Ageless, Pt. 1

Since it seems painfully obvious that not too many of us are still using this, I'll post in hopes that some of you will find this and enjoy and think about the piece I am about to share with you. Read, enjoy, and happy holidays! -Chris


 Date: Unknown

Location: CLASSIFIED

Report filed by Maj. Nites

Time of report being filed is unknown at this time. For now, the time that this report was filed by the Major is not of importance. We have more pressing matters than the major getting this particular file into us on time. For now the issue is pending.

When they asked me how long I was here, I told them they wouldn't believe me. I don't blame them. I hardly believe it myself
"The park is always a nice place to meet people. It's been here for a long time," I said aloud.
"Really? How long?" my friend asked in return.
"Longer than I've been here."
We were walking along a cobble stone path that leads to the center of the park. Two girls on skate boards rush by us. One wearing a black hoody and the other a white cap. The one with the cap decides to try and grind the nearest bench. She starts the grind and then falls off the board landing leg first and twists in an unhealthy fashion, her cap falling off her head. I casually walk behind the bench to see if she needs help. I look down at her and ask, "Are you okay? Need some help up?" I offered her a hand up and she looked at me with that silent anger that only a girl could possibly master.
"No! I don't need any fucking help up!" Her friend in the hoody walks over and helps her up. "Did it look like I needed help up?" she asks her friend.
"Yeah it did, you idiot." They grab her board and hat and start to walk away.
"Be more careful the next time and practice some more skating!" I yell after them. They both turn around and I receive the classic death glare. The one in the cap finally speaks up.
"Who the hell are you to tell me to practice?"
"They call me Knight. Some call me the Guardian Saint. My friends call me Queens. I'm sure you'll come up with a fourth name on your own," I respond.
"What kinda name is that? Whatever, Knight, Queens Saint, whatever the hell your name is. See you around. Asshole!" We watch the girl and her friend leave the park, and sit down on the bench she fell off of.
"Do you know her?" my friend asks.
"Do you want to hear a story?" I counter. With a slightly perplexed look on his face, he nodded at me. "Yes, I do know  who she is," I said. " I knew her from when she was just a small girl."
"That can't be possible. You're only two or three years older than she is."
I'm pretty sure I told him that time doesn't always work like it seems, but I have been mistaken before.
"The park has been here for over a hundred years," I explained. "At least that's what I've been told. I know it's older than I am, but we're not discussing the park or my age at the moment. I met her sometime around 2045." His brow knitted slightly as he did the math in his head, and then the look of disbelief came across quite plainly.
"But that would make you thirty-seven years old!"
"Yes, but I'm only twenty. We still haven't gotten to the point yet though." Sighing loudly he sat back, finally prepared to listen to my story, or at least appearing to be ready to listen. Now where to start? I can't tell him everything, but at the same time a lot of things need explaining. "For the sake of making things easy, I won't start at the very beginning. I met the girl when she was only five."
"Well, that is plausible-"
"Wait, let me finish telling you a few things! Falls are something that no one can grow out of and it was the same then as it is now. She ended up falling and scratching her knee in the process."
"And you were there to give a helping hand, right?"
"Yes I was. I ended up taking her back to her mother, who it seems has passed most of her looks onto her daughter. She told me that her daughter was as tough as any of the boys that she ran into, and I was of the right mind to believe her."
"Did you ever find out her name or is she to forever to be known as the mystery girl?"
"Well of course I did! I wouldn't just carry a girl back to her mother and not find out who they are! The girl's name is Aden, but I can't remember her mother too well. After Aden had dried her tears I told here that she would grow up to be a very respectable young lady." My friend gives my a questioning look which slowly turned into a sly grin.
"We both see how wrong you were then," he says.
"Sometimes I get the feeling you enjoy hearing about me being wrong." By now, his grin had stretched from ear to ear and to stop myself from getting too agitated I gently pinch the bridge of my nose and start again. "After that first meeting, I never really saw them again."
"Did you ever go back to the park?"

