I walk along the boardwalk. People all around me seem so much lighter, so much happier. Yet, any second now, they could be run over, shot, stabbed, they could have any unknown disease taking over their body, converting the host to nothing but a pile of ash. Yet they walk on, they smile, they hold hands, they laugh. They know what it is to live. They know their purpose. 
My soul has wandered for 122 years. Not long I guess, in the scheme of things I have many more to go. I know I should take a companion. That’s what my maker told me, I have lured many a mate home, but alas I could not do it. Their life seems too precious. I have watched those I love grow old or ill and die, knowing I could let them live, but the life I have to offer them is no life. 
A few weeks ago I began to spot her. Endlessly still in a moving crowd. She stared at me for a long time, but as I got closer, she vanished. I saw her several times after that but always she vanished as I drew close. I got close one night and chased her through the street her red hair aflame behind her. She turned into a music hall and I lost her for a few moments, eventually catching up to her on the dance floor. I stepped towards her, her long lashes blinked large undaunted eyes at me, instead she beckoned me and raised her arms wrapping them tenderly around my neck. Gently we swayed to the music.
“You are the same as me, aren’t you?”
She giggled at me. The sound was beautiful, magical to me, I felt heat flow through my body, something I believed impossible.
“Yes. And no, I have many years on you my dear boy. You looked lost when I first saw you.”
“Yes, I have lost all close to me and wish this curse be gone.”
She slapped me hard. Then as I pulled away shocked she grabbed me and kissed me more passionately than I had ever been kissed. She led me from the dance hall and out into the night, I trailed behind her wordlessly following her every word. We entered an apartment soon to be hers and her mouth once again found mine, I was entranced.
The next day I awoke in her arms, she asked me if I still wished my curse to be gone. I thought about it then shook my head no.
“I was wrong, it was not my immortality I wished to lose, but instead I wished to find a soul mate to wander the earth with.”
I have long been a fan of Edvard Munch’s work and believe his paintings hide many, many stories behind them. The perfect inspiration for today’s post. (Images courtesy of google images).
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Finite Creatures.”
New2Writing 