The End of Eden

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The bruises on my neck from Two had only just begun to fade when Annabelle and I were perched in the field, eating as many strawberries as we were tossing them into our baskets.

She only made a single comment about it. "Did you see his face?" Annabelle had asked, her eyes roving over my neck the day after Two had his way with the tender flesh there. I had only blushed and shook my head no.

"I don't know what happened to Jonah," she said, tossing a handful of berries into her wicker basket, her skin stained red, her plump lips tinged pink. "I haven't seen him since he said he wanted to leave."

"Maybe he did actually leave," I say. Guilt suddenly twisted in my stomach as I remembered Two disappearing for a few minutes to share what I had told him. Had I caused something to happen to him?

The sun was low in the sky when we had our fill of berries, and our baskets were full, other gardeners already making their way back toward the complex.

"Want to-" I started, but my question was cut short.

Three gong echoes rang out from the main compound area. Annabelle jerked her head up towards the buildings up the hill.

"A tribunal!" she said, raising to her feet. "Come on, we cannot miss it."

Before I had a chance to ask what was happening, Annabelle took off at a run to the buildings. I lurched up, grabbed the basket of berries we had collected, and raced after her, my hat flying off my head, though not lost thanks to the ribbon at my throat.

"Wait!" I called, my feet slapping the earth to catch up to her.

When we made it to the main courtyard, my skin was hot, and my breath short, but everyone was filing in through the brick walls, a low hum in the air. I slipped through the gateway, and my hand was grabbed suddenly. I spun around, only to find Two, his hand grasping my wrist, his deep blue eyes locked on mine.

"You startled me," I said lowly. He shifted his eyes to the front of the courtyard, then back to mine, and gave one sharp squeeze of my wrist before letting me go, and slipping through the supplicants.

A warning.

I found Annabelle sitting, and set my basket and hat down next to her before I knelt. We were all in the same circle around the divet in the stone work, but the divet now contained someone kneeling in it, a hood over their head, wrists and ankles bound. Fear crept down my spine as everyone settled down.

I turned to Annabelle. "What the hell is happening?" I hissed under my breath, but she waved me away, her eyes watching the opposite end.

Vessel appeared. He wore the full face mask tonight, and his robe had tassels on it, from each point, a fur stole perched on one shoulder. While his chest remained bare, except the black body paint, and his trousers were bound up with white satin ribbons, crossing from his knees down to the tabis on his feet. He carried a staff in one hand, with the top as an intricate tangle of branches to create a circle.

All at once, everyone fell silent, our breaths bated. My eyes shifted from Vessel, to the hooded person, and back, the fear making the sweet strawberries in my stomach sour.

"My family," Vessel said, coming to stand in the center of our circle. We all bowed our heads in supplication. "Sleep bless thee."

"Worship," we said as one, then raised our heads.

"Being the Vessel is no easy task for anyone," he started, turning in the circle to face us all in time. "Though it brings me great wisdom and joy to be the mouth of our savior, it also comes with great responsibilities. Of these burdens I bear, the hardest I face is to mete out justice when Sleep sees fit."