Adam/Eve – Eden (Chapter Five)

Adam stood amongst his beauty. He had created paradise, just as he had been told to. He had forged the greatest wonder of the world – The Garden of Eden.

His Children had wiped out the dirty trash that was Sunset Valley and replaced it with only natural beings. Weeds, flowers, shrubs, trees, bushes, ponds, lilies, fish, animals.

It was the most wonderful thing he had ever set his eyes upon.

As he gazed around at his work he breathed a sigh of relief. There were only two buildings left – his own home, which would of course not be destroyed (someone had to watch over the beauty of Eden) and the old Caliente home. The home he thought no one lived in. He thought they were dead.

He thought Eve had killed them on the night of The Purge of Sunset Valley.

Janice stared out of the Caliente home’s window in amazement. It truly was beautiful out there. She knew that They were evil, but what They had done was, in a strange and twisted way, inspirational.

She had never felt so relaxed than she did at that moment. Well, apart from every time she was in Andrew’s arms. Andrew. The husband she loved. The husband she saw burn to death because of Them.

She could still feel her love for Andrew seeping through her veins, pumped out from her loving heart in to every single fibre of her being.

But he was dead, and she was alone.

“Tell me!” Fatima snapped, making Janice’s dream fizzle out of her mind and evaporate in to the pure sky. Janice wasn’t sure she particularly liked Fatima, she was always so harsh and snappy with everyone – even her dear little grandma…who also seemed to be a bit of a bitch actually. But she was old, so she deserved some aspect of respect.

“I can’t,” Dina sighed. “You know I can’t.”

“Please, I need to know about my mother! I don’t know anything about her, apart from she died! That’s not fair, Grandma. Eve knows loads-”

“Do not mention her name.” Dina growled. “I do not want that name mentioned in my damn house!”

“Fine, I’ll tell you – but you’re not going to like it.”

“I didn’t expect to like it,” Fatima laughed nervously.

“I used to live in a town called Pleasantview. I moved there with my sister, your great aunt; Nina. I had a lot of fun there, it was a lovely place…most of the time. High death rate though.

That’s where I met Don Lothario – the most precious and special man I have ever met. I loved him with all my heart, even more than I ever loved your late grandfather Drew.

Anyway, he and I had a baby – Davina. He of course turned out to be a total son of a bitch and left me, but they all do.

I had to raise little Davina all by myself – but I didn’t see that as a problem. She was a wonderful child, such a pleasant little thing. Never complained at all – I always thought to myself just how lucky I really was.

One night I thought I lost her.

My jealous ex boyfriend took her hostage and burned the house down, trapping her inside. I thought she was dead – we all thought she was dead. There was even a service for her.

She, of course, didn’t die and about fifteen years later she made her presence known again. Just after she came back in to my life I moved here to Sunset Valley for my…retirement I suppose. She had you and your sister and I said that I’d baby sit every now and then if she wanted because she lived quite close. That’s where it all went wrong.

One night when you were little she turned up with both of you in tow. I believe you were about four.

You were always the one she left on the floor. Eve was always in her arms, you usually huddled between her feet – quite happy of course, but ignored. Eve got the focus, she always did.

You were such a gorgeous little girl – so happy, so smiley, so picture-perfect. You looked like one of those little girls from those biscuit tins. You know the ones?”

“No.”

“Well you did.”

“Anyway, she barged in as usual without a second thought about me, and left you on the porch in the cold as though she hadn’t even realised that you came along.

You were my favourite. I scooped you up from the porch and tickled you until you wept with laughter.

Such a happy, gorgeous little girl. Not at all like your sister. She was always crying, and not from laughter. She always had something to complain about.

When I came back in with you she was walking around as though she owned the place. Davina had once been such a nice girl too, just like how you were when she was young. But I think she was repaying me for something she thought I’d done to her.

I think she blamed me for something. I don’t know what.

‘I’m going out,’ she said to me. She wanted me to baby sit again. She wanted me to spend all night with them whilst she went out and got drunk off her face, yet again. She never thanked me. She never even asked politely.

I could hardly refuse, she was my daughter, and I did owe her something. I’d been absent from her life for most of it – and you were my grandchildren.

I wasn’t happy about it, but I agreed. I let it go. I thought it would be fine.

She wasn’t happy that I wasn’t happy. She threw her toys out of the pram as she always did. She was beginning to drive me insane, I felt like slapping her right there and then, and I do not believe in hitting children, do I?

And so she got changed and went out. Leaving me to feed and play with you two and put you to bed. She said she’d be back later. She said she’d be home before midnight. Of course she was lying.

She turned up at ten in the morning… a month later.

‘Where the Hell were you?’ I hissed when she came in. I was in a foul mood, as you can probably understand. I’d had to raise both of you for an entire month – she hadn’t even called. She hadn’t even changed her dress.

‘Out,’ she shrugged as though it was completely insignificant and normal.

I raised all Hell. I called her names, I said she was an unfit mother. I told her that I felt guilty to have given birth to such a wicked girl. Sure, some things I said were out of order. But I was angry and she was behaving despicably. I felt like throwing her through the window! She was using me as an excuse to not be a mother.

She overreacted.

I threw her out and told her never to set foot in my home again.

So she left.

But she forgot that you were even there. She just left you behind. She never even called to ask if you were there. She never even looked back.”

