Adam and Eve
There is one place I do like to go. That would be the City Park. Specifically, the play ground area. Not to play for myself, but to watch the little kids playing. There, I can look without seeing crimes and vice. The little kids are all innocent and pure. It’s a nice break.
However, I live in reality, and soon, I’m forced back to adulthood and it’s anguish. I prop open my pocket sized, leather bound book, capture one of the many pens in my coat pocket and began my notes.
A man ran down the pavement sidewalk with earplugs blasting some music. Like the running will help. Smoke, thicker than the walls of Fort Knox pours out of his clothes. What’s the point of running if you smoke two packs a day?
He’s followed closely by a woman. The skin over her nose was missing and there were black lines drawn everywhere on her skin. She looked terrible. It was obvious that she had gotten a nose job, and just the thought made me disgusted. Someone putting his or her hands inside you and messing around with your physical make up. I never liked the idea.
I flipped through the pages and marked the two down, noting their unique differences. I was about to scan for more, but I was interrupted.
“Excuse me. May I sit here?”
My glance strayed toward the voice. At first glance, the guy standing there was a normal person, nothing wrong with him. Pure, strangely enough. But when I looked closer, I saw his wrists were slashed. The wounds looked wicked and sinister. With each beat of his heart, his heart glowed red with guilt. A small amount, but enough to get noticed.
Silently, I nodded and he sat. I turned my attention back to my list and made a note of him. I could feel his gaze while I wrote. I looked up and scanned the area again. I took note of an old married couple that both had thoughts of killing the other off, before one person caught my eye. It was a man in his late thirties, dark eyes, and a scar on his right cheek. It was hard to pick out these details, because of the fresh, metallic blood that covered his skin and clothes. A nine-year-old girl, the one that had been missing according to the papers followed him, but the little girl wasn’t real. She was his sin. She looked terrified. He had raped her.
I snapped my book shut and turned to the man beside me. “Do you have a cellphone I could borrow? It’s an emergency,” I said.
He nodded and began searching for it in his pockets. I watched the murdering rapist from the corner of my eye. He was searching the playground for his next victim. I turned back to the man next to me. He conjured up his phone and I took it in hand. I dialed quickly. I held the small phone to my ear and heard it ring twice before a voice answered on the other end. “Hello. Bay Side City Police Department. How may I help you?”
“I believe I have found Eve Kelley’s killer,” I said in a low tone. I stared right at the murderer, making sure he never left my sight.
“Where is he?” the voice on the other end asked.
“The park. He’s wearing a red T-shirt with a logo on it. 2000 World Domination Tour, it’s probably for some band. He has ripped jeans and a long scar on his right cheek, too,” I spoke quickly into the phone. The man next to me was listening, and began searching for the man as well.
He leaned over to me and whispered, “He’s wearing a white shirt.”
I corrected myself to the voice on the phone. “He’s looking for someone new to attack,” I added.
“All right, we’re sending police now,” the voice answered. I thanked the voice and handed the phone back to the man next to me without hanging up. I thanked him as well, before getting up and heading to follow Eve’s killer.
I stayed a good distance away, but close enough to keep my eye on him and see whom he was targeting. I glanced down at the invisible Eve Kelley representing his crime. Her eyes caught mine as I walked past. She then did something I had seen no other sin do. She opened her mouth and spoke to me. ‘Adam Riley,’ she said in a quavering voice. She looked so terrified and completely solid. Something I’d never seen before in a sin. She wasn’t real and yet, she still drew my sympathy. I gave a small nod to let her know I’d heard her. Adam Riley must have been the guy’s name.
I returned my gaze up to him. The blood flowed in a constant stream fresh down his cheek, off his shoulder, raced to his hand, and dropped in little tear shaped droplets toward the ground off his fingertips. He was aching to kill again. I could tell even without having to see his previous sins. I followed his gaze toward a seven-year-old little girl.
I continued walking past Adam. I had to find some way to get her away, out of his sights. The only way to lose someone was if you yourself are lost among a lot of other someone’s. I stopped on the opposite side of the playground from the bench I had sat at. She sat in the sand, by herself, playing with a doll. I glanced over at Adam. He was still keeping a close eye on her. After a quick scan of playground, I decided in my mind on a plan, and walked over to her.
Kneeling down to her level, I gently said hello. She answered with a hi, but didn’t look up at me. She concentrated on her doll.
“What are you doing by yourself? Wouldn’t you like to play with the other kids?” I asked.
“They don’t want to play Dollies,” she said sweetly.
“How do you know if you don’t ask them,” I said, trying as best I could to be sweet in return to her.
She looked up, innocently. “Do you think they would?” she asked.
“Well, you never know until you ask. Plus, I think I saw another lonely little girl like you on the other side of the playground. Why don’t you go see if you can play Dollies with her,” I suggested to her.
She paused a moment before nodding and smiling. She stood up and I pointed out another girl to her. She raced away and I stood up.
In an instant, I cast a hard glare toward Adam to let him know I was onto him. I could see Eve smiling at me, though. That’s all that stood out to me. His returned gaze was livid and fierce. I could see the barbed wire beginning to wrap around his limbs and incase his body. But I was concentrating on Eve.
I moved away from the playground. No children should be hurt or should have to see hurt. I may have just saved that little girl from a violent death, but I had put myself in the place where she had been. From the corner of my eye, I could see him moving, following me. I quickened my pace and set my course for the pond. If I were lost among someone’s, he wouldn’t find me. Even if he did find me, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t do anything with that many people around.
He was closing in on me. I hurried even more. All I had to do was make it through the break of trees and I’d be safe. He was still gaining on me, so I started to run. Adam took up the chase. Just as I entered the trees, Adam caught hold of my coat. There was a bit of panic in my brain. I let my arms slide loose of the sleeves and continued to run. He still followed and just as I was close to the other side, he caught my hair, something I couldn’t get loose from.
With a firm pull to the back of my head, he sent me to the ground. The sting from my head and the pain from the fall both brough tears to my eyes. My vision became blurred. I felt a hard kick come in contact with my right side. I could hear Adam’s words bring yelled at me, but they didn’t stick. I twisted and turned with each blow he landed.
However, I could hear someone else. They were coming closer, yelling. I needed them to hurry. I could feel the barbed wire from Adam’s fury tearing and ripping my skin. I attempted to get away. Thankfully, the person coming pushed Adam off of me leaving me for a successful get away. I crawled like a dog as I heard the two struggled with each other. My vision cleared and I looked back to see who had just helped me. The man that had lent me his cellphone held Adam off. He gave one foul punch to Adam’s jaw, blood spraying off of both of them. Immediately, the barbed wire shrank off Adam as he fell to the ground.
My eyes strayed to Eve. She sat on the ground near Adam. She looked at me. And smiled. As she looked at me, her eyes slowly began to die. The shine and life left them and her smile faded. No, not just her smile. Her whole form began to fade away. She became just another sin.
I sighed as I laid my head down on the rough pavement.
Sirens. I could hear sirens.
