The End of Eden

XXIII

I do not tell the vessels what Annabelle has said to me. There is no reason to; she cannot take a single thing from me and her words are just words that bounce off of me. Words that mean nothing. And surely she is afraid of touching me again. We both know what would happen to her if she tried to again, now that I have been elevated to where I am now.

I don't shudder at the thought now. I did, weeks ago, with Jonah, but now, I understand why we cannot leave. This place is a paradise. It truly was Eden, and to forsake a place like this, is to forsake life. We are all lucky to be invited here, to spend our days here in Eden, blessed by Sleep to hear his words.

I smile down at my hands, at the cleanness of them. None of the vessels had on their body paint when I saw them, but I knew that soon my hands, my body, would be marked by them again.

My new room is empty if anyone when I let myself in. I don't know what to do with my long dead phone, so I just end up tucking it back into the same place I had it, between the mattress and box frame of my new bed, then sit down on one of the soft armchairs. I really should let the one single connection to the outside world go, but I just can't. Not yet anyways. But soon.

I only sit for a few short minutes. Even though Vessel brought me a platter of food, I'm still ravenous. And antsy, like I have too much pent up energy that needs to be let out. I stand from the chair and leave my room again, and in a few short minutes, I find myself standing in the doorway of the kitchen. It's a few hours from dinner, so the kitchen is not very busy, but I easily find Serra.

"Hello," I say, stopping by her side. She looks up from the dough she's rolling out and smiles knowingly at me.

"I'm surprised to see you out of bed," she says coyly, and my mouth pops open in surprise. I have no idea how to reply, so Serra is working the dough, I open and close my mouth like a fish for a few seconds.

"I... didn't know I wasn't supposed to leave?" I say, the last word rising up in a question. Serra stops her rolling and tilts her head back to laugh, but I only grin. She swipes her hands down her apron and turns to the side and pulls out a glass plate with a huge slice of cake on it.

"I trust you have lessened your nerves, then?" Serra says, producing a fork for me. I nod as I take both the cake and the fork and pull up a chair to sit in as I eat the cake. It's so sweet it makes my teeth ache, but so divinely good.

"Did you know I moved rooms?" I ask, sliding another forkful of cake into my mouth.

"Of course! I helped source much of the décor in there," Serra replies proudly, and I can't help but smile.

"I love it. I've always dreamed of having a room like it. It's all soft, and feminine, but not over the top girly. It's a room that belongs to a woman. A bride."

I don't add the second part I think. The bride of a god. Serra nods her head as she rerolls the extra dough, then cuts through that again.

"My heart sings knowing that you like it," she says as I watch her hands and devour the cake. I'm sucking on the tines of the fork, getting off the last of the frosting, when an idea hits me.

"Can you show me how to make something, anything really, for the vessels?"

"I certainly can," Serra replies, shaping the last bit of dough to match the rest of them. "Pull out a tray and lay these on there. Is there something you wanted to make?"

I slide off my chair and replace it from where I found it, take a baking tray, and start laying the cut rolls out on them. "I was thinking something sweet. Maybe with the rose water syrup?"

"I have dried cranberries in the syrup now, but what about..." Serra pauses to think, watching me evenly space out the doughy rolls. "A simple cookie with the cranberries and pistachios."