Eden (26 page)

32

I woke up early on Monday morning feeling strangely refreshed, anticipating my day at school.  I guess after facing death, there was nothing that a mundane day at school could do to faze me and I was looking forward to experiencing a normal school day again.  After a quick breakfast, Eden was waiting for me outside of her house.

“Good morning, you’re leaving early for school today” I said to her smiling.

“Good morning back at ya,” she returned, leaning over to kiss me on the lips. “Mmm,” I moaned,  licking my lips, “more nutritious than the daily values worth of vitamin C.”

She giggled and blushed in return, “I decided I would slum it today and take the bus with the rest of you.  I feel like I don’t have to hide myself anymore.”

“I speak for the whole bus when I say glad to have you aboard,” I joked.

Taking my hand we walked to the bus stop to meet the others.

“Hey, glad to see you are looking good,” Matt said to Eden.

“I would have taken a sick day,” Drake muttered.

“I would have, but my daddy’s not here to write me a note,” Eden joked.

“I’ll be your daddy,” Drake returned leering.

We all laughed at that as Howie pulled up to the curb.

“Good morning guys,” he greeted with a smile.

“Morning, Howie,” we said back, really meaning it for the first time.

If Howie was surprised to see Eden waiting for the bus, he hid it well.  With a nod to her and a slight smile, she entered the bus.  Taking our seats, we settled in for another day at school.

Arriving at school, I told Eden I would see her at homeroom and headed for my locker – Staggert was waiting for me.

“Hey, thanks again for last night,” I told him putting out my hand.

“No problem,” he returned shaking my hand, “you and your friends ain’t so bad.  If you guys ever want to join my gang let me know.”

“I’ll be sure to let them know,” I told him, although we both knew it would never fly.  I guess what he was really trying to say is that we had all earned his respect and that there would be no more “Cream Puff” from this day forward.  With a spring in my step, I headed to my homeroom class, where Eden would be waiting for me.  Yessiree, today was off to a great start.

School seemed like a breeze today.  I guess after all the horror and stress I faced on Friday, anything that my teachers could throw at me was a piece of cake.  I was actually surprised when the school day ended, it really flew by.

“So, what do you feel like having tonight?” I asked Eden as I walked her to her locker.

“Seafood,” Eden answered without hesitation.

“Fish Shack?” I offered.

“No, I want real fish,” she laughed, “what about that new place that opened by the mall?”

“You mean Rock Lobster?” why was I answering all her questions with questions of my own?

“Yeah, that’s it,” she smiled, “I want to go there.”

“Sure,” I quickly answered all the while thinking to myself if I had the money to fund our little romantic getaway.  I’m sure my mom would lend me the money and I would make sure to pay her back no matter how much it was.  I mean, at least I was still around to pay her back and that was more than I had bargained for last night.  Hoping on the bus, we smiled at Howie and took our seats.

After Howie dropped us off at our stop, we waved goodbye to our friends and headed down the street to our houses.  We stopped short a distance from Eden’s house because her front door was wide open.

“Oh no,” I whispered, “Not more leeches on the hunt.”

“There better not be,” Eden muttered.  I could sense the rage in her voice.

We silently made our way to Eden’s front door.  She motioned for me to stay back as she entered the doorway.  The ten minutes that I spend staring into the gloomy entrance way seemed like the longest ten minutes of my life, but finally I began to hear some voices coming from deep within the house; voices raised in anger.  It sounded like an argument.  I could make out Eden’s voice, but the others were voices I had never heard before.

I couldn’t take waiting outside any longer; throwing caution to the wind, I entered Eden’s house.  I made my way through the entryway and into the kitchen, unprepared for the sight that awaited me.  It was Eden and she seemed to be arguing with two adults; one male and one female.  It only took a second for the truth to dawn on me – I was meeting Eden’s parents!

33

As soon as I entered the kitchen, an ominous silence broke across the room as all three of them turned to look at me.

“Mother, Father, this is Thomas Atwell,” Eden said in way of introduction, “Thomas, these are my parents.”

“Please to meet you,” I said bowing my head slightly.  Her parents said nothing in reply.

“He’s human,” her mother pointed out, in case Eden’s hadn’t realized that fact already.

“I know, Mother,” she sighed.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” her father covered, “but think this through honey, he’s only got at most another seventy years left.”

I suddenly felt like a cancer patient, only seventy years left, that’s right around the corner.  And why does everyone predict that I’m only going to live to be eighty-six; are Deva privy to top secret information?  Can they foresee the future?  I can’t figure it out.

