In the Beginning

Chapter 1: In The Beginning

Adam woke, not realizing he'd even fallen asleep. He remembered walking through the grass under an open sky that stretched endlessly, its vastness making his small chest swell in ways he couldn't describe. The sight of it, the soft expanse of green, made his eyes sparkle. He'd been holding the hand of someone who had told him the names of all these things. That someone taught him how to walk, and they'd taught him the names for the sky, the grass, the sun, and the moon. When he asked who he was, that someone taught him the word 'father'. Father held him close and rocked him to sleep, while the two glowing orbs above danced round and round overhead, more times than Adam had learned to count. When the brightest one was high in the sky, they would take soil and shape it into things that father took into his hands. Then those shapes suddenly burst to life and ran free into the trees, or flew up into the sky, or swam to dark depth of the vast waters. Adam clapped and laughed, amazed by all the different shapes the earth could make.

"What are they?" he asked.

"Whatever you want them to be," Father answered, smiling.

This delighted Adam and he was filled with so much love for the world and for his father. They'd sat in the brilliant sun and beneath the soft gaze of the moon while Adam created new words to say. Each new shape accepted its name from the little naked boy and the one who'd created them. And everything was good. But one day, the creator left him alone with the new shapes. Though Adam loved them, he felt lonely and afraid when he was without his father. He cried the first time, water filling his child eyes and falling down to his feet. When father returned, Adam cried "Never leave me!" His father held him close and told him everything would be okay. He would stay for a while, but every now and then Adam would be alone in the garden. He cried about it less and less, but still felt so lonely.

Then one day Father came to him. 'I have a gift for you son." Adam was excited.

"What is it?" he'd asked taking his father's hand in his.

"It's a Suprise. You'll see after you've had a rest." Then he picked up the small boy and placed his hand over Adam's head.

Now, as Adam rose, slowly rubbing his eyes and shaking off a strange heaviness from his head, he wondered how long he'd been asleep. The creator usually woke him in the morning, just before the sun rose over the hills, casting brilliant colors across the sky before fading into blue. But as he groggily looked up at the sky, Adam realized he was still under the gaze of the moon. It was full, its silver light so brilliant that it illuminated the grass and trees around him in a soft glow, like a second, dimmer day. His eyes took a while to fully clear, and when they did, he looked around for his father.

"Father? Are you here?" he called.

No answer.

Tears began to fill his eyes, but before he could cry out, he noticed something—a figure. Adam blinked in surprise, his breath catching. He was astonished to see the first person he'd ever seen, sitting before him. The other did nothing but watch him with wide, curious eyes. They were his size, their body shaped just like his—long arms and legs, flat chest, brown skin. The likeness was so striking that, for a moment, they seemed like mirror images, like when Adam spent time by the water watching his reflection ripple and glitter on the surface. Is it a reflection? How, if it isn't in the water? he wondered, tilting his head to one side, but his "reflection" did not follow. Instead, the other spoke.

"What are you doing?" Adam jumped, not expecting them to speak. It's not me, he thought.

It was the first time someone had spoken to him in a voice that wasn't his father's.

"Who are you?" Adam asked, his voice trembling.

The other Adam shook his head. "I don't know. I thought... you could tell me."