[ WP ] A time traveler who has no control over his abilities meets his friend , the immortal , for lunch .

`` Well, about time you showed up.'' 
 
 A man with gray hair, but a youthful face stared up at me from the table. He was trying to seem angry, but could n't hide his smile. We're each other's only friends yet I did n't know his name. He only asked that I call him `` The Immortal.'' Of course, that was much too long, so I call him Tim for short. 
 
 `` How long has it been for you since our last lunch?'' I ask him, not even bothering with an apology. He knows I ca n't control it. 
 
 `` Three hundred years, Lucas,'' Tim replies, having the answer on hand. It is always the first question I ask him, a tradition. `` But for you it has only been a day, correct?'' 
 
 `` Yes,'' I answer. There is always some guilt when I meet him, knowing he has waited decades, or more often, centuries for a lunch with me. You see, Tim and I make an unusual pair. He is immortal, nothing in this Universe can kill him, and I have the power of being able to travel through time. Well, calling it *my* power is sort of wrong, since I ca n't control it. Time just throws me wherever it sees fit. I'll go to sleep in the year 1672, and wake up in 2429. Both of those were pretty interesting years in case you were wondering. 
 
 `` What year did you come from this time around?'' Tim asks me. 
 
 `` 1968,'' I say. 
 
 `` So your last conversation with me was n't my last one with you,'' Tim says with a sigh. He hates that he can never continue a conversation the next day with me, since I'm always jumping around the timeline. At the same time, it keeps our friendship fresh, forcing us to come up with new things to talk about each time. 
 
 `` What year is it now?'' I ask. 
 
 `` 2692.'' 
 
 The furthest forward I've ever been. For some reason the timeline only transports me to period where human civilization still exists. I'm still waiting for the day I reach the limit, the point where I can go no further, because there is nothing to go into. 
 
 `` I'm surprised it still looks so nice, by the way things had been looking back in the 2300's, I figured the forest would be gone by now.'' We always meet at the same place, the Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan, a hotel in Japan, and the oldest business in the world, in operation since 705. 
 
 Tim laughed at this, I still ca n't tell if he find me funny, or ignorant, but I never ponder it for too long. `` Humanity has learned a lot. The species is growing up, becoming more responsible.'' 
 
 `` Yeah,'' I say, `` Colonizing space has probably helped to.'' 
 
 It gets tiresome spending everyday with Tim. But I do it, maybe because it was destiny we found each other, two prisoners of time trying to make the best of their sentences. Finding solace in someone else who understand what a curse this is. Tim, a man who has seen everything of the past, the constant always waiting for me in whatever period I land. And me, Tim's surprise, most of the time I'm not waiting for him. There are so many years in time, and only one I can visit each day, so while he is always here for me, I'm not always here for him. 
 
 And yet he keeps coming back for me. Everyday he shows up, and waits for me. Sometimes every day for centuries, sometimes every day for only a few weeks. I tolerate spending almost every waking moment with him, and tolerates waiting eons for me, because I am all he has, and he is all I have. 
 
 And so we eat, and talk about our lives. Mostly him telling me about what he has done, since he has been there for almost every minute of my life for the past twenty years. 
 
 The day passes too quickly, soon the sun is setting and my eyes grow tired. Tim can see this. 
 
 `` It is okay Lucas, you can go. It may be a while, but I know one day you'll be here.'' I nod, and head off into the forest. There is a cave out there where I sleep, the only other constant in the timeline. 
 
 We do n't talk about it, but Tim knows it. There will be one day where I will fall asleep and never wake up again, even as I travel through time I still age. Tim first met me when I was fifteen, and now I'm thirty-five. There is still a lot of time left, but each day makes it shorter. 
 
 I try to imagine it, the pain of someone who has watched everyone he has ever loved die. There is no way for him to share his immortality, and so he must accept it. Even me, the closest thing he has to a friend, will die eventually. The spread out visits will stop, and he will once again be alone in the world. 
 
 My body gives way to the pressure of sleep, and the world around me dissolves into darkness as my eyes shut. He'll be waiting for me in the same spot when I wake up, I just hope I do n't hold him up for too long. 

