ARTIFACT

---

I was heating water for coffee when I heard a loud noise in the backyard of the house. I opened the door and looked out. In the middle of the courtyard, on the lawn, was the artifact. The shape of that thing was a mixture of obtuse angles, crossed by smaller angles that gradually softened, until they were almost rounded, like a polyhedron with more vertices and facets.

I plucked up courage and approached. Soon, an invisible force paralyzed me and the object rearranged its angles, transforming itself into an oval sphere with a small central opening that, before imperceptible, expanded, showing an empty interior. Unable to react, that force pulled me into the object.

The artifact molded itself around me, literally enveloping me, clinging to fabrics, hair, eyes, every limb. I tried to escape imminent death by asphyxiation, but I was surrounded by the membrane the artifact had become, passing out.

I regained consciousness in the morning and was lying on the grass. Stunned, I looked around and there was no sign of the object. Confused, I entered the house, trying to sort out the thoughts that were running over each other. Days passed until I acquired a certain stability to minimally understand what had happened, as my body did not bear the marks of the strong constriction I suffered before passing out.

As much as I thought about it, I couldn't come to a conclusion. Several days passed and I noticed that I was not hungry. I thought I had lost my appetite, after all the singularity of that size could cause some change in the organism. I didn't think it would be possible to last so long without feeling hungry. And thirst. Or cold, heat, pain.

You will doubt it and think that it is the hallucination of an unhealthy mind, but these events took place in 1798. It has been 304 years since the event and now I am 366 years old unthinkable.

My body hasn't aged since then. The organs function in the same vein as when, at age 62, I had the overwhelming experience. I cannot say the same about my interior, the blessing obtained, if it can be called that, also brought adversity. I saw everyone I cared for leave. I watched their rise and fall, their triumphs and defeats, their struggles with disease and finally their deaths.

Year after year, they were withdrawn from life by the team's inclemency, like leaves tumbled from trees in the cold autumn winds. Seeing losses through the eyes of someone who is eternal is like watching a massacre helplessly; everything is more painful and inside, you feel a kind of shame, knowing you won't be hit.

I watched the world change, watched old customs disappear. I saw new ways to travel, dress, eat and live emerge. I exercised my ability to adapt to the fullest, never drawing attention to my longevity and this is mainly due to the fact that I was no longer young when everything happened. Gradually, too, I was moving away from friends and family and this contributed to my longevity not being noticed.

In the physical aspect, nothing can hurt me, I quickly recover from any impact and illnesses do not affect me. I can't hurt myself either, and the only thing susceptible to harm is my own conscience.

I follow the news and see the days that are little different from the past. The differences that have always generated conflicts have only increased. Envy and prejudice thrive. Education regressed by abandoning classicism, values ??are distorted and what was once called opportunity, today goes by the name of crisis.

I changed cities and countries countless times, but everywhere I experienced the same feelings of boredom and apathy. After so many years, nothing is very interesting or noteworthy, novelties no longer seduce me and memories are a cruel ghost, which haunts and saddens by waving a past that will not return.

Resigned, I obey the routine of absorbing information and seeing the marks of time passing, I read and study different subjects. There's not much to do when you're not in a hurry for anything. And there's little interest in things if they can't affect you.

A few years ago I returned to the old house where I found the object. I walk through the old courtyard, anxiously waiting for the artifact to return. An infinite bitterness invades my heart when I feel that the years will pass and I may not find him again, to try to reverse the process that turned me into this aberration.

So many times I read and discussed the death penalty... today I suffer a much crueler sentence, the life penalty. The artifact presented me with the most awaited gift, but along with it, it included the most terrible curse: condemning a man to live eternally with the consciousness of his eternity.

Comments