He gives it to old woman Jenson

Septus stared at the pill, the moments dragging into minutes.

I could tell you that he didn’t think about taking it himself, but that would be a lie. Immortality was a tempting lure for any mere mortal.

But then he thought of old woman Jensen, the pain in her eyes as she tried to be brave and pretend that it didn’t hurt, the way that year after year he’d watched as she deteriorated from lack of access to basic healthcare even as the toppers hoarded everything for themselves using the privilege of their rank. He thought about the food she used to cook him as thanks for his help, before her hands had started to shake too much to cook by herself.

Septus’ mother had been taken as a sex **** when he was 7, though she’d been **** many times before that none of the previous ones had cared enough to take her with them. And the one that did had no use for a child around, at least not a boy, so Septus had been left alone to fend for himself and scavenge for food from the garbage.

Old Woman Jensen had helped take care of him then, she’d taught him how to read, she was the closest thing he had to family anymore.

With a sigh, Septus pocketed the pill and left his house, locking the door behind him in case the WRO agents came back, and quickly jogged over to the rundown cottage (that was being generous, “shack” was closer to the truth) and quickly knocked on the door.

“Is that you Septus?” She asked, knowing they didn’t get many visitors. He answered in the affirmative “I hurt my hip, so I can’t get up right now, but the spare key is under the mat” he picked it up and opened the door.

“Hey there, Old Maid” he replied with a grin.

“I’m not old, I oughta box your ears” she replied, a gentle smile of her own gracing her wrinkled face.

“I brought you something,” he said “but you can’t ask me where I got it”

“Oh I know better than to do that. What did you manage to scrounge up this time? Is it another cupcake?” A month prior Septus had found a half eaten cupcake while dumpster diving. It was still in its plastic container so the roaches hadn’t gotten to it yet, and it was stale, but it was still the nicest thing either of them had had in a long while, when he brought it here to share.

“No no, something even better!” He replied with a laugh.

“Even better! I wonder what it is” she pondered, putting her index finger against her chin.

“It’s medicine, it will help make your hip better” he said.

“…I promised I wouldn’t ask. But you aren’t in any trouble are you? If you are I can hide you under my floorboards, there’s a crawl space under there that nobody else knows about, it won’t be comfortable but-“

“No no, I’m not in any trouble. Just take the pill before I change my mind” he teased, holding out the pill. She looked at it for a moment, and then swallowed it, trustingly.

“Oof, it tastes nasty. Are you sure it hasn’t expired?” She asked.

“I’m sure” he replied. “I’ll get you a glass of water to wash it down.”

“Don’t bother, the pipes are busted and the governments too busy building new mansions for the upper ranks to fix it”

“Alright then.”

“Now tell me, how are your studies?” Septus had dropped out of school, after he decided to he was going to destroy the government, but he’d kept up the pretense with Josey (which was Jensons first name) so as not to implicate her if he got caught.

“Oh you know, about the same”

“Meet any cute girls?” She asked, a twinkle in her eye.

“Ahh, you embarrass me!” He squealed

“Its the the responsibility of the old to protect the young. But you didn’t answer my question”

“Well…” he started, and as they talked and talked the wrinkles on Joseys face lessened, and the grey of her hair deepened into red, and her skin cleared.

Septus couldn’t help but smile at the transformation, she looked healthier than she had in years. And Josey noticed.

“What are you looking at?” She asked Septus.

“I’ll show you” he said, hopping to his feet and rushing to the bathroom, where he retrieved a polished piece of scrap metal that had been hanging against the wall, to be used as a makeshift mirror.

When he brought it back into the other room (the only other room, in the 300 square foot house) not-so-old woman Jenson asked “what are you doing with that old thing?”

“Look” Septus said, holding it up for her, and Josey looked into the mirror.