30 for Life

1. 30 for Life By Ninu Forrest

2. Characters • Juliana (protagonist) • Andrew (husband) • Friends (Angie, Jennifer, Max, Thomas, Erica) • Chloe (daughter) • Mystery Character (antagonist)

3. Plot • Juliana is a youthful 30 year old living with her boyfriend. She is celebrating her birthday and her friends organized a surprise party. All goes well at the party until she hears a mysterious voice utter a confusing message regarding her age. Juliana disregards it as a friend playing a joke and goes returns to the party where Andrew gives a toast in her honour. That night, Juliana dreams of childhood, youth and past memories. • Before she knows it, another year has passed by. Andrew has married her and she has a daughter named Chloe. That year turns into another birthday bash, this time for her 35th. Max finds it hard to believe that Juliana hasn’t aged, but she just takes his comment as being nice. • Ten more years fly by, and we find Juliana meeting with Jennifer. Now even more than before is her lack of appearance difference more evident. Juliana thinks about how this could happen to her, but does not act on very serious suspicions because she is quite naive.

4. Plot Continued... • Thirty more years go by and Juliana is put in circumstances where she looks as if she should be spending her time with people much younger than her friends. Things become awkward and she responds with seclusion. In another six months, Andrew dies. Chloe has moved far away and does not have the time to stay in touch with her mother. Juliana faces the same health issues that come with old age, but in the body of a 30-year-old. She is feeling very ill again, and falls into a wave of dreams similar to that the night of her 30th birthday party. In these dreams, the whisper of a voice calls to her the same message from 45 years ago. She sees Andrew in the light and watches, out of body, as she leaves her physical problems to be where her mind wants to be.

5. Though the theme behind this assignment was to write a short story about “the fountain of youth” or your interpretation of it, every person will have a different purpose behind their stories. The theme of my story is the effects of being young forever. If you looked young, imagine how awkward it would be around your friends and family who were aging. Juliana’s choice to wish she was young forever indirectly fell upon her in this case, but I wanted people to see what it would be like to have that happen to them. Be careful what you wish for, and think of the consequences of that action. I like to think that if you want to improve or gain something about your life that you don’t have, you would have to give up something that you do have and enjoy. Purpose