“Oh God…” Eve muttered beneath her breath as she saw who was coming through their front door. She had to say it beneath her breath because if Adam heard her using ‘that sort of language’ again that week he’d probably rip her limb from limb. She genuinely wouldn’t put it past him.

They were all back – all of Adam’s ‘Children’. Agnes, Thornton, Jamie Jolina…all of them. She’d been enjoying being the only female member of the group. She’d liked the attention – it had made her feel special. But now Agnes was back, and everyone knew that Agnes was Adam’s little prodigy.

She was such a suck up. They’d all returned from their demolishing and planting duties.

“What you people have created is beyond magnificent!” Adam beamed as he stood in the middle of the group, his eyes ablaze with wonderment. “I truly cannot express how happy you have made my superiors.”

Adam always went on about his superiors, Eve was beginning to grow tired of hearing about them and never actually seeing them – part of her assumed that these ‘superiors’ were actually in his head. Just tiny little voices…it wouldn’t shock her.

“But Father, there is still more work to be done surely? We cannot be finished?” Jacob’s voice sounded like a snake’s. Every time the violet-eyed, pale-skinned man spoke she felt tiny spiders scuttle up and down her spine. But she was distracted this time. She’d caught Thornton’s eye.

Thornton: the love of her life.

He was the only one she’d missed. He was the only one that meant anything to her at all. He was the only man she would ever love. He was her Romeo.

“There are no people left in this town Father,” Agnes chirped, her voice small but tingling. “There is no one left to destroy or convert. What do we do now? Where do we go from here?”

Whenever anyone spoke of the ‘survivors’ of the purge Eve felt nervous. She could feel her cheeks flushing red. She always worried that she’d be found out. She had told them all that she’d killed Fatima and Dina. She’d told them that…and they’d believed her. If they found out they’d most certainly kill her.

But she never heard Adam’s response. She snuck away after signalling for Thornton to follow her. If they were discreet they’d be okay. Adam had banned relationships. The women could only have relations with him, that was the rule. She’d be killed if they found out about Thornton.

He didn’t need to speak. She could feel his deep, passionate eyes behind her. She could hear his heart thumping beneath his thick, strong chest. She felt her own heart tremble with anticipation and her knees went suddenly very weak. She wanted to wrap herself around him and never let go. She wanted to melt in to his embrace forever.

His kiss made her lips burn with desire, made her skin fizz with excitement. All she wanted was him. She would quite happily die for him. She knew the danger that their love brought upon them, but whenever she was near him her care for the matter sank in to the ground.

All she needed was him.

That night they really threw caution to the wind. It was something about the circumstances – the return after the long break. She just had to have him, she didn’t even care if she died straight afterwards. At least she would have died happy.

She had to bathe though. She had to bathe a lot. If she smelled like him she’d be killed. She had heard a story about how Adam once hacked off a woman’s breasts and bit out her tongue.

She would rather die than go through that.

Thornton had never felt a love like this before. He had loved his ex wife Morgana, but not like this. He loved Eve more than he could love anything. He wanted to be around her, to protect her.

He wanted to shelter her from any harm. If he could he’d take her away from Adam and the others, but he couldn’t and he knew it. All he wanted was for her to be safe, even if it meant that he died in her place.

She changed her clothes that morning and changed her hair. They couldn’t change very often because they only had limited supplies of clothing. Eve only had a few tops and a few jeans and one pair of sandals – which was fairly liberal by the others’ standards. Agnes had never changed.

She still had a baby girl’s blood on her shirt from The Sunset Valley Purge, she still smelled of water from the time Fatima had tried to drown her.

“You look like a common whore,” Adam said softly from behind her, his face suddenly appearing beside her reflection. “You took the flower from your hair. What do you think gave you that right?”

“Don’t talk to me like that!” Eve snapped, whirling to face him. “You can’t talk to me like that!”

“I shall talk to you however I want! Now if you’ve taken the flower out then I see no reason as to why you can’t shave your hair! Do it Eve! You must fit in! You must complete your transformation!”

“But why?” Eve shrieked. “Why do we have to do that? What’s the big deal about shaving your hair? Surely Mother Nature wants us to have long hair?”

“You insolent, ignorant little girl! The act of shaving one’s hair takes one back to a natural state of birth! We were not born with long hair, were we? It is not natural to have such long hair! If babies had long hair we would call them freaks, wouldn’t we? We need, as a society, to go back to that pure, innocent state where nothing hurts!”

“So you kill everything and everyone around you? That doesn’t sound very innocent!”

“Sacrifices must be made in order to achieve perfection.”

“You are sick - and how dare you call me ignorant! I see more than you could ever see!” She could feel her voice shaking, feel the bubble of anger rising from deep within her gut. It was going to pop.

“You deserve everything you get! Just like your mother did!” Adam’s words made her blood bubble beneath her skin. She didn’t even have to understand them. She didn’t know what he was talking about, she didn’t know why he mentioned her. All she knew was that she had to react.

She slapped him. Hard. He yelped, she grunted. Her palm stung and his lip bled.

He pinned her to the bed and plucked her hair from her scalp with his bare hands in response to her expression of anger.

“There,” he smiled when she stared in to her strange reflection, “isn’t that better?”

She needed to get out of there. She needed to hide in the Garden of Eden, but she didn’t know how.