Eden In Black

[CHAPTER TEN]

 "I am finite, I am ending." 

Eden was flabbergasted "Lidia!" He gulped hard. His eye dilated with shock and he stood up from his chair fast. Frozen for a long time, believing he might not be able to breathe again.
He tried to touch her cheek, but she turned cold, turning away slowly and staring at him with confusion.
He wasn't sure if he wanted to hug her so tight, or take her hand and leave as fast he could far from everything.
He tried to reach out.
-"I was just..." She tried to say looking round her.
-"Hazel, there you are!" Seth came closer handing her a drink.
- "So, you guys have met I see." He smiled taking a sip from his glass and staring at both of them. It was too silent.
- "No, Hi, I'm Hazel." She finally smiled offering her hand to Eden.
- "Eden." He cleared his throat after pausing for too long.
-"I'm so sorry, I thought you were someone else." Eden apologized.
-"You're leaving already? You just got in..."Seth tried to convince him to stay, but Eden was already heading towards the outside street where his car was parked.
-"Wait!" Hazel followed him. His heart was beating like it was 15 again.
- "Are you okay?" She asked.
- "Excuse me?" "Seth told me you were looking exhausted lately, he did this party for you really. It's your birthday, isn't it?" Hazel asked sweetly.
-"Oh." He paused. "I forgot about that."
-"I think he did it for him too" Eden looked around and saw Seth surrounded by girls at the party.
She smiled, almost laughing about it.
- "Why did you call me Lidia?" She asked, trying to stop him from walking away further. -"Nothing." He felt annoyed at himself, what was he thinking. He must have lost his mind, she looked like Lidia, but it wasn't her.
She did have her blond curls, her scent, but she didn't have her eyes. He felt stupid more than anything.

  Why did he think he could see her again?

 -"Eden wait!" A girl yelled from afar as he unlocked his car door. He didn't look back for a while and closed his eyes, trying hard to think of something to say, that wouldn't render him an idiot again.
- "Hazel, I ..." He turned to face her.
- "Your hand, it's shaking" Scarlet noticed as soon as she was close enough to talk to him, leaving Hazel to wave goodbye and walk away. 
Eden didn't say a word, and decided to turn away.
He suddenly felt a soft grip on his hand "I am sorry, you're mad at me, I know." Scarlet tried to make amends.
-"I don't want to lose you Eden, please" her voice was begging for any reply.
-"You don't know what you want" Eden then said firmly.
He un-gripped her hand and entered his car, leaving her in the drive way, her eyes wide and speechless. He looked back from his car mirror. He wasn't sure why he acted so heartless.

His heart was aching again, and he remembered how it was like to hold on to something so tight and stupidly believe it was yours forever. Only to lose them in a flash of a memory. His chest felt like it was being stabbed by a million needles again. His vision was flooded by the tears that he couldn't hold back.

Lidia...

He dreamt of her that night. She stood in front of him, her eyes filled with tears. He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear like he used to.
She looked taller now, she wasn't 16 anymore, they both weren't. He reached out to touch her face and it felt cold.
Almost as if touching ice.
A small cloud of fog formed in front of her mouth when she breathed, and she suddenly turned pale blue. "Don't leave me Eden." She started sobbing.
Her body turning porcelain white. Shattering slowly like ice breaking before an avalanche. "Lidia!" He screamed jumping nervously from his bed.

45:86 His clock was still broken.

