The Lingering of The Apple

Lucy has been having weird dreams lately, dreams revolving around the apple and the Garden of Eden, with the serpent watching her every move. What will she do when her dreams become reality? Rated T.

                    The Lingering of The Apple
                    Created by - Brianna Wilkie
                         Bible Chapters - Genesis 3: 1-17

Keep running.

My feet were briskly marking the surface of the cold, dirty ground as my thoughts seemed to escape me. I had to keep running, for if Adam were to know, it would ruin us both. I have ruined our home with what the serpent said, but it was my fault. I should have known better than to listen to it, to trust what it said, but those eyes of amber still inflamed me. It wouldn't let me go so easily, I knew, but what would Father say? He would be furious, for I have eaten the fruit that was not to be touched, the fruit that was clearly forbidden. The sweet taste of it though..I remember it well, however the more I think about it, the more nasty it became in my mouth. It no longer had the taste that caused my pleasure to rise in height, but it was like mold, like the nastiest form of disease. Forgiveness would not come easily, not onto me or my husband.

'Eat it, and you will become more powerful than He.'

No.

'Oh, you poor child, what your master said was wrong. Do not listen to him, He is only trying to harm you.'

Please, stop speaking. Your villainous words still fill my ears.

'Listen to me, Eve. Listen to me, and your wishes will come true. Eat the fruit, Eve, eat the fruit and become immortal, such as I. Peace will be bestowed onto you, and this seemingly paradise will become more so. Do not listen to your God, He is fooling you.'

No! I want to hear your voice no longer, leave me!

The serpent fooled me, yet it didn't have to end up the way it did. My greed consumed me.
Just keep running.

Awakening and breathing heavily, I lifted my hand to where my heart was, where it was continually beating as though it only had a few mere seconds to live. I was sweating, and realization came upon me that I once again had the dream. The dream where I was in a forest, and everything was beautiful. I dreamed where there was plentiful fruit, where such things as pain did not exist, where everything turned out the way I wanted it to be. Then I was running, knowing that I did something wrong but never knowing what I did. All I would remember each time I would wake, such as tonight, was the strong scent of apple in my nose. I would not remember eating apple, of course, but it would always happen.

Tears were starting to fall on my face, and I lightly touched my cheeks to find that I was crying. This was not abnormal, since I always cried after having his dream, but tonight was different of course. It felt as though the dream was only getting worse and worse, as though it was seriously becoming a problem for me to be sleeping the midst of the night, clutching my blanket and wishing desperately for everything to be over. The scary image of the garden burning, and the scorching yellow...no, red eyes of the serpent...

The knocking on my bedroom door knocked me out of my daydream, and I hesitantly looked towards the door.

'What if it was the serpent?'

An inner thought called out within me, and I shook my head knowing that was simply silly. As if serpents could knock on doors, and besides, the serpent in my dream wasn't simply a serpent, but perhaps even a demonic creature. It just didn't seem as such. A melodic voice called out from behind the door, and I wanted to cry of happiness at knowing it was simply my mother.

"Lucy, dear, are you all right?"

Her concern ran through my bones, as though she had been repeating herself for what seemed like forever. It always happened like this, I would awaken, probably from the screaming or the loud noises of my creaky bed, and she would come to ask me what was wrong. She usually never helped me when it came to nightmares, so why would she help me now if I told her? I have never told her about the Garden, or the man that was always there...whose name was Adam, I believe. I haven't told her about the beautiful trees, the flushing river, or the plentiful life with the animals and the rest of the world around me. She wouldn't care, however, so I just kept my mouth shut.

Still shivering, I simply whispered to her that I was alright, loud enough for her to hear me but quiet enough to retain my sanity, and I heard her sigh before beginning to walk back to her own bedroom. I laid back in my bed and looked up towards the ceiling, remembering that the dream also had beautifully shaped clouds, and the sky was a blue that was even more blue than the ocean. Colorfully vibrant, everything seemed to move peacefully within the Garden, and while I couldn't exactly recall the reason why, I would always remember that a being was with me. This being..it was different than the others, and it gave me an essence of peace wherever I went, whether it was to be with Adam, or be by myself with the animals. It was always there...It never left me, and it made me...so undeniably happy to be with It. The tears that were coming down before could only quicken their pace as the thought of the spirit being with me and making me glad caused this feeling to bloom within my heart and try to make everything better. It tried, at least.

