The Eden Projects (Book I)

Chapter 5 // Pt 1. 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. On splitting stilts that creaked and groaned with every step he would patrol the streets. A Salvador Dali painting with withering edges. 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, both as disappointing as their mothers, were never good enough. 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 desolate 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? No. Maybe it was his very presence that ticked him off.

He could sense his every move. When Kasper woke up Adam could feel him. 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. The rage that was pent up easily drained from his body with every sneering word he said, the burns and bruises relieved his disappointment. Convinced his actions were justified. Satiating that deep yearning inside him to which he had no way of feeding. Adam was always hungry. 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, born out of pride and spite, 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 order he maintained in his eyes was perfect. He was convinced 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 stashings 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, he was good at sneering. "... 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, like a clown's oversized shoes. 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.