Eden went early to University the next morning. Slow paced in his walks, almost as if dragging himself towards the architecture studio marked C358. He hesitated to go in and start another overworking-himself-to-death kind of project, and decided to take a rest on the inner seating of the hall adjacent to it. 
He noticed the details of the etched handrails on the second floor overlooking the working stations placed strategically in the middle of the double volume space. He sat on the couches designed to fit perfectly around the multicolored columns. It was a perfect mood for a sketch, it kept him focused and relaxed.
Something he wasn't feeling lately. The younger students called him the annoyingly mysterious guy. He rarely spoke to anyone, and usually seemed to easily get bored with group conversation. A waste of time, it was obvious all over his face. No one dared to approach him. He had a head start on his peers and he knew it.
Having a dad as a star-architect had its perks, but also gave him a good number of enemies fast. His dad was obsessed with molding his next generation timeless, he knew that immortality landed in making your own offspring just as legendary. He made sure that Eden's professors were harsh on him. Pushing him with extra work. There was no such thing as a burn-out. Ironically ,Eden was found to be thankful for his dad's gestures, he knew that his hands were all over the architecture department.
This didn't make him angry, just like a normal person would. If anything, he found solace and relief in doing as much work as he could during his day just so he can forget all the nightmares he keeps having, all the images of the dark grave and colossal creatures.
His soul was doomed and he knew it. Eden somehow managed to find solace in the mundane.
The worst part was not knowing why. His deep thoughts were interrupted with a sudden blur of face talking to him, his mind was in deep in thought somewhere else,
-"Can you hear me?" Seth said.
- "Why did you leave so early last night?" He added lighting a cigarette and sitting next to him, he tried his best to stay calm, he only smoked when it was too much to handle.
-"I got bored." Eden snapped back to reality, continuing to sketch.
-"Hazel kept asking if you were okay the whole night, ruined my mood." He puffed a heavy smoke into the air, his fingers were twitching.
-"Who is she? What is she doing here?" Eden's shoulders got tense, he had to ask.
-"Hazel, she's a fine art major, she studies here."
Eden gulped hard; his mind was playing tricks on him again.
-"I need air" He stood up, wearing his jacket.
-"What's up with you lately man? Why the hell are you so annoyingly out of it?"
-"I have to go." Eden didn't like where this was going.
-"No, don't give me that nonsense, spit it out!" Seth threw his cigarette to the ground and put it out with his shoes, his voice got louder.
 Eden's eyes lit in anger, he didn't feel the need to explain himself to Seth, or anyone for that matters.
- "We are friends Eden, I have been doing my best to ignore how distant and secretive you've been lately, if it was the other way around I'm sure you'd do anything to help me, but it's not, and you refuse to let anyone help you Eden, friends will always make sure to be on each other's side when needed, why do you insist on living like this?" Seth sounded hurt, he remembered all the times they had together when they were young, the days they did graffiti, the days they used to skateboard, it feels like an eternity now looking how Eden just doesn't want to be involved with anything, he knew Eden wasn't opening up about something that was eating him inside.
- "Drop it Seth" Eden looked back at him and his heart dropped, he didn't know how to answer that, Seth was his dearest friend, but he didn't know how to explain the madness he was going through without making him sound like he's lost him mind.

Eden lowered his eyes, disappointed at himself and walked away. On his way outside of the building he was blocked by Zain who suggested they talk on the far side of the building's west wall.
- "Tell me you saw her too" Eden said as soon as they leaned on the wall and dropped his bag. -"Who?" "I mean it's impossible, she looks exactly like..., but her eyes..." Eden continued.
- "Who are you talking about?" Zain asked.
-"Lidia!" He was furious, is everyone going to get his nerves today.
 Zain then rubbed the back of his neck nervously releasing a few tensed knots, it's true, something is happening to Eden and he didn't like it.
-"Lidia?" Zain's attention was fixated on some students who were laughing too loud with their T-Squares and A1 bags, his question was bored, his tone stiff and uncaring, like he was hiding something.
-"How's everything with Scarlet? "Eden didn't need another fight.
-"She is something alright, everyone seems to ask me about her lately." Zain smiled at him.
 Eden's brows lifted and a smile escaped his serious face.
- "I don't know man, I just ...I don't know" Zain almost laughed remembering how girls can act so randomly sometimes. Eden took a long sigh of relief and rubbed his forehead.
- "I'm crazy about her, I just can't figure her out." Zain took the chance to divert where Eden's conversation was about to go.
-"Damn" Eden looked up, remembering how in love he was once upon a memory.
- "You think?" Zain laughed.
-"Anyways, I have to head back to the studio, did you figure out your pre-concept yet?" Eden took his bag.
- "Do I ever?"
- "As usual"
- "As...usual" Zain repeated.


 Eden silently worked at his Maquette, Seth was nowhere to be seen, and he thought maybe he was being unfair to him.
It's after all a coincidence, and Lidia was something of the past, he wasn't sure why he got mad at Seth for no reason, just because he was with someone who looked so much like her.