The weather was bitter, and I stepped outside wishing desperately I put on a coat before I left the house. Snow was everywhere, and the other teenagers my age were walking to the school since the school wasn't that far off from my neighborhood. Even in the cold weather, my mother refused to take me to school, but then again, what was I to expect? She must have been hungover once again. That was none of my concern, so as the young British lady I was, I could only glare towards the direction of my house and silently wish she had what was coming to her. I wondered who came over last night. She always has these friends that come over, for obvious and unsightly reasons, and it always sickened me to the pit of my stomach as their screeches often went though the walls that connected my bedroom to hers. I covered my ears to not hear them, and from time to time I would remember my father that died in the army, but even that wouldn't help me to the fullest. The nightmares would take over as my sleep would overtake me, and obviously, I didn't feel more comfortable with that when compared to when I was awake. However, I knew I shouldn't complain too much. My house was decent, the food was actually edible, and my school gave me the proper education, but I desperately longed for something more. Something to escape from the family issues, to escape from the nightmares that tried to end me, escape from everything that threatened to ruin my existence. I began walking towards the school to try to get these raging thoughts out form my mind, and the feeling of hearing my feet hit against the crunchy snow worked. At least, for the time anyways.

I found my cold and shivering hand lightly grasping the doorknob of the school entrance, which was quite small actually, and opened it to find what you would normally find in a school: kids communicating, teachers trying hard to print out papers before the first bell, the janitor finishing his morning cleaning. My uniform clung tightly to my petite frame before I pulled a strand of my long brunette curls behind my ear and shyly walked towards my locker. Unfortunately, the smirk of a girl I knew could only bring me to a deeper feeling of misery. Her honey-like short bob of hair showed off her dimples, and her teeth gritted together as she leaned purposely onto my locker. What could she want this time?

"Lucy," the other girl venomously spat, opening her palm and holding out her hand as though she wanted something, I sighed reluctantly, digging into my purse to try to find some money to give her, and as the seconds passed and my hands received nothing, her smirk slowly and surely turned to a scowl. Apparently, this wasn't going to work for her, so without hesitation, she grabbed my uniform collar and ran off towards a secreted place within the school grounds. I was trying to not trip, as the floor was very wet and slippery, but my throat was burning from the tightened feel of the cloth pressing itself against my neck. It didn't seem as though the bully cared enough to simply let me go, and I tried to struggle, her strength overpowered mine by a long shot. She pressed me against a nearby brick wall and pinned me by the shoulders before grabbing my purse and helping herself to it.

"Hey wait, what do you think you're..?"

"What does it look like I am doing? You obviously take too long to look in your damn purse to get me the money, and since I don't have all day..." The other girl simply smirked before analyzing my purse with great care and slinging it over her shoulder. She neared my ear, and as I whimpered from the pain of her long fingernails, she chuckled darkly. Fear came into me at knowing that the girl was far too close to where I was, and the fact that she was merely toying with me as though I was simply another girl she can torment? I tried to tell myself I wouldn't give her the pride she thought she needed, but my body was too weak to tell her that. Her hot breath tickled down my ear as words decided to spill from those skinny, lifeless lips of hers.

"This purse of yours is awfully gorgeous...such as shame to be owned by the likes of you. I believe I will take it from you."

"But you can't...it's mine, you can't just-."

My voice hitched in my throat as the girl who was much taller than me in height continued using that dark chuckle of hers to state her point. She grabbed the top of my uniform and, without caring if someone were to see or the fact that he had school, ripped the fabric carelessly. I gasped as a hand moved itself to where my mouth was, and the girl leaned in again and threatened me to tell anyone else before taking what used to be my purse and running away. Tears were tempted to show themselves, and I started to fall with my back against the wall to the ground before catching my face and silently weeping. The first bell rang not too long afterwards, and with my purse gone and my uniform ruined, I hurried to the bathroom and began to weep.

The bathroom was almost as cold as the weather was outdoors, so I tried to keep myself together to withstand the temperature. Nobody knew I was in here, and of course, I would not want them to know. The girl..she abused me for absolutely no reason, and my common sense yelled inside of me to reach my phone and call my mother for an extra pair of clothes, but I doubtfully glanced at the screen. Knowing her, she wouldn't answer, so what was the point? She would rather yell at me for interrupting her sleep, or something of the sort, and she wouldn't allow me to tell her what happened, but instead, she would hang up.

