The Future of Eden

Chapter 6

(Lark's pov)

I stare at the night sky through the glass bubble. I remember that night so clearly, when I took her to the algae spiral. I remember how timid her kiss was. I remember knowing I loved her from that moment on. I still have the picture she gave me, her prized possession, she said. It was hidden with some other files in the Underground, just in case my parents found it in my room. I miss my parents all the time. When Chief Elena started tampering with my memory, she had my real parents taken to the Center where they were wiped of any memory of me. But I grieved that loss a long time ago. Now I face having to live in a beautiful world without the one person I wanted to share it with.
I was furious with Lachlan when he told me what happened, but I couldn't say anything to him. Rowan was watching me, I think. I felt her with me before, but I guess she moved on to the other first children she could reach. I didn't want to hurt Lachlan in case she was watching. I can't deny that they love each other, but seriously. How could Lachan be so bikking stupid? If I had only been there, I would've been able to stop her, convinced her not to do it. Earth, I hope Lachlan blames himself. I hope he takes that guilt to his grave. He took away my Rowan, and has the nerve to say he loved her?

I shift my gaze to the village under the night sky. There are hundreds and hundreds of tiny tents sprinkled in the meadows surrounding the village, and the rest of the Eden citizens are cramped into shops and buildings, and any unoccupied bubbles. Ash, Angel, Flame, Rowan's parents and I are staying in Rosabla's old bubble, three on each floor. Ash and Angel sleep peacefully on a couch on the first floor, and I'm on a sleeping pad next to them. I'm happy for Ash, truthfully, but when I see him and Angel, I just see what I never had with Rowan. Before we got Rowan out of Oaks, on one of my trips to the Underground, I was talking to Flint about the mission. Somehow I ended up ranting to this thirty something year old man about how much I hated Lachlan. To be fair, I really don't hate him, but I was having a bad day and needed to get it out of my system. I never realized how much Flint despised Lachlan, but apparently he had a few things to add about him. He said a lot of stuff, mostly about Lachlan's leadership and whatever, but then he said something I wish I'd never heard.

Apparently, when he was searching for Rowan after they captured me, he walked in on them. Flint had no idea how I felt about Rowan back then, but I think he just wanted Lachlan to look even worse. He said he knocked on Lachlan's door and when he opened it, there Rowan was, in his bed, in the middle of the night. Flint had implied what he believed happened between them that night, but I know that part isn't true. Rowan had just met Lachlan the night before. She would never, under any circumstances. I look at Ash, holding Angel in his arms as they sleep and imagine it's Rowan and Lachlan. With a look of disgust, I shake my head. No, I think. They don't fit right. I then imagine it's Rowan and me. I tilt my head and smile. Yes, I think. Now, that is a perfect fit. My smile fades as I think of Rowan, sitting in her casket for the rest of eternity, devoting her every day to a world that was nothing but cruel to her.

It was nothing but cruel to her.

I lie back down on the floor, staring through the glass ceiling at the sliver of night sky I can see through the trees. How can I move on if the only thing I can think about is her? There's a pain in my chest that reminds me in every breath of what I've lost. Suddenly, I feel horrible for what I thought about Lachlan. He's probably in just as much pain as I am, plus the guilt I'm sure that haunts him. If Rowan loved him, that has to mean something, right?