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 Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:47 pm
-Shouko and Madeline in Eden- Part One
Shouko stared down at the hands that weren’t hers, at a set of knarled brown fingers that definitely weren’t hers, and at a spray of pink blossoms erupting from those fingers that most certainly were not hers. Beneath her, her bare legs sucked greedily at the grass. They felt ropy and strong and very alien. Looking up, she spied an endless green expanse, gently turning into hills in the distance, and met at every horizon by an inky black canopy of sky, pinpricked by stars in constellations she didn’t know.
“Hello, Cherry,” said a female voice to her left. Shouko turned to look. The movement felt slow, ponderous, like her body was rooted to the ground. A woman, petite and green haired and of an indeterminate age, smiled at her.
“It’s Shouko,” the young girl corrected, but her voice wouldn’t come.
“What’s that, Cherry?” asked the young woman. “Oh, you’ll get used to it. You’ll find your voice again. You’ve forgotten the language of the trees. You’ve forgotten the language of the kingdom of Eden. But that’s okay. You’ll remember in time.”
Shouko’s focus was traveling up her arm. It was the wrong texture, the wrong color. This wasn’t her body at all! This had to be a terrible, terrible dream. Any moment now she would wake up in her own bed in her own room and forget all about this.
“Now that you’re here, Cherry,” said the woman, advancing towards Shouko, “Why don’t you stay? I’m certain you’ll find the climate rather much to your liking. You’ll grow big and strong.”
Shouko did not want to stay. On the contrary, she wanted to get up and run. She stared down at the hand that wasn’t hers and blinked once, twice, then three times, focusing on what it ought to look like. On the third try she got it right and she saw her own hand – small and tan and without flowers sprouting from it. Her legs felt looser and lighter. Stumbling to her feet, Shouko shot a backwards glance at the approaching woman.
“You oughtn’t have done that, Cherry,” she warned.
Shouko ran.
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:48 pm
-Shouko and Madeline in Eden- Part Two
Shouko ran as far as the bottom of the second rise before stopping looking behind her. The woman had not followed, but she did not know how to leave wherever it was that she was. Maybe she would find her way out of she just kept walking in one direction? The hills looked like they went on forever, but maybe there was a way out. After catching her breath, she began to walk, climbing the gentle slope of the next rise in smooth, even steps.
She didn’t find it tiring. In fact, she felt stronger with each step. The hill she was on was lower than the one she had run up, so she couldn’t see back into the valley from which she had come. Still, she didn’t see the woman coming down the hill she had just been on, so she felt safer.
She kept walking, and started to become convinced that other than herself and the woman, the world was empty.
It wasn’t until the top of the fifth hill that she discovered otherwise. Something large and black was curled up on the ground in front of her. It had eight legs, each neatly tucked beneath it, and a splotch of red covered its back, and it was insectoid enough that Shouko felt repulsed. But at the same time, it was also a little girl in a ripped black dress, hunched over with her limbs beneath her and four spindly spider arms wrapped around her.
It was sniffling softly.
“Do I know you?” asked Shouko, crouching by it. The girl flickered for a moment and there was only the spider, and then the spider flickered and there was only the girl, who slowly looked up at Shouko with bleary red eyes. There was a flash of recognition.
“Madeline?” asked Shouko, reaching out to touch the girl, to make sure she was really there. Her hand met the fabric of the child’s dress. It was silk and puffy. Madeline looked injured and drew away as she sat up, still sniffing.
“Madeline,” said Shouko again, relieved to see if not a friendly face, at least a familiar one. “How’d you get here?”
The little girl was silent. She stared off into the distance and then stood up.
“Well, do you know how to get out of here?” asked Shouko.
There wasn’t an answer, so Shouko was no better off, but she felt bad to leave the toddler on her own.
“Do you want to come with me?” she asked. Slowly, Madeline nodded and stepped back towards Shouko. One of her spider arms reached out and tugged at the girl’s sleeve. She stepped closer still and draped the arm around Shouko’s waist. It was vaguely creepy and slightly unsettling, but after being alone for so long, it felt comforting to have another person close by.
They began to walk.
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:49 pm
-Shouko and Madeline in Eden- Part Three
The hills had ended and now the land fanned out beneath Shouko and Madeline like an antique map. Rivers in the valley below zigged and zagged between clumps of bright trees and stretched towards the ocean in the distance. Madeline shivered against Shouko’s leg. Here there be monsters.
Shouko tried to urge the younger girl forwards but she was too exhausted to be moved. Sighing, she picked Madeline up and continued down the hill. Two pairs of arms – one human, one spider – curled around her neck.
The valley rushed up towards them as she advanced downhill. The trees they passed were all very young, hardly more than saplings, and the few older ones seemed to bear marks of fire damage. Shouko shivered reflexively. She didn’t know what had happened here, and yet…
…she did. Shouko clutched at the fabric of Madeline’s dress and walked faster. They had to get out of here. This was Eden. This was where Tyyne had been and where they had come from and it was NOT a good place to be. As they continued, the wind gathered at their backs and forced them faster. The air shimmered and the wind seemed to create a tunnel.
A shimmering portal swam at the end. Through it, Shouko could glance what she thought was headquarters. But it seemed to be narrowing, closing. The wind gathered speed at her back. Clutching Madeline to her, Shouko ran as fast as she possibly could.
At the last instant before it closed, she and the spider girl slipped through the hole in the air.
They landed on the dusty floor of headquarters. It had been empty a long time.
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