 A few moments passed by when suddenly Seth appeared and decided to grab a seat and place it next to Eden. Not saying a word, merely just playing some indie-game on his phone, they used to be very close friends when they were younger, he always reminded himself to forgive Eden, friends always do. Eden looked at his direction and exchanged a simple greeting.

-"Hey guys." A girl approached them hesitantly picking up a few of the tree models Eden had set aside to later add to his final model.
- "Oh, transparent sheets, cool idea." She observed.
-"Scarlet, your hair!" Seth eyes widened in shock.
-"Yeah, I had it trimmed, because I know what I want." She stared straight into Eden.
-"You look so different." Seth added.
- "I hope I do." She played with a few loose strands of what was left of her now chopped off hair. -"Man, I wish I had the courage" Remi entered the workshop, carrying everything she could as usual and dropping it to the nearest table.
- "Let me see." She took a closer look, "I love it!"
-"What do you think Eden?" he was too quiet and Scarlet couldn't help but ask.
- "It's very..." He cleared his throat, looking very hard to read, he wouldn't dare say how shockingly beautiful she looked.
-"Is there a reason to the sudden impulse?" He finally managed to say.
-"It's what a girl does when she lets go of her past." Scarlet answered proudly, her tone sounding as if she rehearsed it all morning.
- "You don't mean Zain, do you? Did you guys break up?" Remi started calculating in her head.

Scarlet looked back and forth at Eden and Seth, not able to read the blank expression Eden had written all over his face.
- "So, you cut your hair as short as possible, what's it called, pixie cut?" Seth mocked.
-"You break up with everyone ,Scarlet." Eden turned back to cutting his model boards.
-"Oh, you can both go to hell!" She was furious.

Both guys exchanged confused looks and almost laughed about it, girls can be so dramatic in their impulses sometimes. A sudden loud bang of the door being shut was heard, startling noise all over the classroom workshop, Eden thought their jokes must have been out of place, and he ran after her to apologize.
Remi looked at Seth shaking her head in disappointment.
-"What? She is too sensitive." He replied.

She disappeared quickly, he had to ask around to finally find out she was in classroom E979. He knocked the door a few times before he let himself in, opening it slowly and carefully.
- "Scarlet? Are you crying?" He walked towards her as she buried her face between her knees on the stairs of the auditorium.
-"Leave me alone!" She screamed and threw a book he dodged quickly and picked it up after it landed on the floor.
- "The picture of Dorian Gray" He smiled, "You can't throw what you don't own" He sat beside her.
-"Listen, it was wrong of me and Seth back there, I'm sorry."
-"Where's Seth, I want his apology ,too." She started sobbing even more.
 He burst into laughter, harder than he expected.
- "You sometimes remind me of little children, always on the verge of crying." She lifted her head to face him, her cheeks where flushed in deep red, her long lashes soaked with tears.

She gazed at him not sure if she wants to punch his stomach or kiss him right then and there. She decided to punch his stomach.
-"Ouch" He laughed, grabbing her hand before she tried to punch another one.
 Scarlet swallowed hard, "I lied.", "I cut it because of you." She confessed timidly.

 He suddenly adjusted the way he was sitting.
-"I don't understand." He wasn't sure how to answer that.
- "When that girl approached you in Seth's party, I felt so jealous, and ...and I love you Eden." This sentence broke his heart to pieces, she confirmed what he always doubted, and the way she pushed Remi to go with him instead. The way she acted like everything was normal because she was just being herself.

 Scarlet loved playing mind games. He suddenly froze. Cold as ice. Stiff as stone. She came in closer, her lips centimeters apart from his, she was smiling.
- "You love attention Scarlet, not me" His movement was rigid, he was angry, and all he can think of is how Zain is in love with someone so manipulative.
-"Zain is not someone to play games with ,Scarlet, he never forgives." Eden said walking out only to find the door being opened suddenly by Zain as he was shocked to find both Eden and Scarlet alone in the same room, sitting too close to each other.
His doubts were confirmed.

He didn't say a word and took a long moment staring at both of them to finally decide to just turn his back and walk away, his face filled with hidden disappointment.

Scarlet rushed after him realizing what she's done.