Saving Eden

Chapter Two: A Pretty Nice Rock (Part 2)

Angelas remained restless once she made it back home. She knew so little about the events that lead to the world's demise. She wanted her questions answered, so she decided to do whatever she had to do to discover the truth.

"Daddy, I have a question," Angela walked up to her father that evening after dinner. He was sitting in a chair in his room inside the cabin reading a tattered novel about a bandit in the wild west that he had read ten times before.

His room consisted of a window, a small desk, two chairs and a bed, all made of wood and, though ancient, had been cared for over the years. Boxes of his belongings lined the walls. Angela felt most of his things were unimportant here, just leftovers from a former world. Momentos. She had scrimmaged through most of his items years ago, tried on a pair of sunglasses, opened a birdcage, pressed the buttons of a calculator. To Angela, they were artifacts from an old forgotten tomb.

"What is it?" he asked without looking up.

Angela walked over to where he was seated and quietly pulled up a chair, hoping he would realize that they were about to have a serious conversation.

"Why did you leave your home, wherever we lived before, and come here?" Angela asked. She waited for answers or anger.

He put the book on his desk. "And what inspired your sudden burst of curiosity?"

Angela wondered how much she should reveal about her guest. Maybe if her father knew that there were other people out there, he would want to venture beyond the garden with her. At the same time, she didn't want to alarm her father or get Jesse into trouble.

"That night when I heard a noise and went outside, I found a backpack in the garden with our food in it. It wasn't one of our backpacks." Angela took a moment to gauge her father's reaction. His peach face turned a ghostly white.

"That is concerning. Why didn't you tell me this until now?" he said.

"I didn't want to bring up sneaking out again," Angela said. "But I want to be informed on what could be out there, for safety. I was wondering who, or what, brought us here?"

"It was because that is what's best for you and your future," he said. "You can see beyond the garden gates that everything else is dead. Everything I have done has been for you."

"What future?" Angela asked with more passion in her voice than she meant to let out, "This isn't much of a life here. If there are other people out there ..."

"Our life is perfect. You could not have had it better living anywhere else," he said, "We have food, shelter, peace..."

"But what if they don't," Angela proposed. "What if there are others out there, whoever had the backpack, and what if the others need our help?"

Nathan's lips formed a tight line, "I have read you too many fairy tales, and now you dream of being a hero and saving this world. But the real world has teeth, and its sickness reaches far beyond the aftermath of war. If there are other survivors, I know nothing about them. I have been here with you, trying to give you a better life."

"I think you are right about one thing," Angela said. "You have read me too many fairy tales. So maybe it's time you tell me a true story."

Angela knew her next question was likely to trigger the anger she was preparing herself for. "I want to know more about what happened to my mom."

Angela saw her father's lips press into a tight line. The tone of his voice darkened, "Your mother was a great woman, Angela, kind hearted, free spirited and trusting, but everybody was getting sick and your mother wasn't immune. The doctor said she had three months to live. Two days later, we found out she was pregnant with you."

"But... how," Angela was confused. Angela had inquired about the process of bringing new life into the world years ago, and she knew it took more than three months to carry a child.

Nathan cupped his hands together and looked at Angela intently. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

"The chemical warfare was making people sick, and every self-appointed scientist or sage had a miracle cure-all for desperate people to try. And we were desperate people. While she was pregnant with you, she had been taking many experimental drugs ... stuff said to heal the body and mind. Most of those "cures" only caused addictions or sped up the process of death. Some causes genetic mutations, or caused the user to go mad. But for your mother, it seemed to be working. For a while at least. She started to gain her strength back and carried you to term. I allowed myself to gain hope that we could be a family. But a week after you were born, she died."

Angela didn't know what to say, so she looked down at her feet and waited for him to continue.

"Angela, the way the world was at that time, everyone was getting sick in many ways. I'm not just talking about the physical illnesses. I think people's souls were sick as well. People became more violent, especially towards those with mutations. All of the happy endings have been played up. They only exist in books, that is why I teach you better stories." he said.

"I think sometimes you have to go create a happy ending yourself," Angela stated.

Nathan exhaled noisily as a hopeless expression filled his face, "Angela, don't you understand? I loved your mother and I could not keep her safe, I will not make the same mistake with you. We are healthy, food is growing here. This place is our happy ending, Angela. We are free from all of that now."

"Maybe this place is your ending, but it's not mine," Angela said. "If you knew someone else was alive, wouldn't you want to help them?"

"No," Nathan said. "If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it's that people can't be trusted." His eyes did not look up from the closed book on his desk. His body was tense, his voice agitated.

"Angela, go outside and play your music. Does that not make you happy?" he spoke quickly, "You should be thankful for all that you have here."

"Okay," Angela realized this was as far as this conversation was going to go. He did not want to help Jesse. She had her answer. "And I am thankful, really. I just wanted to know if there were people who need our help. I just want to do what is best for the world."

Her father reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, "Lucky for you, what's best for the world is you staying right here. Trust me."

Angela was too fatigued to argue. She felt as if she had been lied too her entire life, being told that that world was dead when she now had proof that it was alive. She could not stay here forever, but she knew Naithan would never leave or let her go. She knew what she had to do next.