75 years old Alice Moore breathed out in exhaustion as she closed the library earlier than usual, setting the entrance panel to "closed".
After running this bookstore for several decades, Alice felt she was coming to the end. The pain in every part of her body had only increased last years and Alice was losing more and more strength, especially since her doctor had just diagnosed her with the onset of Parkinson's syndrome.
However, Alice had only maintained her body for several decades, with a balanced diet and regular sports practice, only the inexorable ravages of time could not be overcome. Alice knew this and was willing to accept it in some way. Her children kept pestering her to retire, but the old woman wanted to enjoy her working life as long as possible because she loved this life, literature, her customers, her co-worker and her store were all that mattered to her and she was not ready to give it up yet.
Rubbing her glasses, Alice was about to finish putting away the last of the borrowed books when a hand came to rest on her shoulder, "That's okay Alice I've got it."
It was Nicole, her 46-year-old colleague who had worked with Alice for the past decade. The woman with medium-length chestnut hair had a figure that was still young and energetic despite a face with a few wrinkles. Nicole was a very nice woman and was more than just a co-worker to Alice, she was a friend despite the age gap.
"Thanks, I'm sorry I've been feeling really tired lately can I let you finish?" Alice apologized.
A smile formed on Nicole's face, "Well for once you admit you're tired and let me, I can't believe it, you're always trying to finish everything" Nicole giggled.
"Yeah, I'll take it easy this time but I assure you that tomorrow you'll be the one who'll need me when I'm back on my feet" said Alice. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
Nicole was about to greet Alice when she remembered that she had forgotten to tell her coworker about something. "Wait! I just remembered...there was this box over there on a table in the back, it has your name and the store address on it, I saw you didn't take it." Said Nicole.
Alice raised her eyebrows in surprise, "A box you say? Strange I didn't order anything and why on a table at the back... anyway I'll go take a look."
Making her way through the bookstore, Alice found a box sitting on one of the tables in a somewhat hidden corner, "very strange" Alice muttered. Even stranger was the fact that there was no mention of the sender or any other information except Alice name and address. Carefully opening the brown paper, Alice found inside a small box, inside of which she found two normal sized six-sided dice. Alice didn't understand why dice? The only time she could remember using them was when she played board games with her grandchildren.
Taking the dice in her frail hand, the old woman looked at them more closely, and concluded that they were nothing special after all. "And here I thought I had a nice surprise, Merry Christmas Alice." Alice muttered nonchalantly as she rolled the dice, each one falling on five.
"A double five, great, how lucky, I'll get to roll them again." Alice laughed wryly. But as she rolled them a second time, the dice began to glow and as they landed on four and three, a voice rang inside the old woman's head.
"Greetings, the voice said. "I am the spirit of die. A spirit of youth. You have rolled the die and taken possession of them. For releasing me I shall return from you that which has been lost."
Alice barely had time to think about what was happening when the voice resumed:
"Alice Moore, seventy five years you have walked this earth, now this number is but sixty five."
Alice gasp as she hear the voice echoing in her head, then she felt something in her body, a very tingling sensation but not unpleasant. Somehow she didn’t felt better, she just felt less bad like her aches and pain have decreased.
"Sixty five years you have walked this earth, now this number is but fifty eight."
Once again, the dices started glowing and Alice felt the same sensation, she felt as if her body was toning, the pain was also less and less present. As the dice returned to normal, Alice stopped and thought about what she had just heard. "No no no, that's not possible, otherwise it would mean that..."
Alice looked at her hands, rolled up the sleeves of her sweater, ran her hands over her face... she couldn't believe it, her skin was much softer and alive.
"Oh my god, am I really younger?!"
Alice hadn't even noticed the mirror next to her and when she discovered it she was speechless. "Dark hair??" Her wavy hair showed much less grayish streaks and had turned black again, "just how old am I??" Alice wondered, then remembering what the voice had said, the double five, four and three, that would mean she was back in her fifties.
The now middle-aged woman posed, her breasts had perked up and she had lost a few pounds. Her voice had changed too, it was more vibrant, everything was better and Alice felt a feeling of immense joy come over her, maybe she could roll again but how old was she willing to become? Also what would she say to Nicole ? Would she show her the dice ?