Prompt: “It took 500 years of eternal youth to find true love once again. A year later, you reveal your immortality to her. She smiles sadly, admitting that, before you met, she sacrificed most of her lifespan for a sure chance of true love, showing you gray hairs that hadn’t been there the day before.”
“Sweetie, I’m home,” Beth said as she opened the door to her apartment.
“Hello,” Maya said as she popped her head out of the kitchen.
In one of her hands, Beth had a grocery bag full of ingredients for their dinner tonight and in the other she had a vase full of flowers. Today is their second Valentine’s Day together and both of them want to make it special. The first time they celebrated Valentine’s Day together, they were a young couple of only a few weeks, so they just hung out and didn’t make a big deal out of it. Now that Valentine’s Day was rolling around again and the idea of their first anniversary together was fresh in their minds, they wanted to go all out. Beth had the idea of fixing a home cooked meal for the two of them as well as a bouquet of flowers and a silver necklace she bought a couple of days ago.
“Here let me help you with those,” Maya said taking the sack of grocieries from Beth’s hands.
“These are for you,” Beth held out the flowers and Maya smiled.
“You bought me flowers! I love them!” Maya said. “Look what I got you!”
She sat down the groceries on the kitchen counter and returned with her own vase full of flowers.
“Great minds think alike,” Beth said.
“I guess they do,” Maya said. “So what did you get for our special meal together?”
“I’m thinking Chicken Parmesan with Penne Noodles, Homemade Garlic Bread, and Spinach Salad. Plus some death by chocolate ice cream for dessert.”
“Oh my god, that sounds amazing!” Maya said.
“I’m glad you think so,” Beth laughed.
“Do you want to help me in the kitchen?” Maya asked.
“Really? You want to help me cook? The woman who can’t even boil water?”
“Oh come on, I’m not that bad!”
“You ate cereal for basically every meal in college because you didn’t know how to work a stove.”
“Hey! You can’t use that against me. I told you that when I was drunk. That’s a secret that must never leave your lips!” Maya said.
“Yeah yeah. Whatever. Fine, if you want to help me in the kitchen, you can,” Beth said.
“Great!” Maya said grabbing Beth’s hands.
“But if you burn anything, that will be yours,” Beth said.
“Yeah whatever,” Maya said before reaching up to pull Beth into a kiss.
The couple spent the next hour or so preparing the meal. Maya was tasked with boiling the water and getting the pasta ready while Beth cooked both the garlic bread and the breaded chicken breast. Altogether both of them did great and the meal turned out perfect. They sat down and ate their Valentine’s Day meal. They talked about their day and just spent a much needed moment together.
Beth truly felt relaxed around Maya. It was a feeling that she had never experienced before. Usually there was a thick wall up around her including when she was with other people in relationships in the past. But with Maya, she was very open and calm. They were only in this relationship for a little over a year, but Beth knew what this was. This was true love.
Beth also felt a pressure to tell Maya about the secret she’s been hiding for a long time now.
Maya and Beth finished up their meal and dumped the dirty dishes into the kitchen sink, before settling on the couch.
Maya had a small coughing fit as she sat down.
“Hey, you alright?” Beth asked.
“Yeah I’m fine,” Maya said taking a sip of water.
“Anyway, I got you something,” Beth said pulling out a jewelry box.
“Another thing? Beth you did enough!” Maya protested.
“Oh come on. Take this and open it up,” Beth insisted.
“Alright, fine,” Maya said.
She opened up the box and revealed the silver necklace.
“Oh my god! It’s amazing! I love it!” Maya said as she threw her arms around Beth.
“I’m glad,” Beth said giving her a hug back.
Maya pulled back and her facial expression seemed to droop.
“Hey, what’s wrong? I thought you said you love it,” Beth said.
“I do love it,” Maya said as she wiped tears from her eyes. “It’s just that you do so much for me, that I feel bad.”
