Eden's Garden

I never thought I would die this way; slumped up against a wall watching my little brother's lifeless body lay on the floor next to me while my father holds a 44 Magnum revolver to my head.

I turn my head slowly towards my father to meet his gaze. His face is dull and seems devoid of any humanity, yet his eyes were filled with pain and sorrow. I search his eyes for any sign of compassion. It seems as though something in his mind is trying to convince him to do this.

My father stands in front of me holding the heart-shaped locket in his left hand and the gun in his right. His grip on the gun tightens, followed by the sound of the gun's chamber rolling into place for the next bullet to be shot. I try to keep a steady gaze, trying to understand what could have happened to cause my father to do this.

“What happened to hope,” I whisper, my voice slow and shaky trying to hide how frightened I am. However, my body failed to conceal the fear as tears started streaming down my face.

I clenched my fists into a ball and closed my eyes tight waiting for the impact of the bullet, only to be met with the sound of laughter. The laugh sounded dry and unsettling, giving me an eerie feeling.

“Hope?” He questioned, his voice sounding harsh. I open my eyes as I watch my father slowly lower the gun.

“Hope,” he scoffed. “Did I teach you nothing? Did I raise you to be so incompetent that you don't even realize that I'm doing this for you?” He was not acting like himself.

“Dad, please stop.” I plead. “There is still hope in this world, what about Eden’s Garden?” This can not be the way my life ends, I know there is a promised land and I am going to make sure I get there.

“Stop talking about hope! We have been living in fear for over nine years!” He lifts his left hand up and throws the locket he has been holding towards me.

"What are you doing?” I lean forward to pick up the pendent. This is mom’s locket.

He raises the gun to my head once more. I guess this is the moment I truly meet my fate. Holding the locket against my heart, I close my eyes for the final time.

“I hope you find your Neverland.”

A round was then fired from the gun, the smell of gunpowder filling the clustered room.

He did not shoot me.

My father had fallen onto the ground, a pool of blood slowly surrounding his body as he lay next to my brother.

Time stood still as the world fell silent. My body feels rigid and rooted in place, and my heart palpitates out of my chest. In the midst of the silence, my ears begin to ring and my head screams in pain. This moment feels unreal as I continue to stare at the bodies across from me.

I don’t know how long I sat there until reality began to settle before I gathered the courage to move. My legs feel numb and weak as I take two steps towards my father. The emotions hit immediately, and I burst into tears falling on the ground to his side.

“Why? Why did you do this?” My voice comes out more as a cry, than a whisper. I glance at the locket in my hand, and out of frustration throw it against the wall. To my father this world is irredeemable and futile. In spite of that, in my heart I know there is a safe haven and I know I can find it. I just can not stay in this place a second longer.

I give my father and brother a final look before I prepare to leave the bunker behind. Their clothes are soaked in blood, and the faces that were once filled with life are now pale and cold. As I walk to the other side of the bunker, the locket catches my eye. Unfortunately, the impact from hitting the wall had split the locket in two. Knowing it meant a lot to my father, I carefully picked up the broken pieces, but there is something else. To my surprise, a small piece of paper was folded into the crevasse of the locket. Out of curiosity, I opened it to then discover a map.

It is filled with illustrations of the different sectors and a set of directions leading to a specific area west of the bunker. Confused, I flip it over to find the four letter word I have been longing for.

Eden.

Why did my father have this? Why did he not tell me or my brother? Is this truly what I believe it to be?

At this point in my life, I have nothing to lose. I no longer have a brother, father, or a mother, so deciding on whether or not to follow this map is not an option.

“I will prove to you that Eden does exist, and I will live the life we dreamed of.” I say.

I walk away from the bodies, a wave of guilt, terror and sadness washes over me as I ready myself to face the world above.

I rush to the cabinets, and grab my backpack along the way. I start to fill it with clothes, our remaining food, and the little bit of water we have left. For protection, I grab my fathers gun. I have no other choice but to take it since it is the only weapon we have. While doing all of this, my mind starts to wander, questioning everything I’ve ever known.

Life is not supposed to be like this; no one expected it to get this bad after the nuclear wars. It has been over nine years, yet the earth is still in ruins. The war was pointless, the only thing that came out of it was death and destruction.

After gathering everything I needed, I grabbed the gas mask sitting on a drawer and adjusted it to fit my face. As I am preparing myself to leave my family behind, I do not spare their bodies a final glance as it will only destroy me further.

I unlock the bunker's door by rotating the lock counterclockwise; the door is composed of a heavy metal and I use a fair amount of pressure to push it open. A wave of smog hits me, even with the mask on I can tell that the air is thick.

I proceed up the steel ladder, and shut the door behind me.

The map directed me to head west to sector seven, the walk is not long, about fifteen minutes from here. I take the gun out of my backpack and open the chamber. There are only four bullets left, I place the firearm into my back pocket, and start off on my journey. Although the sectors remain empty, I need to be cautious of skin crawlers.

Nowadays, the civilians that are left spend their days in bunkers in fear of crossing paths with the skin crawlers. When the nuclear war hit, not only did it leave the world in ruins but it also created a virus that affected half of the population.

With no government, laws, or any sort of authority, we have no choice but to live amongst these creatures. They look just like people, but are “people” with no sense of humanity; they are attracted to one thing: rotting flesh. They hunt anything and everything; if you ever cross paths with one, it is kill or be killed.

After a few minutes, I arrive at sector seven; it is calm and quiet. I heard that this sector used to be a city filled with people; now, it overflowed with rotting trees and crumbling buildings. Abandoned cars, waste, and junk littered the streets.

While I continue the journey through the city, the map guides me to a path that leads to an old train station. I look towards the direction of the tracks, I can see in the distance that the trail leads up a hill. This is where the map ends and where I need to go.

If the garden was so close to home, why didn't dad take us there? If he knew that we could have experienced a normal life, why didn’t he? I try to think of a rational answer, but I can't.

The sound of shuffling in the trees alongside the trail puts me on high alert. Quickly drawing out my gun, I point it in the direction of the sound.

I slowly moved forward, holding the gun in front of my body, careful not to make a sudden noise as I kept walking towards the hill. The sound came back, but this time it was closer. The sound did not stop; it was coming straight at me. I started running full speed toward the hill, but whatever was chasing me was quick; it jumped on me from behind.

Luckily, I was able to catch myself before hitting the ground, but the gun in my hand slid across the rubble. I turned around, and to no surprise, a skin crawler was there. Its skin is pale and riddled with open wounds, it flares its teeth at me before pouncing without any hesitation. I kicked it without thinking twice as it screeched in pain. I scrambled to reach for the gun, once in my clutch I shot the crawler as it jumped mid air.

I fired three shots and the creature fell to the ground. I waste no time getting to my feet and running towards the hill. If I just make it to my destination, I know I will be okay.

Behind me I can hear the shrieks and screams of the other crawlers. I don't bother turning around, knowing there is only one bullet left in the gun.

I'm almost there. I can see it. Why doesn't it feel right?

At last, I reached my destination and my heart feels uneasy. I smelled something so pungent and rancid, a scent like nothing I have smelled before.

I reach the top of the hill, and perceive the view below me. My body stays frozen in place as I look over Eden’s Garden. Maybe I'm being tricked, perhaps this is the beginning of a sorrow ending.

I finally understand.

“Dad,” my voice is faint and fragile, slowly breaking as I speak.

“I found Neverland.”