Tevun-Krus #34 - GothPunk

The Immortality Machine - A Short Story by @krazydiamond

He believed men and women like the Curies, Tesla, and Edison were the way of the future.

"It is science that will save the country from Consumption," he said. That was before Mother fell ill.

Before her long drawn out descent into death. No matter how Papa felt on the subject I reverently prayed at the end. I prayed for my mother's soul. By the end, I prayed for her death, if only to ease her obvious suffering.

As I stared at her casket being lowered into the ground, I wondered who would pray for my soul at the end. A selfish tear streaked down my cheeks. I'd already mourned my Mother weeks ago. This tear was for me, for the slow creep of decay settling into my bones. Tansy put her arm around me, her face mask firmly in place. She was more vigilant about such things than I, it was why she would outlive me.

My father's personal man Nicolas stood, stalwart and silent opposite from me, a place holder for father, his face mask hiding the grim line of his mouth. The rest servants stood in a loose cluster a few yards away, the only souls brave enough to attend the funeral of a Consumption victim, their bright white face masks blurred floating squares in the corner of my vision. Mama loathed those masks, how inhuman they made us seem to her. Her unease whittled down my resolve to wear one, but that wasn't why I stopped. By the end, I didn't care, I didn't care if I lived or died, I only wanted to take away her pain. It was a mistake I would pay dearly for.

The first handful of dirt on the coffin brought the finality of it home. Mother was gone. Cold in the earth.

I couldn't breathe. Tansy caught me as I sagged, the reality of my situation stealing over me with a sharpness that squeezed my chest tighter than corset strings. One of the other girls detached, little Lizzy, one of the kitchen girls. Stronger than she looked, taking the bulk of my weight as the two of them stirred me into the house.

"You need to eat more miss," Lizzy scolded me, her face pinched with concern. Tansy's expression was unreadable. Of course, I hadn't told them yet, only Tansy knew of my current condition. This was confirmed when Lizzy reached up to unhook her mask from behind her ears. I snatched at her elbow, a panic vision of the household full of decaying servants flashing through my mind.

"Keep it on," I choked. "We don't know how long the Consumption lingers."

Lizzy frowned at me but listened to my command. I let them push me back into one of the parlor chairs, allowing Lizzy and Tansy to fuss over me and fill me with tea and tea cakes. It was the most I'd eaten in a week but it was enough to stop the trembling in my limbs.

"Why don't you go prepare dinner for the little miss and the master," said Tansy, shooting me a meaningful glance. Lizzy hustled out as Tansy tucked a warm blanket around my legs.

"You didn't tell them?" I asked her, my voice quiet and strained.

"Let them have a reprieve from mourning," she softly answered. I knew what she meant. A pall lingered over the household through mother's long sickness, one the servants knew she would not survive. The watched her from the corner of their eyes in the months leading up to her final days, watching, waiting for her to take a worse turn. Waiting for her to succumb.

I stilled Tansy's fluttering hands. "I want to be alone."

Once she was gone, I allowed a few tears, snuggling into the blanket that still smelled like mother.

I dozed in the chair, imagining her hands stroking my hand, whispering comfort in my ear. I slept peacefully for the first time in weeks.

**

I do not know how mother lasted six months. Within days I feel the first twinges and aches, as if my body has caught a never ending flu. The first morning I wake up with them, I never want to leave my bed again. I ache, it is cold, and I haven't seen my father since that fateful day. My mood is further soured by Tansy bursting into the room, spreading the curtains wide as she flips the blanket off my balled up form.