The End of Eden

IX

In the days after I had received the robe from Vessel, I seemed to spend more and more time with the masked leaders of Eden.

Three had brought his own white rose to me, offering it to me silently.

I took it, and smiled at him. "You are forgiven," I said, twirling the rose stem between my fingers. "And I'm sorry for overstepping your boundaries, too."

I could see his cheeks under his mask raise up in a smile, and he took my hand and said, "You are forgiven, too," before he kissed my cheek through the mask.

Annabelle and I listened to the sermons given by Vessel twice a week, him voicing the decrees of Sleep, the emphasis on forgiveness and the different ways we could show it to each other.

For some reason, I was enraptured as Vessel spoke, and I felt strangely connected to him, and the rest of the vessels.

During the days, Annabelle daydreamed out loud about a blossoming relationship with Jonah, while I silently day dreamed about the Vessels. Each one was uniquely different than the last.

Vessel was a flirt, but sat quietly and attentively when he listened to me talk. Four was caring, his presence always hovering around me, watching me. Three was also a flirt, but I found him to be more uninhibited with it, with his wild personality. And Two was mysterious, and quiet, aloof while the others sought me out in the evenings, whether I was out in the rose garden or courtyard, or in my room.

What was it about me that drew them into me? Sure, I had dreams about Sleep, but so did Serra. But Vessel had said I had a purpose here, even though I didn't know what it was, and it seemed like he, and the other vessels, did know. Sleep had to have been telling them about his plans with me.

But when would I be told about these hidden plans?

One evening, Annabelle, Jonah, and I trekked down into the fields beyond the complex, to a small lake on the Eden property. I hadn't been to it yet, but accepted when Annabelle grabbed my hand after dinner and asked me to come with them.

Annabelle had stripped nude and slipped right into the water, while I kicked off my shoes and dipped my feet in, Jonah sitting beside me, his eyes on the distance, not even on Annabelle swimming.

"So you actually see this guy, Sleep?" Jonah asked me during a lapse in our conversation. I turned to look at him.

"Yeah, he comes in my dreams," I answer. "He rarely talks, and just hangs out the outskirts of the dreams sometimes."

Jonah didn't seem convinced by this, looking at me skeptically, like I was lying.

"I know it's weird," I said, pulling my feet from the water as Annabelle paddled by. I tucked them under me to dry them off. "But being here is a comfort. I have people I can talk to about what I see."

"Yeah, you seem to be a favorite here," Jonah said, watching as Annabelle emerged from the lake, like a siren had just come to land. Water sluiced off of her in rivulets and I averted my eyes as she took a seat beside Jonah.

"I just think it's weird, and like they made a god up to get people to come here," Jonah continued, and I arched an eyebrow as I turned to look at him. "I don't think I believe in any of it. It's all pretty cringey."

Jonah fell silent, and Annabelle and I met each other's eyes around him. She looked disappointed and shocked, and I probably had some level of shock on my face as well.

It was the first time I had heard someone speak badly about Sleep, and by extension, Eden, and the vessels. And the oddest sensation of defensiveness rose up in me, needing to protect the leaders who took me under their wings.