Page 5 of Touched By Darkness

Each call is getting louder. Some days it screams so loud that I’m forced to press my hands over my ears. I’m going crazy. To prove my point, I’m pacing outside the gates while chewing on my thumbnail. My skin is itching. I need to escape. I need to scale those damn walls somehow.

The sun is blinding. Either that or I’m growing sensitive to it.

It’s early morning again, and I snuck out before Freya awakened. I struggle to sleep these days. The sun is too bright. I’m restless, yearning for the night.

I pause as my eyes catch on the apple tree down the length of the wall. The thick trunk gives way to crooked, long branches dotted with red, juicy apples hidden behind a sea of green leaves. There is something about the tree that draws me closer, some echo of a memory, perhaps. It’s different from the other trees with its weathered bark, out of place in a landscape untouched by bad weather. I trace my fingers over the ridged patterns, sensing the ancient wisdom it exudes.

Reaching for an apple, I pull it off, and the branch snaps back into place. The fruit rests in my palm, shiny and unblemished. Deep red, like a pearl of blood.

I bring it up to my lips. But before I can sink my teeth into its flesh, movement makes me pause. Brown and black scales slither closer on the crooked branch. Beady black eyes and a forked tongue.

My breath catches.

“Zzzsin,” the snake hisses, coiling around my wrist when I hold it out to the branch.

I stand frozen, mesmerized, as it whispers my name. It wants me to take a bite out of the apple, like in the stories of Adam and Eve.

I look up, scanning my eyes over the green leaves. The sun streams through, warming my skin.

“The tree of knowledge,” I whisper, gazing back at the snake. It’s now wrapped tight around my wrist, and its face is so close to mine that its forked tongue brushes over my lips. Hellfire flickers in the black eyes swaying before me, luring my lips closer to the apple in my hand. The promise of freedom dangles like a worm on a hook.

One bite—that’s all it takes.

“Aurelia?”

I startle and look up. Freya watches me from the path, her concerned blue eyes sweeping over me.

Confused, I gaze around. The snake is gone.

“What are you doing?”

I stare at the apple in my hand until I’m forced to blink. “I-err. I don’t know.”

“There’s fruit back at the field if you want some.”

I drop the apple to the ground, and it falls with a heavy thud. As I watch, it shrivels, turning brown and rotting before my eyes.

With a thick swallow, I slowly look up at Freya. Something is happening to me. Amenadiel was right. The darkness is calling me home and feeding on my light. Either that, or I’m going crazy.

We set off walking in silence down the path until Freya clears her throat. “I’m worried about you.”

I gaze down at the crushed wildflowers on the trodden path. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“You’re not yourself. How many times have I found you by the gate lately? You’re there nearly every morning.”

Coming to a stop, I throw my hands out. “Something is happening to me, okay? I don’t know what, but I can feel it. I know you don’t believe I escaped the garden, but I did. I can’t pretend everything is fine. Don’t you get it? There’s no going back once you’ve been touched by sin.”

Freya stares at me for a long moment. “Why would Heaven take you back if you’re tainted?”

That’s the million-dollar question. I don’t get it myself. “The Bible teaches redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Maybe that’s why I’m back here as if nothing ever happened. Maybe Heaven can erase sins, but not memories? We’re taught about free will. If our memories were erased, we wouldn’t have the free will to choose the light.”

“Is that what you did?” Freya asks. “Choose the light?”

Did I? “I don’t know. I don’t think you can choose that which you are. Does that make sense?”

“No,” she laughs. “You need to explain.”

Chewing on my lip, I weigh my words. “It’s hard to explain. We”—I gesture between us—”are of the light. Better yet, wearethe light. If I turn away from the light, I’ll find myself out there, lost in the darkness.” I gesture in the general direction of the gates. “But if I turn toward the light, I’ll find myself back here. I didn’tchoosethe light. I turned toward it.”

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