Perspective - A Short Story

I had a dream last night. Or rather, a nightmare.

But you won't understand me unless I explain...

I was born fifty years ago, in 5375 OC. Claude was the name given to me. All that, though, doesn't matter in my story. What does is my first interstellar trip. I had just graduated from high school at 18, when I decided that I wanted to take some time off. I wanted to see the worlds and all that they had to offer! I wanted to find my calling and settle down. Thus, I resolved to make travel plans: first I was to visit Voopmont, then Coryana, then Dunist, then Velnoistopia. I departed, and visited the first three nations. Their glories were endless! Technologies that one could barely even dream of! Prosperity for all! I greatly enjoyed my stay, though I couldn't seem to fit in. They didn't need me. They were perfectly fine without me. By the time I boarded my ship to Velnoistopia, I had already begun to lose hope in finding a vocation...

But then I saw the nation. It practically begged for help. I should have known, Velnoistopia was renowned for its poverty and instability. Fascism, on more than one occasion, had risen and laid waste to its country. Everywhere I went, there was desolation. People called to me for food and money! It took only a few days for the fact that I should stay to dawn on me. I called my parents and told them I was to work for charity. The next few years went by smoothly. Every smile that I brought, every little bit of light in the darkness, was heartwarming. I know this will sound a bit selfish, but that everyone around me was happy wasn't enough to make me happy...

I searched tirelessly for happiness. What was it to be found in? Why was it that handing out food and building houses sowed a bit of sadness in me? Those questions remained within me until one fateful day. I still remember the night sky that day, with thousands of shining dots glittering the sky, with a great smear across its face. The planet's moons added a charming touch. Before closing up for the night, a young woman barged through the door, weeping and shaking me. "Help me, please! My parents starve and hunger, and my mother is sick and dying! I can't afford to save them!" I asked for her address and we ran to her house. Her father sat, while watching his sickly wife. I called the nearby hospital right there and then. The young woman, whose name happened to be Lisa, said, "What are you doing?!?!" I said we can't afford it!" I replied, "Shh... I'll pay for everything." She broke into the largest smile that I had ever seen and hugged me. I smiled.

For the next few days, I visited Lisa's family at the hospital. Her mother started to recover, while they all stopped starving. One night, I asked Lisa out for dinner. She said yes. Lisa turned out to be a great person. Vivacious, beautiful, and intelligent. She was a perfect fit for the calm and caring Claude. We talked for hours about anything and everything, becoming natural friends. This friendship blossomed into a relationship over the next year, which was one of my life's best. I found out that was I was missing was love. It was all around me, yet I had had none of it! She would meet me at the charity every night before we had dinner together. And on weekends, we spent the whole day together! One day, we had a picnic. When we finished our food, she said, "Today, last year, I came to you, weeping. You saved my family's lives! You've given us so much, not only physically, but emotionally to. Not only food, dear Claude, but love, too! I love you so much, more than anything in this universe! Will you marry me?" She said the last sentence while showing a ring to me. Her eyes glittered, like the night sky the day I met Lisa. I replied, "Oh, my Lisa, yes, yes, YES, I will!! You have given me love too, the one thing I was missing in my life! I didn't know what I missed until I met you!" We both kissed.

Two years later, we had our first child. He was the sweetest little thing! Little Sam reminded me so much of his mother in how alive he was. He was bursting with life. Three years after that, we had Stephanie, our second child. She was caring and loving, like her father. Two years later, in my thirtieth year and Lisa's thirty-third, Beatitas, my homeland, unveiled its Transcendence Program, wherein its citizens may receive free genetic modification. I, filled with excitement, told Lisa that I was to travel to Beatitas for that reason. She broke into a smile. "How wonderful for you, dear," she said, "though I can't see how you can get any better!" We both smiled and kissed. The next week, I left Velnoistopia for the first time in twelve years.

I was surprised at the technology of Beatitas! I had forgotten, within twelve years, the technical marvels of humanity. Nevertheless, I first went to visit my parents. After staying at their house for a few days, I left to the nearest Transcendence building. I asked for heightened intelligence and a radically extended lifespan, so that I would live around three centuries. I thought, "To think that I will be living for three hundred years! Holding death away from me for two hundred more years!" After the procedure, I noticed a subtle change. I understood my surroundings better... It was as if I was staring at a wall for thirty years before stepping up to see the world above it! I bid good-bye to my parents before leaving for Velnoistopia.

I hugged my dear children and kissed my loving wife upon returning home. I noticed that there was something... different between me and Lisa. But I said nothing of it. During our welcome home dinner, I excitedly told my family about the trip and my genetic modification; "Here's the best part: I shall live for three hundred years!" Sam and Steph cheered me on, while Lisa seemed a bit... hesitant. She congratulated me, anyways. A few minutes later, she excused herself from the table, saying that she didn't feel well. I then showered my kids and took them to bed, reading them a bedtime story. I stayed in their room for a few minutes after they fell asleep, reflecting on the past few days.

But I heard a small sound, a bit like crying, it seemed. I realized the voice was Lisa's, and then I wondered what she was crying about. She didn't mention anything during dinner, but she did act quite queerly. I resolved to talk to her about it. I walked quietly to our room and opened the door. There she was in all her glory, weeping profusely into a framed picture of us. "Lisa, is anything wrong," I queried. She gasped and quickly turned around to face me. She replied, somewhat shakily, "N...no, my C...Claude.. I was c...crying because I was so h...happy to see you!" I was not convinced, but I did not attempt to pry any further. I calmed Lisa down, and she fell asleep. I went into bed, and suddenly realized what she was crying about.

I would outlive my wife by two centuries. I then weeped as well.

The years passed by, each one fading into the past. We had another child. I and Lisa still loved each other more than anything in the world, though one could not help but notice that something had changed. Soon, twenty winters passed us by. Our youngest had just graduated from high school, and the eldest was now an aspiring government official. This was 5425 OC. I am now fifty, and Lisa fifty-three. Last night, we looked through our old pictures. Even at the first, we collectively gasped! The years have shown themselves on Lisa while I had barely aged at all. I muttered, "To hell with Transcendence" quietly. I then suggested that it was getting late and that we really should sleep.

We couldn't sleep for hours, but we eventually did. I started dreaming, but I didn't know that. I stood in a graveyard. There was a lightning storm. On the tombstone directly in front of me said, "Lisa." Right when I read that, lightning strook, and I felt as if it strook my soul. I howled. Then I was in a church. Wagner's Bridal Chorus, with a choir, was playing. The priest then pronounced me and another woman wife and husband. I felt love for the woman, yet it could not overwhelm the depression of Lisa's death. Then I reappeared at the graveyard. Now there were two tombstones, each with the name of a woman I married. Then the lightning strook. Then the church reappeared, with another woman. Sadness was still there. Then the two scenes began switching very quickly, over and over, till there were a hundred tombstones. I cried out!

Then I woke up. Lisa woke up. "You frightened me! This is about your age?" "Y...yes dear... I SHALL HAVE TO ENDURE YOUR DEATH AND MANY OTHERS!!! I AM TRAPPED, ALIVE!!!" I shook furiously. Lisa gasped and thought for a while. "My dear, you, unlike me, will get to experience love so many times! And I assure you, only the happiness will remain. Trust me, I have endured the death of my beloved b...brother... Even though I g...grieved, only the happiness of our relationship remains. The same shall happen with you! You'll remember our years together, with your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren! You'll live to see humanity flourish! You'll live to see great things, my dear Claude! And you can do great things to others! Think how happy you shall be, to live the happiness of three centuries of love."