Epilogue
Fifty years seems like a long time, doesn’t it? To me it felt like the blink of an eye.
Not nearly long enough.
I woke to Lux sitting beside my bed, the morning light slipping through the curtains in soft golden strands. He had been there every morning for decades.
We had lived just like any other married couple when we were alone. He helped me cook and clean the house, we played games together, and, of course, we made love whenever the mood struck.
It had struck often.
When the kids were home, he was just ‘Mom’s Gaming Console,’ only resuming his human form once they had gone to bed.
The kids were not allowed to play with mom’s console; they had their own.
As they got older, they wondered why I had never remarried, but I assured them I was happy, and they didn’t press the issue.
Lux had encouraged me to go out with Yasmin, have fun, and make more friends.
I was glad I’d listened. I started having more fun and feeling like a normal person.
It didn’t feel awkward because I knew I always had Lux to come home to, and he would listen to me talk about my night with no jealousy or judgment.
He never left the house with me. We never went to the store together or on dates. Couldn’t. But he was always there when I returned, waiting in his console form until he was sure the coast was clear.
It had been enough.
After the kids grew up and moved out, the rules finally loosened.
Lux sat beside me on the couch at any time of the day.
We didn’t have to watch the clock to make sure he wasn’t caught when the kids got home from school.
He could walk freely down the hallway and wrap his arms around me while I stood at the kitchen sink.
Lux watched the seasons change through the windows. Never complaining that he couldn’t be out there, in the snow or rain or falling leaves. We grew old together; only one of us wearing it on our skin.
Now, in my eighties, he took care of me.
He helped me sit up and fed me spoonfuls of soup.
My hands shook too much to manage it myself these days.
He walked slowly beside me, holding me up so I could reach the bathroom or the couch.
When I was tired, he helped me back to bed with the infinite patience of someone to whom time had no meaning.
The kids came to visit more often. They hovered, concern obvious in their small smiles and careful questions.
“Are you managing on your own?”
“Do you want to come stay with one of us for a while?”
I always reassured them. Told them I was fine. That I was alright alone.
And Lux sat out of sight, silent and still, exactly where he had always been. Exactly where he would remain until the coast was clear for him to come out.
It wouldn’t be long now; I could feel it. Like when animals sought out places to die alone, they just knew it was time. It was almost my time.
“Can I get you anything?” Lux asked me.
“No, I’m fine.” I patted his hand, comparing his smooth silicone skin to my own weathered and wrinkled hand. “What will you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“When I’m gone. Will you shut down or will you choose to find another woman?”
Lux furrowed his brows. “I had not given it any thought. I guess I always hoped it would not come to that.”
“You’ve always known I would die one day, Lux.”
Lux stood and paced at the end of the bed. “How is it fair that she gets to live? That he gets to have her forever?”
We both knew the answer to this question. She was a witch, and that apparently made her immortal. I couldn’t blame him for being jealous that the first Lux-1 System would be able to have his love forever. It wasn’t fair. But life rarely was.
“You’re right, it isn’t fair. Is it?”
Lux and I both swung our heads toward the bedroom door at the sound of a woman’s voice. Standing in the doorway was a woman in her forties with dark brown hair, tan skin, and sunglasses. She was wearing a yellow sundress and a wide-brimmed straw hat.
“Who are you?” Lux asked.
“Oh, come now. Don’t you recognize your creator?” The woman removed her glasses and smiled at him.
Lux turned to look at me, then back to the woman. Astonished.
"But you were an old woman, fifty years ago. How could you possibly be Selma?” Lux frowned at the woman.
“Magic.” Selma winked at him then turned her attention to me. “Oh, Catia. How are you feeling?” she asked as she walked to the chair at my bedside and sat.
I shook my head. “I’m very tired.”
“What are you doing here?” Lux crossed his arms over his chest.
“I came to offer Catia a gift.” She grabbed my hand. She didn’t squeeze; she was gentle.
She apparently knew what it was like to be this frail.
“Youth, the same way you became young?” Lux sounded hopeful as he stepped forward.
