Would you choose to live forever if you had the choice?
It was melting more quickly now. The delicate features that he had carved into the ice were blurring and becoming indistinct. It no longer really looked like Kim Boggs, though it did still look like a teenaged girl. Edward stood so still that he might have been a statue himself. He canted his head slightly and watched the ice sculpture melt. As the ice sculpture's features melted and ran like tears down her sparkling form, Edward marveled at how long this ice carving had lasted compared to the many other sculptures of Kim that he had carved over the years. He carved one every year. It was his own private memorial to his lost love.
No, that was not quite true.
He had lost Kim, that was true. He had lost her the first time on the night that he had killed her boyfriend in order to save her life. He had lost her again on a sunny day a few years later, when she had married. He had been oblivious of the time that was passing, but the sight of the wedding party made him realize that time was taking her further and further away from him. He had seen the wedding party from his castle window. And he had lost again for the last time when she died. She had been an old, old woman by then. Her funeral had been well attended by her children, and her children's children, and their children too. He had seen the funeral procession from his same high castle window. He had lost her, but he had never lost his love for her.
Time had swept Kim Boggs away from him. Time was melting his sculpture and taking that away from him too. He glanced in the dusty cracked mirror that was leaning at a crazy angle on the wall and saw his unchanged features looking back at him. He was still as young and unchanged as he had been on the first day that he had opened his eyes to see his smiling Inventor welcoming him into the world.
He had not chosen to live like this, frozen in time forever while all around him everyone else that he knew and loved grew old and died. He wished that he could be like them. Compared to an endless life of loneliness, death held no terror for him.
No, that was not quite true.
He had lost Kim, that was true. He had lost her the first time on the night that he had killed her boyfriend in order to save her life. He had lost her again on a sunny day a few years later, when she had married. He had been oblivious of the time that was passing, but the sight of the wedding party made him realize that time was taking her further and further away from him. He had seen the wedding party from his castle window. And he had lost again for the last time when she died. She had been an old, old woman by then. Her funeral had been well attended by her children, and her children's children, and their children too. He had seen the funeral procession from his same high castle window. He had lost her, but he had never lost his love for her.
Time had swept Kim Boggs away from him. Time was melting his sculpture and taking that away from him too. He glanced in the dusty cracked mirror that was leaning at a crazy angle on the wall and saw his unchanged features looking back at him. He was still as young and unchanged as he had been on the first day that he had opened his eyes to see his smiling Inventor welcoming him into the world.
He had not chosen to live like this, frozen in time forever while all around him everyone else that he knew and loved grew old and died. He wished that he could be like them. Compared to an endless life of loneliness, death held no terror for him.