“No! No! Don’t feel bad. You do plenty for me. You’re amazing! You make me feel amazing,” Beth said grabbing Maya’s hands. “I think… I think we’re great together.”
“I think we’re great together too. And you’re amazing,” Maya said squeezing Beth’s hands.
“Look, can I tell you something? It’s kind of a big thing, but I think I can trust you.”
“Yeah, Beth. You can tell me anything.”
“It’s going to sound strange, alright?”
“Ummm…alright.”
Beth took a deep breath.
“I’m not really 25,” Beth said. “I know that it looks like I am, but I’m a lot older.”
“What do you mean by ‘a lot older?'” Maya asked.
“Almost a thousand years old,” Beth said. “An old magical spell was put on me giving me immortality and now I look like this forever. Look, I know it sounds crazy -”
Maya cut her off.
“You were given immorality using magic?” Maya asked.
“Yes,” Beth said. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I believe you,” Maya said flatly.
“You….you do?” Beth asked a little confused by Maya’s reaction.
“I do,” Maya said. “I believe you because I’ve also dealt with magic.”
Beth’s eyes grew large.
“Wait, really? This isn’t you messing with me? Because I’m serious!”
Maya shook her head.
“I’m serious as well. I didn’t know that you had anything to do with magic, but I met someone capable of powerful magics. They granted me a wish in exchange…. in exchange of something from me.”
“Really? Tell me about this person? Who was it?”
Maya let out a sigh.
“About 16 months ago, I was down in New Orleans. I was sad and lonely unsure that I was going to find someone. I had been through a series of bad break-ups and I was in a spiral of depression. While I was there, a man approached me and struck up a conversation. At first I thought he was just a beggar or some kind of con artist, but he showed me some of his magic. He did things I couldn’t explain. Then he told me that he likes to help people.”
“I didn’t believe him at first, but his offer sounded so good,” Maya continued. “He told me that he could help me find my true love. Someone who would be caring and sweet and would be my better half.”
“What did he ask for in return?” Beth asked.
Maya pulled out a strand of her black hair and Beth could see that at the root, gray began to appear. Maya pulled back more of her hair, and Beth saw gray hairs were popping up all over her head. These were not there the day prior.
“I gave up a large portion of my life so I could find you,” Maya said looking up at Beth.
“How much? How much did you give up?” Beth asked.
“He told me that after I found you, I would only have two more years to live. Two years with my soulmate or a chance that I’d be lonely forever. It was stupid and shortsighted, but I wanted to meet you so bad,” Maya said as tears began to well up. “I’m so sorry.”
Maya began to weep and Beth pulled her in.
“It’s alright,” Beth tried to comfort her.
“The immortal girl finds the girl who’s about to die. What a great life,” Maya said as she continued to cry.
“We’ve known each other for 13 months now, right? So you still have at least 11 more months to live. We are not going to waste that,” Beth said.
Maya pulled back a little.
“You’re not going to leave me?”
“Leave you? Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because you’re an immortal and I’m…I’m….this,” Maya said pulling at her graying hair. “I’m dying.”
“You’re not dead yet. Plus you said it already. We are soulmates. Destined to be together. We don’t have a lot of time left, but we do have time. I’d never throw that away,” Beth said. “I’ve lived a long time, but I’ve never had anything close to this. This is true love. I love you, Maya. I love you!”
There was a brief moment of silence as Maya did her best to compose herself.
“I love you too, Beth,” Maya said.
She leaned forward and kissed Beth with as much passion as she could muster.
Beth leaned into the kiss as well. She had a need to be as close to Maya as physically possible, like both of their souls wanted to be connected in this moment. Her heart was beating fast and Beth was focused on Maya.
However there was a small thought forming in the back of Beth’s mind. Beth was determined to track down this mystery man from New Orleans. She was going to find him and make him fix Maya.
Beth wasn’t going to just let the love of her life slip away.
Header Photo was made with the help of Canva
Writing Prompt submitted to r/WritingPrompts by u/Lolrly123
Allen The Writer 