Eternally Yours

By Veronica Maye Griffin

a collection of short stories all about love. featuring fantastical and paranormal elements

• Language: English
• Publisher: Veronica Maye Griffin
• Release date: Apr 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215722220

Book preview

Eternally Yours

THOMAS CAME INTO BEING before Jesus did. He was the last of a series of experiments god created, of immortal humans. For the first few centuries he thought he was greater than the humans who lived and died, and looked at us as inferior beings. On his 800th birthday he met a small girl who told whoever would listen about her plans for life, listening to her little speech he realized that he wanted to live like us. That he was no better, even with his infinite life span. For 500 years he looked for a person who would understand him, but none did. He looked for someone who would love him, but he didn’t understand what love was, and after realizing it, he began to look for love. After another century, though, he did.

Being unable to die, Thomas wondered the earth aimlessly, hoping to find someone who would love him, or someone he could love himself. In 1348 he was travelling through Europe, trying to ease the pain of the people dying from the plague. In England he found Alice. She was 17 when he met her, risking her life to help ease the hardships of the plague. He knew that she would contract it, and it infuriated him that she didn’t seem to mind getting sick and dying. He took her from civilization and imprisoned her in a cave, she feared him, thinking he wanted to rape her or kill her. but soon the two cleared all misunderstandings and became friends. Over time Thomas began to feel something towards her he has never felt before, and he had many friends over the years. He deemed it as love, but another terrifying thought came to his mind. She will die, like all humans do, and he will keep on living forever. He could never be with her, and it was unfair for her to spend her time with him. Thomas left the cave to look for a town where the plague was gone, but it took him years, and when he finally came back he found that Alice escaped the cave and was found by a young doctor. The two married and, when Thomas returned, had 5 pregnancies. 1 ended in a miscarriage. Another delivered a dead child, but three were born healthy and happy. One of them was named Thomas, after the man who saved Alice’s life. The child Thomas, however, died from the plague, another died in infanthood, but one still lived. Thomas followed this child to adulthood, to marriage, to children of his own. Thomas returned to Alice’s side when her son came to her death bed to see her off.  Thomas spoke the last words to Alice before she died, he promised to protect her family forever, and he intended to keep it.

Thomas followed Alice’s children from the shadows, none knew he existed and over time the story of how he saved Alice’s life became a sort of a legend, and then forgotten. Alice’s son had only sons, and so did his sons, and their sons, and within a few generations it became impossible for Thomas to protect all of Alice’s descendants. And so, he decided that he will follows the line of the next girl, and kept trying to follow all lines until 1432, when a girl was finally born to one of the descendants. They named her Eleanor, and Thomas followed her throughout her life, and found himself falling for her as well. however, he only revealed himself to her when she became lost after a trip to Germany to help heal the wounded during the hundred years war. Thomas has never been to this part of Germany before, and if he hadn’t watched where they were going, he would have been lost as well, but knowing how to get back, Thomas led Eleanor back to her host family. Eleanor, who in the long way back fell for Thomas, begged him not to go. Thomas, knowing that he could never be with her, took her by the hand and led her to the edge of the town, where a man was cutting wood. Thomas introduced Eleanor to the man and walked away back to the shadows. He watched the man greet Eleanor, and over time, marry her. Eleanor forgot all about Thomas, and had children with her husband, two lived to adulthood, both boys. Thomas revealed himself again at Eleanor’s death bed, apologizing for not accepting her. he told her about his life span as she drew one last breath.

Thomas continued to fulfill his promise to Alice and watched over Eleanor’s line, but soon it became near impossible again, and he promised himself that he will limit himself to the next girl born. A girl was born a few generations after Eleanor, but she died at the age of five. Her brothers married and had girls of their own, but none lived to adulthood. The next woman who lived to adulthood was born in 1514, and was named Katherine. Thomas watched her grow, and marry a man who was mean to her, and would hit her constantly. Her brothers didn’t seem to mind, but Thomas could not stand it for long. in 1534, after a year has gone since Katherine’s wedding, Thomas revealed himself to her. he seduced her into being willing to have an affair with him, a thing which took a mere week. After Thomas was sure Katherine would follow him everywhere and choose him over her husband he told her that he is moving to London. Katherine left her husband and went with Thomas to London. In London Thomas left Katherine in the hands of a friend and went back to follow her from the shadows. When her husband came to get her back, Thomas stopped him and sent him back, allowing Katherine to marry the man she was dating at the time.

