By: Helen Dotchel

The year is 2100. I am 100 years old. I am elderly and I love it. I live in a nursing home and have robots to do my bidding. They are my best friends. My face is wrinkled and littered with age spots. My hair is white and thinning. My blue eyes have become silvery with time. I tell small children that I am a witch. They whole-heartedly believe me. I might be. I have no filter, and I tell people what I think with no regard for the consequences. I am allowed to because of my age. I have lived my life. I made mistakes. I learned. I survived through tough times. I have wisdom gained from my many years of experience. People occasionally come to me for advice. I give it and hope they listen. I have finished my tasks in life and I have absolutely nothing to do. 

My children and grandchildren visit on the weekends. They are all wildly successful. My eldest daughter is the former president of Mars. She now spends her time managing her foundation which has found the cure to numerous diseases. My son is an inventor. He pioneered the design for an engine faster than the speed of light. He is currently working on a teleport. My youngest daughter is an artist. Her work is not as appreciated as it should be. It is ahead of its time. In the future, however, her work will be amongst the most celebrated of all time.

The orderlies ask, “What did I do with my life?” They know me by a pseudonym, not my real name. If they knew my real name, they would know the answer. After college, I spent many years living in the wilderness, alone and unbothered by people. I worked with wildlife, providing research for the conservation of animals and protecting the forest. I owned a small wooden cabin far away from any city. I grew my own food and lived off the land. I wrote a famous novel in that cabin, which would later be published and be a wild success. At 35, I left the cabin. I had found a permanent solution to global warming and had to share it. At 40, my friend contacted me. While I was living in the wilderness, she was the first person on Mars. After returning to Earth, she decided to build a colony there. She needed me to be the Head of the Agriculture Department. I accepted. The colony is a success. At 60, I am the first person to make contact with aliens. I accidentally bumped into them while exploring an unknown portion of Mars. They were pretty cool, so everything worked out. I ended up introducing them to the human race. Luckily, for the first time ever, humanity decided to be chill about being introduced to something new. I was a hero. I retired in a nursing home soon after.