The End of Eden

XXXIII

I sit up in my bed, the sheets falling from my body.

Sleep is in the corner of my room, and I meet his many eyes as I slide from my bed, my feet sinking into the plush rug below me. He watches me with eyes like a predator as I move towards the door.

A hazy, orange glow sneaks in past the crack as I push the door open. I can see it in the sky, over the roofline of the building where the denizens of Eden have their rooms. I glance backward at Sleep before I step out into the infinitely hot night, but he is gone. The sounds of the summer night ricochet around my head; the frogs, the crickets, the owls, all joined together in a symphony.

Some force propels me, and I take one step, then another, letting my feet sink into the warm earth, the blades of grass and soft clover leaves tickling the soles of my bare feet as I walk past the fragrant rose garden. The scent of the garden assaults my nose, and it makes me feel ill.

I feel his presence suddenly beside me, but I don't startle.

"Where are we going?" I ask quietly.

"Where do you think?" Sleep answers. I turn my head to look up at him, and I have to strain my neck now because he's so much more taller and bigger than he used to be, when he slid into my body.

Absently, I touch my stomach, my fingers brushing against the light fabric, thankful for the diaphanous fabric it's made from. It doesn't stick to me as I walk; it floats around my legs and my body, the light material doing nothing to hide my body beneath the nightgown.

I want to pause my feet, I want to stop moving forward, but I can't.

I know where we are going.

We pass through Eden to the courtyard, and only then do I pause outside the walls surrounding the courtyard. Sleep leaves my side as he passes into the circular area, and I am propelled again forward.

I sink my eyes closed, the orange glow permeating through the lids covering my eyes. The torches in the sconces are lit and I do not want to see what is before me as I stop beside Sleep.

"Open your eyes," Sleep says, and I can feel my body sag. It's what Four said to me, so that I could look upon his face. I know why I am here; I know why Sleep has brought me here.

"No..." I whisper, squeezing my eyes shut harder, trying to shut out the orange glow. But I cannot help my curiosity, and I let my eyes open slowly.

And I wished I hadn't.

I gasp in horror as my stomach clenches painfully.

Before me, in the same pit in the courtyard where Jonah burned weeks ago, Four kneels, his head hanging down on his chest. He is unmoving, his bare, blackened chest barely rising with his breaths, and his skin is slick with something, the firelight casting an orange glow over everything His hands are somewhere behind his back.

I turn my horrified face to Sleep, who turns his own face from Four to me.

"You knew there would be consequences to your actions," he said, his voice low. I blink slowly, and a tear bursts from one corner of an eye and slides down my face. "I warned you, and yet, you disobeyed me."

I see movement from the corner of my eyes, and my visions to shifts to see Vessel, Two, and Three edging into the courtyard, torches in their own hands, causing the courtyard to glow more.

Panic wells up inside me.

"No!" I cry out, and I reach out to Sleep, and my hands grasp the cloak that surrounds him. I tug on the fabric, but it does not keep me from falling to my knees. They hit the hard ground, jarring me, the stones slicing into the soft skin I landed on. "No, please. Don't punish him. It's my fault; I did it! Punish me instead!"

My cries are punctuated my gasps, as tears tumble freely down my upturned face. Sleep looks down to me, then towards Four. I don't dare look at him now, or I will crawl to his side, allowing Sleep to condemn us both.

"You were much more difficult to find my bride," Sleep says, "and you carry with you something infinitely more rare now. It's he who will bear the punishment, because it was he who knew the consequences of the mantle her wore, and yet he invited you to look at his own face instead of mine, and when you did it yet again, he did not stay your hands."

The others are surround him now, torches in hand as I cry, pressing my face into the fabric of Sleep's clothing.

"Open your eyes," he commands again, and my eyes flutter open, and I see him nod towards Vessel, towards One. I don't want to watch as he reaches out his hand, and pulls Sleep's face from Four.

"He can never remove my face from his again," Sleep declares, and had I not already been on my knees, I would have been after I finally look at Four again.

Carved into his face, splitting the skin and flesh, is the symbol of Sleep, every single line, the arch and spikes of the coronet, the X over his lips. My stomach churns, and I feel so sick, so hollow, so horrified. His own blood is what dripped onto his chest causing it to glint in the firelight. The markings are dug so far into his face that I can see bone in some places.

I wail, my pleas morphing into wretched cries, the drown out the sound of the beautiful summer night. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and Sleep hauls me to my feet. He is the only force keeping me up as my knees buckle, my body limp in his arms.

The eyeless sockets open and meet my own eyes, and his mouth opens, trying to speak.

There is no sound, no voice. There is no more Four comforting me, calling me his little bird, laughing with me. There will be no more gentle, sweet kisses shared between us. There will be no more secrets kept by only us.

"Banish him from Eden," Sleep whispers, and I shriek. I kick my legs, and my arms, writhe my body in Sleep's arms as I watch as every torch is lifted upward and then dropped down onto Four, and I watch in horror as his perfect body, his perfect soul, burns. His head falls back to his chest; he doesn't make a noise or fight it; none of the other vessels move. It's only me, thrashing against Sleep who is holding me fast against his body, because he knows if he lets me go, I will throw myself into the flames and burn to ash with Four.

His arms tighten around me. "Look at him," Sleep cries.

And I watch Four burn. 

And burn. 

And burn.

There are no more tears left in me, no more screams, or cries of anguish. I have no more energy left, and as the charred remains of Four's body crumbles into itself, Sleep finally lets me crumble to the ground. I hug my legs up to my chest, the side of my face pressed to the stones below me, flaying into the soft skin of my cheek as I rock my head back and forth.

The rest of the vessels have gone, leaving me alone with Sleep, who bends down over me after some time. He presses a glaringly innocent kiss to my temple. I don't fight him off, or dodge away from him; I only lay down, and take it, my body so weak, my spirit broken. He whispers into my ear before he leaves into the rapidly approaching dawn.

"Never disobey me again."