Her garden was always full of the sounds of birds chirping, squirrels climbing and water flowing, but the forest was eerily quiet; she didn’t hear a single bird, bee, or cricket. The moon cast shadows between the bare, willowy trees.
In the darkness, the forest looked unfamiliar. She had been so excited when she met Jesse that she had forgotten to make note of any landmarks. Not that there was much to use as a landmark. All of the trees, rocks, and roots around her were indistinguishable. She froze in her tracks and looked around. Had she wandered too far? Her stomach twisted with dread.
“Hey!” she called out. “I have soup!”
As she stumbled through the forest into unknown territory she wondered if Jesse had gone back to his home. Her heart sank at the thought of it.
While she pondered the possibility of Jesse having run off, she heard a twig snap from behind her, the tiny sound might as well have been a loud boom in the quiet woods. Heart pounding, she spun around to face the sound, but no one was there.
“Jesse?” she called, looking over her shoulder to make sure whatever had made that noise wasn’t coming towards her from behind. While her father never mentioned the possibility of people living beyond their garden, he had warned her about the mutants. The biological warfare had caused some humans and animals to evolve in frightening new ways. Her father had a pistol with a single bullet in case one of the monsters decided to invade their home.
The bushes around her started to rattle, but she couldn’t make out which direction the sound was coming from. She stood, her heart racing, holding Jesse’s soup as she waited for whatever was coming to find her.
A moment later, Jesse stumbled out of the wilderness. Angela heaved a sigh of relief.
“Soup?” he asked, his eyes locked on the food in her hands.
Angela laughed as she handed over the bowl. As he ate hungrily, she sat next to him, looking him over. The blood was gone, but a nasty-looking scab was forming on his temple. Angela noticed that he was never completely relaxed; he was always looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was there. Every once in awhile he would glance over at her with curiosity in his eyes.
“I noticed you never wear shoes,” he said when his soup was halfway finished.
“I was three when I came here. I outgrew them,” Angela said, brushing off his question. “Besides, the soil in our garden is much softer than anything out here. I want to know more about you. You mentioned a city. What’s it called?”
The questions caused Jesse to tense up a bit.
“Chicago,” he said. Angela didn’t know where or what Chicago was, but she nodded anyway.
“So how do you get there…to Chicago?” Angela asked.
“You want to go to Chicago?” he asked skeptically, chuckling.
“I think I do, if there are other people like you there,” she said thoughtfully. “My father and I have more food than we could ever eat. Do the people in Chicago have food?”
Jesse leaned back against a tree trunk. “We do, but not nearly enough for all of the people within the settlement limits. There are a few independent farmers in our community, but for the most part, the Watch controls the food supply.”
Angela frowned. There was that word again—Watch. He clearly wasn't talking about the object on her wrist. But who were they watching?
“Tell me about the Watch,” Angela said.
“Public enemy number one,” Jesse replied. “President Kane’s lackeys.”
“President.” Angela was happy to have heard a familiar word. Her father told her about presidents. As a country’s leader, they reminded her of the rulers in her favorite fairy tales.
“Like a king,” Angela said.
This caused Jesse to laugh out loud. “Kane’s no king. He’s not even really the president. We don’t have a true government anymore and we don’t have elections. His family was the richest family to survive the Bio Wars. They own land outside of the states. Uncontaminated land. When you have resources in a world without any you can call yourself anything you want. Kane’s a man who gave himself a title and he had enough money that no one questions it. He controls the shipments of food and supplies that go to each settlement’s community. He also issued the CitCards that hold our money.”
“How do you get to the settlement?” asked Angela.
“Well Chicago, or what's left of it, is a little over two weeks’ walk away. But you can’t just go frolicking in,” he said.
Two weeks’ walk? Angela thought. All this time, she was only two weeks away from where hundreds of other people lived? Angela was surprised other humans had been so close, yet had never found her garden until now.
“Why can’t I walk in?” she asked.
“That's much too dangerous. If you want to get in, you need one of these.” He pulled a small, plastic object out of his pocket and held it out in front of her. It had a picture of Jesse's face on it, minus the mud and scabs, and words that Angela could not read.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what it is,” she admitted.
“It’s a citizenship card, or CitCard for short,” he said. “At least it looks enough like one for me to get by.”
Angela nodded, figuring she could quiz him about the tiny object later. She had more pressing questions to ask. “Why did you run away? Is there something . . . dangerous . . . in the settlement?”
A smile tugged on the corners of Jesse’s lips. “Of course the settlement is dangerous, but that’s not why I ran away. I did something that tore me up inside, and I came out here to redeem myself. Sometimes, it’s hard to find peace without a little chaos.”
Angela knew this was all too true. The reason she had never questioned Nathan before was to keep the peace.
“Elaborate,” Angela pressed.
“It’s a long story,” Jesse continued. “There were some Wardens on my tail, and I had to lay low for a bit. But, I think my journey is coming to an end soon. I have been gone for a whole month. They will probably assume I am dead. When you found me, I was trying to stock up on food for the journey home. I was wondering if you could help me with that? Could you get some food from your garden for me? I plan on leaving tomorrow, in the night.”
