[ WP ] Humanity has cured old age . You were a friend of the last person to die of natural causes .

`` The Pill,'' that's what they call it. Take it or leave it. 
 
 The Pill started out as some kind of medical mystery. Scientists ran tests on rats, restoring the elders into their six-month selves. With enough testing on various mammals scientists began human trials. That was enough for my peers to jump at. Eternal youth, who would n't go for that? 
 
 Bernice, my wife, was offered a spot in the clinical trial. I urged her to take the offer up, but something made her hesitate. Her friends, children, grandchildren and even her pastor urged her to take the opportunity. Bernice had been struggling health-wise for quite some time; her lungs had taken a toll for the worse and her oxygen tank was a necessity for any adventure she went. 
 
 I watched her decline after 50 years of standing beside her. Every breath she took was a relief. Every cough was a worry. There were nights when I would stay up praying she would go through the trial. Arguments, regretfully, erupted between us. 
 
 `` Do you really believe I want to go on any longer with this fucking machine, Jerry?'' Her pale blue eyes stared directly into my own. `` If this really works do you think I'll want to be young and on oxygen?'' 
 
 `` Bernie, no. The countless tests on other people should be enough to show you that this pill works. It works! People have been given the opportunity of the trial and overcame their aging, even on an organ-level.'' 
 
 Eventually she agreed. Bernice entered the trial as I hoped and prayed she would. After weeks of taking the same little blue pill she lost around 20 years. Her body and face, quickly turning into the young snazzy woman I met. Her air-capacity for her lungs increasing ever so slightly until she did n't need the EPAP machine at night. 
 
 She was cured. My lovely dame was cured and beautiful. Not a gray strand. Not a wrinkle in that face. Her slender legs and bodacious figure looking marvelous in everything. A total of 40 years lost, making my lady a glamorous 30 years young. 
 
 Eventually the pill became prescription-based, passing the trials. 
 
 Bernice became heavily depressed, as the side effects had mentioned. Her depression was unfathomable and the doctor had recommended her coming off of the pill. I had been taking the pill myself, looking like a pepper-haired 45, experiencing no symptoms. 
 As she came off of the pill, the aging quickly took place. Less than a year later the oxygen was back and I was roughly 30. 
 
 Due to rapidly developing fibroids in her lungs, Bernice passed on after seven months off of her medication. She was n't upset. Having experienced youth a final time were the best days of her life. 
 
 And it stands to question, for me, do I really need to be young forever or should I be with my Bernice?
