One of My Short Stories

[Southern Breeze]

After reading the stories being posted I've decided to toss one of mine in the ring. It's one of the first ones I wrote, back in early 2000, and currently the only one set in Scotland. As such it predates my wearing the kilt or finding X Marks. It's short, around 7,000 words so I'll post it in two parts.

Immortals- part one.

Ann awoke and after dressing went to awaken her friend Cristy. The two of them were the same age, they had grown up together and were best friends. When Cristy had made her first film at age seventeen and started making public appearances, Ann and her other best friend Amy had started working for Cristy as bodyguards and personal assistants. Later they had dropped being guards and were just assistants.
The day before Cristy had been honored with a lifetime achievement award. She had made nearly two hundred films during her long career. Cristy had been awarded eighteen Oscars for best Actress and six for best Supporting Actress in her lifetime, a record no one had beaten.
Cristy had said she was tired the night before and went to bed early. When Ann went in to wake her, she noticed Cristy had gone downstairs and gotten the first Oscar she had been awarded. She was laying on her side with her hand resting on it.
When Ann saw her she knew what was wrong, and putting her hand on Cristy confirmed she had died. Ann made a few calls and sat beside her. Amy came in the room and joined her while they awaited the people Ann had summoned. The world would soon know that Cristy Larson, considered the worlds greatest actress had died in her sleep. She was one hundred and one years old.
After Cristy's death at age 101, her personal assistants Ann and Amy, who were the same age settled her affairs. They then disappeared into the quiet seclusion available to the wealthy. News of their deaths two years later and a month apart surprised no one.

TWO

Many years later two women sat together on their patio, reminiscing on the past. They appeared to be in their early forties but were much older.
"Tomorrows your birthday" Amy told Ann.
"I thought we agreed to stop having them” Ann replied with a smile.
"This ones special" Amy said "It's not every day you turn two hundred."
"Remember how Cristy would tease us about being too incompetent to grow old?" Ann asked.
"Do I ever" Amy said.
"There was a long period of time when I thought you and I both were nuts" Ann went on to say.” Realizing we had not only stopped aging and discovering we could change our fingerprints and DNA profile at will was a major shock."
"Tell me about it" laughed Amy. "I thought I was going insane."
While in their fifties they had discovered that bruises and scrapes disappeared almost instantly and cuts and extreme injuries healed in about ten seconds. Both of them had thought they were having mental problems at first and slowly found out different. They had spoken of this to no one but each other, keeping it a secret even from their best friend Cristy. Several years later they made another shocking discovery, they could change their fingerprints and DNA profiles at will. Later finding out they had stopped ageing was another shock.
"I still wonder, almost daily at times if we're the first of our kind or if there are others like us out there" Amy replied thoughtfully after a while.
"You and me both" Ann replied quietly.
The next day they celebrated Ann’s birthday together in private. Later that day they traveled to the Cristy Larson Heritage Museum. They were in fact the owners of it, via a private corporation and under other names. They were known by the staff but by assumed names.
Afterwards they visited the private mausoleums where Cristy and her family were buried and the one where their parents and family were interred.
Two years later Amy and Ann were in Britain ,visiting a crafts show near York, and discovered another person with their ability.
They arrived early and were walking around while the vendors were setting up. As they were walking past a woman setting pots and vases on a shelf they saw her slip and drop a vase on her hand, shattering it and cutting her hand badly. They hurried over and arrived in time to see the blood dripping down her fingers disappear.
"Are you ok?" they asked her.
"I'm fine. See, not even a scratch" the woman replied holding up her hand.
"We saw what happened to your hand" Ann replied.
"You only thought you did" the lady replied.
She then started cleaning up the broken pieces and dismissing them.
Amy and Ann knew what they had seen. After looking around Amy stood watch while Ann spoke with the woman.
"We saw what really happened" Ann told her quietly.
The lady opened her mouth to speak but Ann pulled a penknife from her purse and sliced deeply into her own arm before she could say anything. The cut healed almost instantly with no scarring or bloodstains.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that" Ann told her.
Samantha was the woman’s name, and Ann and Amy let her cut them herself before she was convinced it wasn't a trick.
"I'll speak with you, but not here" she told them.
Ann and Amy helped her pack up and they left for a private talk.
Samantha talked to them all day, they exchanged their stories and established they were being honest with one another. Samantha had been born in 1701 in Virginia and in her long life had found only four others like herself. Ann and Amy were the fifth and sixth.
The next day they visited Samantha and her husband George at their home in Scotland. George was the oldest of the people Samantha had found who were like them. He had been born around 1060 in Scotland. He'd met Samantha in 1823 and they had married in 1881.
He was delighted to meet them, greeting them with enormous hugs and they instantly bonded.
Over drinks in the library Samantha and George told them about the others they had found. Joan he said, was the second oldest, born in 1412 in France and had once been burned at the stake.
"Was she accused of witchcraft?" asked Ann.
George laughed and explained she was in fact a famous person and saint.
"I don't get it" said Amy.
"Ever hear of Joan of Arc?" Samantha said with a laugh.
Over the course of Ann and Amy's lives they had learned to discern the truth and they knew right away Samantha and George were being honest with them.
Earl, he said, had been born around 1620 in England and had spent most of his life wandering the globe.
"Earl jokingly calls himself the poster child for wanderlust" Samantha said.
"Kate was, until you two showed up, the youngest of our clan" George told them.
Samantha explained that Kate had been born in 1901. She had spent almost all her years since as a nun and doing charitable work worldwide. She considered her long life a blessing from God and used it to help others.
"Kate’s the only one like us known to outsiders and that one person is the Pope. He's the only one who knows of her gift." he continued.
"Take a look at this" George said, pointing out an autographed picture on the wall.
The photo was of George standing beside a young Cristy. Amy and Ann could be seen clearly close by.
"If I remember correctly that was in Denver, six days after she won her first two Oscars" Amy said.
"It was" George said. “I’ve always been a fan of hers."
"It's sobering to realize that was 183 years ago" Ann replied softly as she walked over to the window and started weeping silently.
"I'm sorry” Ann said as George came over and gently put his hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, I still do the same at times, thinking of my parents, and it's been over a thousand years since they died" George told her softly.
Amy and Samantha joined them at the window and stood staring out also.
"Welcome home" George softly said to Ann and Amy after several minutes.
The four of them stood quietly together at the window for over an hour. Ann and Amy felt the same thing and didn't have to say anything, George and Samantha were family.
Two days later Amy and Ann returned and met the others. George greeted them at the door and they followed him into the library.
"Kate, Earl, Joan, this is Ann and Amy" George told the three people sitting and talking with Samantha.
The next several moments were a blur of hugs and greetings. After Ann and Amy had met everyone, George poured them all a drink and Kate stood and made the first toast.
"To our sisters, Amy and Ann" Kate said, raising her glass. "Welcome home!"
"Welcome home Ann and Amy!" everyone shouted.
Hearing the love in their voices reduced Amy and Ann to tears and they were unable to raise their glasses for several moments. A bond was formed at that instant that would last forever.
Later that evening they were at dinner and when Ann and Amy broke down and started crying.
"What's wrong?" Joan asked them as she came and knelt beside them.
After several minutes Ann was finally able to speak.
"We're not alone anymore" she said softly.
When they regained their composure they realized everyone was standing or kneeling silently around them with a hand on their arm or shoulder.
It was eighty years before another like them was found.

I'll post part two in about a week.

Cheers, Jesse Ward.