Shattered Remnants of a Dream

9. Sin

After loading up a light pack with some traveling supplies, Cliff and Eden tunneled to Despair. On the other side, they found themselves inside a rusted, makeshift chamber with nothing but a small blinking beacon in the corner.

Cliff opened the door to the small room and inhaled the arid desert air. In front of him was a dirt road leading over to a large water refinery built around a small settlement. The road was empty, and no one came out to greet them. Pipes stretched out from the ground and weaved through the dunes like long spider legs, beaten and worn down by the blistering sun.

"No one's here," Cliff observed. "Which means no vehicle for us to borrow. We're gonna have to walk over to Land's End."

"Are you gonna be okay?" Eden asked, watching as dust slipped through the cracks of her sandals. "You still seem really hurt..."

"I'm in pain," Cliff said. "But I can walk. Anyway, there's something I need to tell you. I was born here, but as of now...I'm not exactly welcome."

"Why not?" Eden asked. "What happened to you here, Cliff?"

"You don't want to know," Cliff answered in a tired voice. "Trust me."

Eden reached out and placed a soft hand on Cliff's arm. "Yes I do."

Cliff looked down at his companion, staring into her shining emerald eyes. He couldn't say no. "Fine. I guess I do owe you the truth."

The wind picked up as the two started their trek across the wasteland, and Cliff began his tale.

Her name was Elendria McNeil. She was a beautiful woman with flowing blond hair, daughter to a poor miner named Jerome and his wife Christine, the town's dressmaker. As a child, she and I didn't socialize much. I played cowboys and savages with the boys, and she stayed inside, knitting with the other women. It wasn't until we were both teenagers that we became inseparable. I first spoke to her at the Land's End annual social. I'd never seen her outside of her normal clothes before. The gown she wore made her look just like an angel that had fallen straight from heaven. I was stunned, and from that night on I was determined to become her man.

After a few weeks of talking and smiling, I felt ready to ask for permission to court her. Elendria's father was hardly home, so it was her mother who first authorized our relationship. I was just a farmhand, and she was one of the most popular girls in town, so you can imagine how nervous I was. We had some great months together...Elendria truly was the woman of my dreams. After about half a year, we both knew we wanted to marry each other. Her mother never brought it up with me, but I know she approved of me...which meant that all I had left to do was ask her father.

The few times I met him, I felt like he could see right through me. He seemed to know exactly what a screw-up I was, how nervous I was about the future...like he could peer into my soul and see exactly what was to come.

I'm not sure he ever really liked me – but at the very least, I got him to tolerate me. Later, Elendria and I were married while we were still teenagers. It was the happiest I'd ever been.

It seemed like our happiness would continue forever, too. We loved living together, waking up next to each other every morning, sharing our daily joys. But I soon came to realize I wasn't the only insecure one in the relationship. Elendria had her own worries, and she was deeply afraid of being alone. I never found out why – it was hard to ask, because it always made her cry to talk about deep stuff like that.

When I went to go help out at the mine or tend to the farm, she always wanted to come with me. On my days off, even when I just wanted to go on a short walk to get some exercise, she always expected me to ask her. If I ever declined, it hurt her feelings.