Angela’s eyes grew wide.
“Tomorrow!” she exclaimed. “But . . . you just got here.”
“Technically, I've been here for a while. You just didn't notice me,” he said. “I'm feeling a lot better now, and I really should get back.”
Leaving tomorrow, Angela thought, realizing it was now or never. She forced herself to ask a question that terrified her, “Can you take me with you when you go back?”
There was silence. Jesse looked skeptical. Finally, he asked, “Why would you want me to do that? You live here with your father and I’m not a kidnapper.”
“I’m not a kid,” Angela responded.
Jesse studied her face. “You really have never been anywhere but here?”
“Never,” Angela said.
“And why would you want to leave a beautiful paradise like this for a wasteland?” Jesse quizzed, but Angela could detect a knowing smile on the corners of his lips. He wanted her to come with him; she could sense it.
“If I can start a life in Chicago and convince my dad it's safe to leave, then he won’t have to sit in a chair in his room reading the same books over and over again, and that won’t have to be my fate someday,” Angela said. “Besides, we have food here. If there are people in need, maybe I can tell them about this place and help get food to them.”
Jesse leaned his body towards Angela. His eyes searched her eyes quizzically, but he said nothing.
“He deserves better than this, and so do I,” Angela continued. “I need to find out why he lives like this so I can help him. I need bring him proof that there is a world outside of this garden. To do that, I have to leave.”
“So much talk about your father and people in need,” Jesse said. He reached out and took her hand in his, causing Angela’s heart rate to quicken. “I wil
l take you with me, but only if you want to come with me for yourself. Not for your father or for strangers that you want to save. For you. Are you sure you are ready to leave this all behind?”
Angela hesitated for only a moment before she nodded. “I am.”
She heard the smile in his voice when he said, “Then I guess that’ll be okay.”
The following night, Angela waited in her room until her father was asleep. As she lay in bed she could hear the wooden floor creak in her father’s adjacent room as he walked from his chair, where he read each night, to his desk, where he kept his books, and then to his bed, where he slept. Once the floor stopped creaking, she listened to him shuffle in bed as he tried to find a comfortable position to rest, but it took him longer than usual to doze off. When all was silent, save for her father's soft snores, Angela placed the biggest backpack she could find on her shoulders and grabbed Jesse’s pack from under her bed. She walked over to her window and looked out into the garden. The distance between the windowsill and the world outside seemed wider that night, now that the moment to leave was here. She crept out of her window once again, skillfully climbing down her tree.
In the garden, she put all the fruits she could fit in her packs and filled the few non-cracked bottles they owned with clean water. As she approached the gate, Angela realized she needed to complete one final task. Before she ran away, she wanted to find a safe way to say goodbye to her father. Cursing herself for not doing so before leaving her house, she knew that she would have to go through the front door to get back in. She crept back inside the cabin’s kitchen as quietly as a mouse.
As she made her way inside, she realized this was possibly the last time she would be home for awhile, so she found the picture of her mother and put it in her pocket as well. Angela grabbed all of her old newspaper clippings, putting them in her dress pocket. She took the newspaper her father gave her for her most recent birthday and drew a heart on it with the dull remainder of her tiny pencil.
“I’ll come back for you,” Angela said to herself, placing her tiny pencil onto the kitchen table next to her note. There were butterflies in her stomach from the anticipation of adventure, but these butterflies felt like they had razor blades for wings; like they would eat her alive from the inside out. The pain in her stomach was only second to the pain in her heart.
“I love you,” she whispered to herself as she laid the newspaper clipping, her makeshift goodbye letter, on the kitchen table, “but I have to go.”
She left quickly, not giving herself an opportunity to change her mind.
Once she made her way back outside, she couldn’t help but notice that the air was colder than it was on most summer nights. The wind angrily rattled the leaves of the trees in the garden, as if they knew of Angela’s plans to abandon them. The furious feeling the night gave her almost made her think her home was warning her, or that the garden was angry that she would dare leave. Forcing herself forward, she climbed back over the fence to where a sleeping Jesse lay.
“Jesse!” Angela whispered, laying her hand on his shoulder, “Jesse get up!”
Jesse offered a tired smile. When he looked at her, a warm feeling spread through Angela that pushed away the chill. Jesse took his backpack full of food. Reaching his hand into the pack, he pulled out an apple and bit into it.
“You have no idea how good this is compared to what I eat on a daily basis. I haven’t had fruit this fresh sense, well, ever,” Jesse said. Then, not wanting to appear rude, he offered Angela a bite. She took the apple, sinking her teeth in, then, realizing he needed food more than she did, handed the apple back to him. As they shared their snack, Angela wondered how long the garden’s offerings had been his only source of food. It pained her to think that he had been sneaking around and stealing just to eat.
Once the apple was reduced to a core, Jesse stared at it as if he were contemplating eating it too before finally deciding to toss it onto the ground.
Once Jesse was done with the apple, he reached towards Angela and lifted her arm by her wrist. This startled Angela; she looked into his eyes with confusion.
“Why do you have a broken watch?” he asked.
