The Eden Projects (EDITING)

Chapter 5. Euphoria.

Adam radiated malevolence.

It was often said that it lived and bred on his skin, catching his breath and riding it in the air to whoever he wished. His very frame seemed to be held up by it. The very weight of his gaze seemed to bear down on The Rim, following its inhabitants like the devil itself. He OWNED this Rim, and in turn, it bowed before him. The God of the anthill. A junkyard guard dog. To Adam, this was his purpose and he was relentlessly set on pursuing it. His sons, an extension of his will, were both as disappointing as their mothers. His question, his entire ideology was shattered at the birth of them.

Kasper, his first, was pathetic. Just as weak as the woman who tried to "protect" him. So little thought was given to his name, (both parents arriving at the hospital on a high,) when asked what his name should be, Adam answered, seeing just how pale he was. Like a ghost. So his name was chosen. Of course, spelled incorrectly. With every attempt to raise him up he could feel the boy's hatred growing. Too soft, too weak. It ricocheted off the walls of their home; creeping and skittering down the hallways. Picking at the trim like woodlice and eating away at Adam's patience. Was this why he hated him? He could sense that boys every move. When Kasper woke up Adam could feel him coming back into being. His search for food in the cupboards, the creeks the floorboards made as he scurried about. No son of Adam would scurry, and all at once. Kasper was his son no more. Just some random kid he was held responsible for. So he sat chasing down the grief of losing his living son with a few bottles of alcohol. But Adam was always hungry for more. Always.

Then came Zero. or Zeros in full. He again insisted on the name, sure he would be just that. Nothing. Zero was born out of that very chase for satisfaction that drove him everyday. Eva happened to be the one he sought it out with. It wasn't that he didn't love her... A man like him had more important things to worry about. But he did like Eva. Like the running of his booming business that now began threading its way into the fabric of several distant Cities. Piercing in with the aggressiveness of a vipers fangs. The Rim would collapse without him.

Zero, the one he hoped to teach, to pass on the heavy burden of his purpose was quickly tainted by Kasper who latched onto the boy in his early years. He knew what they did, the secret stashing of food. The little, dirty, secrets that Kasper was leaching into Zero's brain. Just as often as Adam was right, so too, was he paranoid. And so, he began the process of mourning his destiny. That day, this day. It had gone too far...

Adam sneered. "... Take it to Abrams and tell him he owes me another forty for this one. Since he got our last confiscated before he even got in."

"Sure." Kasper seemed to drag out the word as he went down the cracked walkway.

"Oh, and Kas. Don't get distracted this time." He knocked his fist against the railing as he drew in the last of his cigarette.

Adam could hear Kasper mumble something from under the old cap he had given him. The sight of him wearing it was comical. A monkey parading as a man would. The smoke in his lungs kept him from speaking. Probably for the best. He watched Kasper scurry off, hands hidden in his pockets. Kasper was always up to something, always trying to ruin the day somehow. Adam just knew it.

The day past his push moved along nicely, everything was well paced. Adam felt like things were much easier without kids around. The calls and portioning. Getting money ready to be cleaned. Everything went perfectly. Travel was also, much easier. The old car he drove took him down long roads which became more roads the further he drove. He liked driving, and steered the thing so aggressively that most of the traffic simply moved aside or parted to let him through and avoid a run in. 

This was the final test for Kasper. This is his last shot. One last try to beat some sense into the kid. Is he even worth it? Nothing could keep him from wondering just what that kid might get up to on what should be a straight forward ride to Abram's. It wasn't long, but it did give plenty of opportunities for distraction. Like the idiot Zak who annoyed Adam beyond belief, but whose usefulness never seemed to cease. Too bad HE wasn't my kid. He puffed on his cigarette like a fish longing for air in its gills. Adam made his way across town to his favorite day stop. A small convenience store. It stood with a few other odds and ends in a rundown strip mall. "Dave's liquor." The man who ran the store was an old "friend". They had attended school together back before the walls were completed. When the area was a booming, albeit small, business district. Now, it was more of an intersection than a town. One could stand on one side, and see clear through to the other at any time of day. The whole of it had dwindled down to a diner, a pizza parlor, that wretched laundromat and of course, the convenience stores that speckled the area like an incurable pocking disease. All other businesses had found comfy new homes in The City.