"I'm following you so far, but the suspense is killing me here."
"Just sit and listen, then maybe I'll actually be able to tell you what happened. As I recall, I was walking through the park. My arm was in a sling too, but that's not really important now either." I don't think he'll be ready for me to tell him when I injured my arm. "Anyway, walking through the park and a group of kids run by me, laughing and enjoying themselves just as they should. I make my way to the bench we happen to be sitting at now."
"Why do I have a feeling that the group of kids you mentioned is going to be important?"
"Because you finally understand what I'm telling you," I said a bit pointedly. At first the look on his face told me he thought it was a compliment, and then it finally sunk in and the sting began to show. "Now, back to the story if you would allow me to continue. A couple lovely sunny hours go by, and the group of kids run by the bench, but as they run by a white hat falls on the ground-"
"And thinking nothing of it, you get up and pick up the hat right?" A look of triumph was now painted on his face for finishing my sentence. I almost didn't have the heart to lay down another insult. Almost.
"I don't care what everyone else says about you. You're a smart guy." At first he smiled, then the meaning of what I just told him dawned on him. He opened his mouth, but then thought better of it and just sat there. "I see you're actually ready to listen again, so please, for the love of God, let me finish what I'm going to say." He nodded in mute agreement. "Yes I did go pick up the hat. As I turned to see who lost it, a girl runs up to me. For some reason she doesn't ask for the hat right away, instead she asks me who I am." God, I'll never forget how startling that was for me. I almost dropped the hat. "I knew damn well who she was after she asked the question, but I thought better of telling her. I asked her name in return." He blinked a few times and I got the mental image of a mouse running on a wheel and then falling and letting the wheel toss it around. Maybe the story is a bit too much for him to take.
"The girl was Aden. She had grown up since the last time I saw her, and I'd assume so after ten years, yet she seemed to remember me vaguely."
"But that can't be. You mean to tell me that the girl you're telling me about and the girl we just saw minutes ago are the same person?"
"Yes, I do mean to tell you this, and I have. She has grown up quite a bit since the story I just told you." I don't think the smile that came across my face helped to solidify exactly what was going on in his mind. The almost pained expression was telling me multiple things. He had better not say it's impossible. I had to wrestle with the fact that it's possible, no matter how much you want to believe otherwise. He looked up at me, and to my surprise the struggling look was gone and replaced with a sad and almost sympathetic look instead.
"This seems so impossible. You haven't aged what seems like more than a month, yet you've watched over this girl for a good portion of a life. And it's your birthday tomorrow too." We both smiled at the last comment. A smile that turned into a little laugh.
"Yes," I sighed. "It's one of those funny things about time."
"What's that?"
"It's somehow letting me watch over people. For what, I'm not sure. What has been strange is that the people I met at a very young age remember me the most. I'm sure some choose to forget, and others just keep living their lives."
"How many people have you watched over like this? I mean, it couldn't be that many right? You didn't meet me like-"
"Yes, I sure did." I couldn't help but let the smile creep onto my face. The look of complete shock that registered on his face turned my smile into a small fit of laughter.
"If you've met so many people, does that mean you've watched them- You know-," he gulped. I had known the question would come eventually and there wouldn't really be a way to avoid it after all this time.
"Yes," I said glumly, "I've had to watch them pass on. Time may let me watch over them, but nobody can stop from dying. I've lost count of the times I've cried for them. This ability that I was given is bitter sweet. I can't think of too many things better than getting to watch a person grow, yet I have to watch them fade."
"I'm sorry. I don't want you to have to go through that with me or that girl or anybody else you've had to watch over. You deserve so much more."
"It'll be okay. For some reason it always has been. I think we've used up your imagination for today. Let's go for a ride." He nodded in agreement, and we both get off the bench and dust ourselves off. Slowly, we make our way back up the cobble stone path that lead to the entrance of the park. Unknown to me at the time, Aden and her friend had not yet left the park.

"You know that guy who offered to help me up?" Aden asked.
"What about him, besides that you started to chew him out?"
"I know him."
"You're kidding, right? How do you know him?"
"I think I met him when I was little. In this park."
"You have to be shitting me. He would be over thirty, and he looked like he was in his early twenties."
"I know I've met him and he looked the same. He was nice then. He still is. I wonder if he remembers me."
"With the way you treated him? Who would want to remember you after that?" her friend giggles.
"Yeah," Aden sighs, "At least I hope he remembers me."