“It was my mother’s,” Angela said. “She died when I was a baby.”
Jesse looked up at her, compassion in his eyes.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jesse said. “Do you want me to fix it?”
“If you can,” Angela said.
He slipped the object off her wrist and examined it.
“It’s not the battery,” he mumbled to himself as he fiddled with her watch. Angela waited for a miracle.
Eventually, Jesse was able to get the timepiece to work. Joy built up inside Angela as the hands started to slowly move in a circular fashion. Jesse slid the watch back on her wrist and buckled it tight.
“Good as new,” he declared.
“How can I ever thank you?” Angela beamed. “Now, I just need to learn to tell time.”
Jesse laughed. “We have our phones for that, right?”
Angela thought about the small black cell phone her father had inside of his room. Like the watch, it didn’t work, but Angela didn’t feel like confessing that fact to Jesse. They had more important things planned.
“Tonight is the most beautiful night in my entire life,” gushed Angela. She tossed back her head and looked at the stars in the sky. “I’m so ready to go to Chicago!”
Jesse smiled back at her. “I am starting to get a little homesick,” he admitted.
Angela decided to make small talk to get to know him better. “So . . . what’s your favorite fairy tale?” Angela asked.
Jesse looked surprised, then chucked. “I’ve never given it much thought.”
“Really? It’s a tie for me,” Angela said. “Belle and Rapunzel.”
“I was more of a superhero guy myself. Batman’s pretty cool,” Jesse said.
“You will have to teach me that fairy tale,” Angela said. Jesse was silent again. Angela wondered why his eyes looked anxious, almost sad.
“Have you ever wondered what the stars are?” Angela asked, looking up at the sky.
“Burning gas,” Jesse answered in a flat tone.
Angela laughed. “No, I’m serious. Do you want to know what I think?” He nodded. “I think they are moon babies. I don’t know for certain, because there are a lot of them. But there was a rabbit in our garden once, a whole healthy rabbit. And it was pregnant! It had a lot of babies. So I assume, over time, it would be possible for the moon to have that many.”
Jesse laughed. “I’ll suspend my disbelief that you found not one, but two, live rabbits healthy enough to mate, because I’m more curious to learn how the moon manages having babies? Who’s the father?”
“Well, I always thought the moon was the father,” Angela went on. “The sun is the mother, of course, but she never gets to see them because she is too busy shining in the daytime.”
“That’s kind of sad, the mother being away and all,” Jesse said.
“She can’t help it. The moon and the sun are worlds away,” Angela explained. “Just because someone’s not physically there doesn’t mean they are not helping you grow. My mother…I’ve never met her, but I can feel her. She’s somewhere opposite to this, but she’s not gone. ”
Jesse smiled at her thoughtfully, the hint of anxiety and sadness in his eyes now stronger.
“What's wrong, Jesse?” she asked.
“I love the way your mind works,” Jesse finally said; too busy trying to figure out Angela to pay attention to the sky. The wind was chilly. Jesse wrapped his arms around his chest as if giving himself a hug. “Where we are going, life can be a little rough. I want you to know I'll do my best to keep you safe.”
“I don’t need protecting,” Angela said. “Who knows, maybe I’ll be the one to keep you safe.”
Jesse chuckled, “You’re so different than anyone I’ve ever known.”
“Oh?” It was all Angela could think to say. She had susp
ected that she would be very different from people in civilization. This worried her. “Is that bad?”
“No,” Jesse assured her. “I like different.”
Jesse looked somewhat conflicted. He opened his mouth as if he were about to tell her something important; a warning perhaps, but then changed his mind.
“Tell me about you,” Jesse said instead.
“There’s not much to tell,” Angela said. “I’m sixteen years old and I have done nothing with my life.”
Jesse smirked. “You make it sound like most sixteen-year-olds have accomplished a lot.”
“I assume most have, at the very least, been taught how to read,” said Angela.
Jesse said nothing, waiting to learn more.
“I know you want to know about me, but . . . there really isn't much to say,” Angela explained cautiously. “I know that I don’t want to be stuck here anymore, but I really have no clue what I hope to find once I go. I know that I want to help my father by starting a life in the settlement for us. I think, in order to figure out more, I'll have to leave.”
He nodded.
“What about you? Your life definitely sounds more exciting than mine,” Angela said, trying to take the attention off of herself.
“An exciting life doesn’t always mean you are an exciting person,” Jesse replied, then sighed. “Angela, I didn’t think you would come so late.”
“I’m sorry,” Angela said. “My dad took forever to fall asleep tonight.”
“Regardless,” Jesse said, “I don’t think we should travel right away. If we are going to take off soon, I’m going to need a bit more sleep. How about you stay out here with me tonight so you don’t have to sneak back out. Once we get to town, you are going to meet some really exciting people. A lot more exciting than me.”
This made the butterflies return to Angela’s stomach. She wondered what would it be like to meet other people. Would they all be kind like Jesse, or would the people in the settlement be dangerous? She looked at Jesse, who despite the cold, strong wind, had already dozed off to sleep, and felt comforted by his presence. It would be fine; he would make sure she was okay.
Saving Eden Page 3