“Not only that,” her mother added, “but when he is seventy, you’ll appear to be about twenty-three years old; it’s just not healthy for you.”

“I know, I’ve thought about it before,” Eden confessed, “but I don’t care, I’ll deal with that pain when it comes, if it means seventy years of happiness with Thomas.”

My heart swelled with pride at that statement.

“Think about our race,” her father pleaded, “there are so few Deva left today that we can’t afford not to breed with our own kind.”

“Plus you are not safe here,” her mother began.  I had been waiting for this one since the tag team nagging had begun.  “You don’t know how lucky you are to have survived.  We couldn’t bare it if something had happened to you while we were off sleeping the years away.”

“Thank you for saving our daughter,” Mr. Sinclair said, finally speaking directly to me.  “It would have been devastating to us if we had missed rescuing our daughter by only a few days.  We really wish there could another way, a way for the two of you to be together, but it really isn’t possible.  Our race needs to go on and the only way that could happen is if our daughter marries Alonzo.”

Alonzo?  So that was the lucky Deva’s name.

“I understand,” I replied hanging my head in defeat.

I really had wanted nothing more than to spend my life with Eden, but I could see that was selfish of me.  Eden would have to sacrifice everything to be with me, her life, her future, her culture and what could I offer her?  We couldn’t even have children together.  I would grow old and die and Eden would still be young; that’s right, she would still be young!

“Couldn’t she be with Alonzo after I died,” I bargained.  “Eden would still be in her mid-twenties by that time and she could have children afterwards.”

“I am afraid it is not that easy,” Eden confessed.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Deva women only remain fertile until their early two hundreds,” Eden told me, “I am almost two hundred now; by that time, chances are I would no longer be able to have children.”

“Couldn’t you go and have children with Alonzo and still be with me?” I asked even though the idea crushed my heart.

“It’s just not possible,” her mother responded softly, “it takes about twenty years before the baby stops breast feeding and by that time you would be approaching middle age and even then her child would still be little more than a toddler.”

“There really is no way around this,” her father said, “Eden must return with us, where she and her future children could remain safe.”

I could see tears welling up in Eden’s eyes as her parents explained everything to me.  I began to understand that no matter what, Eden and I could never be together.

“I’m so sorry, Thomas,” Eden cried, tears rolling down her porcelain cheeks.

I didn’t know how to respond, I didn’t know how to react.  Logically I knew that her parents were right, Eden had to keep their race alive and safe; but emotionally I was a wreck, I wanted to be with her.  It was selfish, I knew, but how else could I feel?  I was a sixteen year old boy after all and I was about to lose the girl of my dreams, the girl of everyone’s dreams, and it wasn’t even my fault.

It wasn’t fair.

But deep down, I knew that there was nothing I could do.

“I have to pack,” Eden pointed out, admitting defeat, “It will take me days, if not weeks to move all of this stuff back to our home.”

“Our Guardians can take care of that for us,” Mr. Sinclair stated, “but we have to leave today.  Our flights leave tonight and Milton is waiting for us in his car.”

Milton?  It took a few moments before I remembered that Milton was Sir Stroll’s real name.  Was it true?  Was Eden leaving me right this moment?

Eden nodded her head, “Ok, let me just say goodbye to Thomas.”

Her parents nodded their heads and left to wait outside.

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything; no words could express the feeling that I had inside.  This was it.  Eden was leaving my life forever.

“I’ll always love you, Thomas,” Eden cried, throwing herself into my arms.  I could barely understand her through her sobs.  She held onto me, almost causing me pain, but I didn’t mind.  Any physical pain I could feel would be like nothing compared to the emotional pain I was now feeling inside.

“I don’t want you to go,” I pleaded pathetically.

“I have to,” Eden said painfully, “I don’t like it either, but I have a duty to my people.  I can’t let our race die out.”

“Will I ever see you again?” I asked, tears in my eyes.

“I hope so,” she answered, “I’ll do everything I can to see you again.”

“Can I have your phone number, your address, at least your e-mail address?” I stammered.

“I can’t give out my phone number or address, my parents would have a fit, they could be used by anyone to locate me,” Eden admitted, “and I don’t do e-mail addresses, I can barely turn on a computer.”

“And yet you turn me on all the time,” I joked lamely.

She smiled and gave me one final kiss.

And then she walked out of my life.

A few months have passed and I’ve finally finished recording everything written here, not that I will ever do anything with it.  It was therapeutic to write everything down, to express my feelings on paper.  Now that it is over, I feel better, more optimistic.

I will see Eden again.

I just know it.

The following is a sneak preview of the book

by Gregory Hoffman

THE ABNORMS

Coming soon!