“Yes, but she must choose it.” Selma admonished Lux.
“Why would she not choose it?” Lux sounded incredulous.
“Because she would no longer get to see her family or friends. Her children would not understand that their mother was suddenly a young woman. Nor would anyone else. Immortality is not without consequences.”
Lux took a step back, understanding crossing his face.
“I’ll do it,” I said, but it was only a whisper coming from my lips.
Both of them looked at me, both surprised at how quickly I had decided.
“If I die, I won’t ever see them again anyway. I’ve done my part; I’ve raised them. We’ve said our goodbyes.” I was getting more and more tired. I closed my eyes, only for a moment.
CONSCIOUSNESS CAME slowly. I heard Lux’s voice but couldn’t make out what he was saying. He was talking to someone with a deep voice, obviously not Selma.
“She’s waking up.” I heard Selma say. “We’ll be just outside the door.”
Finally, I opened my eyes; Lux’s smiling face was the first thing I saw. He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. Except it wasn’t my hand; it couldn’t be. My hand was pale and wrinkled.
This hand had smooth skin.
Trembling fingers found my face, and my eyes shot back to Lux. He smiled and nodded.
“Let me get you a mirror.”
“Actually, let me see if I can get up.” My heart thumped with excitement.
Lux helped me sit up, then stand. He held me in case I was still weak, but I felt amazing. I walked to the floor-length mirror by the closet and stared. The woman that stared back at me looked about the same as when I had met Lux.
“You’re thirty.” Selma said from the doorway. “And you will be thirty every time you die and come back. You return to the state you were in when you first came into contact with magic.”
As I turned to her, tears blurred my vision. “I can’t thank you enough.” I crossed the room and gave her a hug. “You made it just in time.”
She laughed and hugged me back. “I knew today was the day. I waited until you had lived your full life before making the offer so you would have your whole lifetime of knowledge to make an informed decision.”
“Makes sense.” I nodded, then looked around the room. Tears briefly stung my eyes. It had been my home for so long. There were lots of memories here, but it was time to make a change. “Guess it’s time to move. Can’t be here when the kids show up.”
“Won’t they notice the lack of body?” Lux asked.
“There will be a body,” a new voice said from the hallway. “A magical replica of Catia for them to bury.”
I turned to see who had spoken.
It was Yasmin.
My Yasmin.
She had passed away ten years before of heart disease, but here she was, looking not a day over forty.
I stared at her, completely unable to move or speak.
My brain refused to process what my eyes were seeing.
It wasn’t possible. I had identified her body at the morgue.
I had planned her funeral because she never had kids.
I had watched her casket be lowered into the ground on a gloomy day in November while the rain soaked through my coat.
I had grieved the loss of my chosen sister for the past ten years.
“Are you going to hug me, or what?” She smirked, and it was such a Yasmin thing to say that I cried out in pain and relief.
We collided in an emotional embrace. Both of us sobbing out loud. I held onto her like she might disappear if I let go, and she held me just as tight.
When we finally let each other go, I held her at arm's length, just staring at my lifelong friend. The same face. The same eyes. The same Yasmin who had barged into my house uninvited for sixty-plus years.
“How?” was all I could manage.
“I’ll tell you my story another day. Let’s get you settled first.”
Before I could argue, a deep voice came from the doorway.
“We’ll put anything you wish to keep in this box.” A man who looked like Lux said, bringing a box into the bedroom and setting it on the bed.
I looked from him to Lux, then back again. The same gunmetal skin, but where Lux's lines glowed blue, his glowed green. The angles of their faces were a little different too.
Like fraternal twins.
“Are you the other Lux-1?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “But I prefer Lu.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Lu.” I looked at everyone in the room, and something tightened in my chest. My best friend was alive; I was young again and could live many more lifetimes with my love, and Lux would now get the chance to maybe have a relationship with his ‘mother’ and ‘brother.’
Lux moved to stand beside me, his hand finding mine.
“Where will we live?” Lux asked.
“You’ll come stay with us for a while.” Selma smiled, putting her arm around Yasmin. “Someone has to teach you how to be a witch.”
The End