Mrs. Martines:
I couldn't believe it. What stuck my hand was one of those damn alien crystals. I was now one of the Bonded. I saw Agent Greenleaf and Lisa come running up to us.
"Thank goodness you're alright" Agent Greenleaf said.
"I'm Bonded now Miss Ketcher" Anthony, I mean Anna, said as she held out a crystal.
"That's wonderful" Lisa said. "At least we now know that it wasn't an attack. Every kid out here ran for the bunker."
"Are you ok Mom?" Anna asked with a concerned look on her face.
"I'm... Bonded" I said in shock.
"Now this is going to cause some problems" Lisa said.
"Problems!" I nearly shouted. "I'm Bonded! That's a problem! I'm different now!"
"Try to calm down" Lisa said. "Being different isn't a bad thing."
"It is!" I nearly shouted again. I was close to hysterics. "There's only one way to fix this. I need to die."
"Mom no!" Anna said tears streaming down her pretty face.
"I can't be Bonded!" I said. "Death is the only way out for me now."
"Suicide is not the answer" Lisa said.
"I won't commit suicide" I said calmly. "I'll die a natural death."
"Think about Anna!" Lisa said.
"She likes you" I said.
"But I love you Mom!" Anna said as she hugged me.
"I'm sorry but I can't live as Bonded" I said.
"You haven't tried yet" Lisa said.
"Remember that they can bring you back" Agent Greenleaf said.
"Not the way I'm going" I said. Clutching the crystal in my hand I prepared myself. This was going to be my first and only transformation. "Female, sixty-five billion."
It was strange feeling myself age rapidly. My skin became wrinkled and age spots appeared on it. My joints became so painful that I dropped the crystal. I was afraid that the changes would stop but they continued. I bent over slightly as my spine curved. Suddenly I felt a pain in my chest and I placed a hand to it. I figured that it was a heart attack. I collapsed to the ground and quit breathing. The last thing that I saw and heard before I lost consciousness was
Anna's tear streaked face shouting "MOM! MOM! MOM!"
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Lisa:
I could only stand there in stunned silence. I couldn't believe that she had chosen to age herself by so much. Anna was still holding onto her dead mother trying to get her up. I continued to watch as Mrs. Martines' body decayed. Soon there was nothing left except her clothes and crystal.
Anna laid her crystal inside her mother's clothes and said "Female, eight." When nothing happened she turned to me and asked "Why isn't it working!?!"
"It's... because... there's... nothing... left" I managed to choke out. We couldn't bring her back.
"WHY!?!" Anna asked sobbing uncontrollably.
I couldn't take it and embraced Anna. I found that I was also sobbing. I had just seen a fellow human being take their own life right in front of her daughter.
"Bring... her... back... please" Anna sobbed.
Agent Greenleaf knelt down beside us and embraced both of us. "I'm so sorry" she said. "I know a good grief counselor if you need one. I'll arrange it so it won't cost you anything."
"Thanks" I said. "Right now though I think Anna needs some time before we think about that."
"Of course" Agent Greenleaf said. "She'll also be available for you. Hell I'll need counseling too."
I looked at Agent Greenleaf and noticed that tears were also streaming down her face. She was affected by this just as much as we were. It was just starting to penetrate my numb mind that we couldn't bring her back. After sixty-five billion years there was nothing left of Mrs. Martines for us to bring back. She had found one way to stay dead.
"What happened here?" Dan asked. I hadn't heard anyone approach.
"Mrs. Martines aged herself too... sixty-five... billion... years" Agent Greenleaf said choking up at the end.
"Oh my God!" Mama said. "I didn't know she was even Bonded."
"She... just... became... Bonded" I managed to choke out.
"I... tried... to... bring... her... back" Anna sobbed.
"Of course after sixty-five billion years there wouldn't be any thing left to bring back" Raymond said in a quiet voice.
"What a thing to do with your crystal" Daisy said in just as quiet of a voice. "She just bonded with her crystal and she kills herself with it."
When Daisy had said that my numbed brain went into overdrive. The crystals were bonded to those that picked them up. It didn't matter how far away the crystal was. The person bonded to it could call it or transform someone with it. That was the theory anyway. What if I could bring Mrs. Martines back through her crystal. It was a long shot but it might work.
"I'm... going... to... try... something" I said. "Crystal... in... hand." My crystal instantly teleported itself to my outstretched hand. I placed it on Mrs. Martines' crystal and prepared to say the words that I hoped would bring her back.
'Will it work though?' I asked myself.