*NOTE: This is an original work, I "own" it for once lol, please no copying or using w/o permission - thanks :) I worked hard on it for my class

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Susan Meier sat in a new café she had decided to try that day, a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. In her hand was a book, one that she had been reading for centuries, as it brought comfort to her crazy lifestyle. This café was one of only three in the small town where she now lived, and as was the tradition for every time she moved, Susan had to try them all.

At the bitter taste of her coffee, Susan sighed as she took in the cozy interior of the café and started to believe that this might be her new regular spot. However, when Susan was reading about Mr. Collins proposing to Elizabeth Bennet, she grew sad. Normally this part made her laugh and feel happy, but over the last century or so, Susan was beginning to lose all hope and sense of life.

Susan was, after all, immortal.

She had been born in a small village in rural England, on the 7th of July 1612. On her twenty-fifth birthday, there was a storm—worse than she or anyone else had ever seen. Her husband and two young children were away, yet she was home for one reason: to watch over her ailing infant child. During the night, there was a knock on the door. Susan shot out of the rocking chair she had fallen asleep in. Who could it be at this hour, she thought, grabbing a weapon.

Upon opening the door, the hunting knife Susan had grabbed clattered to the ground. Before her was a known "witch" who had escaped from the persecution that was going on in the area. She demanded shelter for the night; payment would be healing for the sick child. Susan had considered letting her in, but she refused to let a witch into her Christian home, especially when she was the only one home.

For her refusal, the witch began to chant, cursing Susan, with her child wailing weakly just inside near the dying embers of the fire. At once the witch disappeared and Susan ran to find her child even sicker, and she knew he wouldn't last the night. She stayed with him until he passed, her husband and two children soon returned and all she could do was pray nothing had been done by the witch. However, two years later illness took her husband from them and three years after that her two sons were taken from her as well.

That's when her neighbors noticed that she was no longer aging and had now outlived her entire family. Whispers started that she was a witch herself, and that was when she took what little she had in her possession and left. Susan wandered as a nomad for a few years before settling in London where she met many interesting characters. During the years there she had a young lord ask for her hand in marriage, but she refused him despite how it hurt.

After living in London for five years, Susan realized what her former neighbors had said, she was not aging. She was supposed to be forty years of age

but did not look a day past five and twenty years. Not wanting anyone else to come to the same realization, Susan left London to travel the rest of Europe.

After 200 years, Susan had traveled nearly every part of Europe and returned to England. She made friends with the Austen family, becoming close with Cassandra, the elder daughter. Jane, the younger sister, liked to write and it did not take long for Susan to realize she was the anonymous author behind works like Pride and Prejudice. Jane made her promise to keep it a secret, until her brother revealed the truth while foxed*. When Susan was going to move again, Jane signed her book for her.

Ending up in London after nearly two centuries, Susan wasn't worried about anyone recognizing her. However, since it had been so long since her immortality had started, Susan was beginning to feel drained, tired from her overly long life.

One day as she was riding in Hyde Park, a young man on a horse nearly ran her over, managing to knock her to the ground. What a bobolyne**she had thought, as another young man helped her up.

"I'm so sorry about my brother miss."

"All is forgiven. No one was injured. Thank you, Mr."

"Ronald Smith miss, and that dalcop*** was my brother Silas."

"I am Miss Susan Meier."

"A pleasure."

Suddenly, her reminiscence was broken by a shadow looming over her book. With an annoyed sigh, Susan looked up, ready to snap at the person blocking the light when she stopped. Just a moment. The man in front of her looked oddly familiar.

"Hey! Remember me? We met in London." His voiced dropped to a whisper, "in 1821?"

"Um... no? Sorry, I think you have the wrong person. Who from 1821 would still be alive anyway?" She recognized him right away, but out of fear and hurt, Susan refused to believe him to be her long dead friend.

"Oh, come on! We met at Hyde Park, when my older brother Silas nearly ran you over with his horse. Then—"

"Ran over with a horse? Now I know you're dicked in the nob****," Susan interrupted with an unladylike snort before taking another sip of coffee.

"No! I'm not crazy! Just listen! We met, then for the next few seasons we would always share the first dance with each other. We became quite good friends, Miss Susan."

Finally looking up at the man again, Susan sighed, "Lucky guess at my name."

Exasperated he replied, "What is it going to take to remind you? Damn it Susan we were best friends for years!"

"I've never had a best friend before! After last time I don't allow myself to get attached because it only causes pain."

"What a bunch of Canterbury Tales!*****" He froze for a second before adding, "Wait, you are immortal... I- I remember... You – you said something about that when we last met, albeit it was very vague."

"How could I have said that if I never met you before now?"

"For the love of – Susan Maria Meier will you please, please, just admit the fact that you are immortal and were my friend in 1821?"

"No, Ronald Smith I will not!" Susan exclaimed, slamming her book shut, forgetting that she was pretending to not know him.

"Ah ha! I knew it! I knew you were the same Susan I met!"

Susan sighed and admitted, "Aye, I am. Thank you for that Duke of Limbs******, I was trying to get over the fact that I thought you were dead for the last two centuries."

He frowned, "I thought we agreed that you wouldn't call me that, lady Blowsadonna*******."

Picking up the book, she attempted to slap him with it as she gasped, "How dare you Mr. Smith!"

Instead of growing angry, Ronald nimbly dodged the advance, simply laughing as he sat at the other side of the table. A small smile grew on Susan's

face as she picked up her now cold coffee. After a rather unsatisfying sip, she set it down and talked to Ronald, her friend from so long ago, also turned immortal. His tale to immortality is a story for a different time, and she would simply enjoy his presence for now. They discussed the curse that they were both growing tired of after so many years.

Susan Meier sat in that new café she had decided to try that day, a cold cup of coffee on the table, her old friend in front of her, and for the first time in a century or two, Susan felt a bit of hope bloom in her chest.

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*= drunk

**=fool

***= "dull head" or a stupid person

****=Silly, Crazed (dicked in the nob)

*****= lies (Canterbury Tales)

****** = A tall, awkward, ill-made fellow

******* = An unkempt woman: A woman whose hair is disheveled and hanging about her face; a slattern