it onto the chair next to you.

The second you are a bit richer and people around you notice, you are given this unsaid priviledge of being a bit more carless with the way you're acting, "Indicating this luxury to be just like the rest of your daily life.". was what the old man had told you and you had been baffled for a moment, but as time went by you realised it had actually been wise and quite true. It was weird how all these fancy luxury places allowed you to allow yourself more freedom and carelesness, just to give them the confirmation that you really do have lots of money somwhere inside your black and platinum cards. It was weird, was still weird, but after time you didn't even notive you doing these antics yourself anymore.

 

After looking at todays menu for a quick second, handing the menu card back, you had decided on a lighter breakfast. You didn't feel like eating much today, but these fany restaurants didn't serve much anyway.

 

When you actually settled down a few minutes later on your cozy seat, you took a sip of your coffee, that had arrived sooner than the rest of your order, and let your thoughts flow and your mind wander.

Starting the day with the familiar sounds of full streets and busy people talking hastily on phones or with friends, while they still had no actual connection to you, made you feel more than comfortable in your skin. It was one thing to be alone, though an entirely other one to be lonely.

And that's why you loved this place here so very much. New York was full, in every sense really. You were never actually by yourself, yet alone enough to enjoy the silence surrounding your little space. With no one lingering in your mind and no one making you feel something for them, no one to hold on to. No one to lose.

You had been alone throughout all your existence long enough already, and when you found yourself enjoying to be at this loud and fully packed place, while still being just with the company of your very self,

you made yourself a home here.

Because no one could leave you if you knew no one right?

 

So that was also the exact reason no one knew of tomorrow, the day you reached your 1000st Birthday.

How does one even celebrate a thousandth birthday, you thought nibbling on some of the bread.

You probably wouldn't do anything but stay at home or visit some museums. You loved visiting museums. It was as if you were looking at some old pictures of passed times. It reminded you of everything that had already happened and that you were able to survive through, remembering old ruler and kings, friends and some more people you oh so vividly had in mind as if you had lived through it just yesterday. And you'd continue dreaming so if it wasn't for the weird fact that these pictures were hung up in a galery, and were not to be touched while people walked through those said galeries, as you watched them looking in awe, while you felt more like you had leaped through time that very second than had been immortal since almost a thousand years. It was those times as well that made you feel as if you were a connection between the past and the present instead of a person that had just survived through it all. It made you realise how truly different you actually were from everyone else around you.

 

Back to the main point though, birthday parties were exaggeratingly overrated and you'd rather stay at home than drink till unconciousness. You had done that often enough already and reminding you of all the times, way too many times, sure didn't do you any good at this point.

So you didn't really expect anything, because there was nothing to expect.

But they say to expect the unexpected right?

 

And so, when the next day arrives, you sure as hell will not expect to wake up to a white hair shining at you unbothered through the mirror.

But of course, as you were sipping on your coffee still enjoying your food, you knew about none of this yet, but hours later.