After Katherine’s children started having children of their own there always seemed to be one girl every generation. Thomas would follow them all, guiding them from the shadows and helping them live their lives better. However, none made Thomas feel like he felt towards Katherine, or Eleanor, or Alice. He felt nothing towards those new, unnamed girls, but still acted as their guardian angel because of his promise to Alice. Thomas kept on traveling the world while watching over Katherine’s descendants, and learned about the colonies in the new continent of America, both Americas, in fact. When Margaret was born Thomas was exploring the new world of the colonies, and by the time he came back Margaret was a young woman at the age of 18. She was a beautiful girl, and many men courted her and proposed to her, but she refused them all. One soldier proposed to her multiple times in the course of a year, the first year Thomas was back from the colonies, the year he met Margaret and fell for her as well. Margaret would reject the soldier time and time again, but he would not give up. one time, after Margaret refused him, the soldier took her throat in his hands and declared that if he can’t have her, none will. Thomas saw this, and revealed himself, stopping the soldier from killing Margaret. He took Margaret to a faraway colony where the soldier could never find her, Antigua. There, Thomas went back into the shadows and watched Margaret as she met and married another man. Heartbroken, Thomas promised himself that he will make the next one love him.

The next time came at 1776, mere weeks after the united states was declared. Thomas came back from the declaration to Antigua to find Margaret’s descendant, the uniquely beautiful Elizabeth. Unlike Thomas’s blonde former loves, Elizabeth had a head of flowing ginger hair, though she did have her ancestors’ blue eyes, it was how Thomas recognized her as a descendant of Margaret. Elizabeth was unwanted, unloved by other men for her ginger hair, but Thomas thought it looked lovely. He revealed himself to her the moment he saw her, and courted her seriously with intentions to marry her. after a few months he revealed that he is going to the united states and offered Elizabeth to join him, which she did. In new York they shared a wonderful night, after which Thomas knew, he could not marry her, despite his wishes and promises to himself. And so he left Elizabeth and watched her from the shadows. She was pregnant with his seed, and Thomas was glad to have a child of his own, hoping it will be another eternal, for he was getting tired of being the only one in the world like him, he has never met others and did not know if others even existed. Elizabeth had a somewhat happy pregnancy. She declared the baby to be her late husband’s, and new York men found her very beautiful, and she soon married. When the day of the birth came, Thomas experienced his first moment of mixed emotions, of absolute love and heartbreak at the same time. A feeling he would only experience twice more in his life. The child was born, Thomas saw it, but it was born dead, there was no life in it, just a husk of skin and bones. Thomas cried for the first time in his life that night, and promised his dead child that he will make sure the next one will live.

The war of 1812 proved difficult to keep Thomas’s promise to Alice. There was one child that married and had children of their own, 6 boys and one girl. All children dispersed in the battlefield, the boys fought and died, and the girl helped heal the wounded. The girl, Diana, was one of the best nurses, but even women had it tough in this war. Diana was courted by a British soldier from the British side, the enemies to Diana’s American side. This soldier received an order to kill the nurses and doctors, for then winning will be easy, since they will not have to worry about the wounded coming back to fight them. The solider went to the hospital tent and shot a few nurses dead before he saw Diana. He lowered his gun from her to the floor and approached her, telling her to injure him so that he would no longer be able to kill her. Diana refused, and the soldier raised his bassinette to stab her, apologizing the entire time. Thomas then revealed himself and stopped the soldier, who started to sob and dropped to the floor. Thomas took the British uniform from the soldier and gave him blood stained American ones, telling the two to go away from the battlefield and start a life together. Diana thanked Thomas, and to this day she remains the only descendant of Alice that he feel for but who didn’t fall for him. Thomas followed closely behind them, and watched them marry and have children of their own.

Thomas followed Diana’s children as they grew and had children of their own. Most were boys, but there were two girls, granddaughters to Diana. They were all of age when the civil war broke out, and Thomas watched the boys die for the sake reunification with the southern republic by southern hands. The girls, Sarah and Elizabeth, stayed at their home in a town near the front lines. Soldiers of the president’s side would come and