On the Way to the Coffee Shop

You don’t always get to choose how you grow old. Missing scene from The Pilot.

A double drabble, written for the LJ me_and_thee_100 comm challenge 93: Elijah

I was young like them, once. Wasn’t I?

Once upon a time, we were all young, with the dreams and hopes of youth.

I was…. Why can’t I remember?

It’s easy to forget, I suppose, especially when you want to forget. When you want to ignore the fact that no one remains young forever, that dreams aren’t always realized, that hopes fade and die. When you want to deny the undeniable truth: Just as we were all young, so we will all grow old. God willing, of course.

Old. I’m old now. So very old.

Problem is, you don’t always get to choose how you grow old. Or maybe, it’s a choice you made way back when, long before you learned that even the simplest of actions can have consequences and that regrets don’t buy you a second chance.

No second chances. No going back.

No.

The end of the world…

…In a Hell of our own making.

But not today. Not today, Charles, right? Today is a good day. Look, they gave me a dollar!

Yes, ‘Lijah. Today is a good day.

Do you think they know? About the choices?

I don’t know. I hope so.

Yeah, me too.