I silently held the phone within my hand before listening closely to what seemed to a noise of water, and I held my head to find the constant dripping of the water falling from the dirty faucet. The dripping was almost hypnotizing, and its rhythms pounded inside my head, so it was only natural to gaze as the ordinary sight with such fascination. Thirsty, I longed for a drink from the faucet, yet my legs felt so exhausted from all the walking I did earlier and just the kicking from the nightmare, so I did nothing but stare. The same exhaustion that came from the nightmare soon caught up to me, however, and my eyelids fluttered shut as the images from the nightmare started to come back to me.

I knew He was here. He knew I wouldn't leave His sight, His powerful and almighty sight. I clenched my eyes and simply prayed he wouldn't know what happened, yet his Eyes fell onto me and I immediately felt the shame bubbling up inside me. He asked me what I had done, I could only tell the truth.

"It was the serpent's fault...it fed me the apple, it told me to eat it so that I could live longer and suffer less. Father, know that it was the serpent's fault, please understand!"

My husband stood by my side in the presence of our Father and all of his fury was clearly apparent. At first, we weren't sure what was going to happen, for our Father looked awfully angered with us both, and our Father's wrath seemed to shake the ground beneath us.

'Did I not tell you to stay astray from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Did I not forbid you from eating the fruit? 'Tis not the serpent's fault for falling for the sin, for it is yours. As humans, now you have committed something dark and deadly, and this sin will corrupt your species for the rest of eternity.'

I shuddered with the pain and the regret my husband and I felt during that moment of time, and our Father glanced at the serpent who was not far behind. Even the serpent, whom was usually so confident in the way he used words, could not help but express sudden fear for our Father, and the Almighty Father neared him wrathfully and full of anger within him.

Without hesitation, the serpent was cursed and the pain of childbirth was upon me, along with the regret I felt towards eating the fruit and everything else that had happened. For believing the serpent, who said I could be powerful over something that our beloved Father told us not to do, how could I be so foolish?

"Lucy?" The voice broke through my slumber, and my eyes opened to the sound as something arrived within the bathroom.

The girl had long hair of the orange color, and she smiled kindly while leaning over to where I was. She pulled open her black backpack and removed a jacket from inside, handing it over to me and smiling down with the friendliest smile I had seen in a while. I knew her, such as I knew the girl from before, yet her name did not appear within my mind. I hesitantly looked at the girl, confused for the random act of kindness, before retrieving the jacket gratefully and wrapping myself into it. The warm contents made me feel twice the most comfortable, and I smiled back at the freckled girl before standing up and zipping the jacket up.

"My name is Audrey...I could see that you were a little stuck. I suppose Jeliah did this to you?"

Jeliah? Was that the name of my bully, the girl who left me in the hall and caused my uniform to look destroyed? I simply looked back at the other girl and shrugged, before her smile widened and her hands went straight to her head as thought to show me something.

"Did she have a short bob of hair and a weird look on her face?" I wanted to laugh at the exact replica that Audrey showed me, and I chuckled lightly before nodding. It felt nice to be to laugh again, considering everything that had happened, and Audrey checked her watch.

"You do know that it's already almost time for school to let out, yeah?"

Eyes widening, I looked towards the other girl and shook my head. How could I have been asleep for the entire school day, and how could somebody now realize I was stuck in the bathroom? I simply thanked the other girl before dashing out from the bathroom and running towards the entrance of the school to leave, clutching the jacket close to my skin before facing the cold atmosphere, and once I pulled the door open to leave, the afternoon sun decided to blind me. From the morning, it was simply behind the clouds, the clouds that couldn't even compare to the ones in my dream, so it didn't burn my pale skin quite as much. However, the weather felt even more fierce and I had to stay strong to withstand such cruel weather.

I felt a presence come from behind me, and I was about to shriek at the thought of something slithering towards me and capturing me, squeezing the life out of with its scaly figure. However, it was Audrey as she grabbed my wrist suddenly and turned me around. It didn't hurt, but my shock made it evident that I wasn't expecting her to catch up with me and show such a random smile on her face. The freckles matched well with the falling snow, and we shared light-hearted expressions as she was the first to speak.

"Before, in the school, I was wanting to ask you if you were busy, tonight. It is Friday, after all, and I was wondering if you had any plans. We could go to my house, since I am having a party there...a lot of people are going to be there. I want you to come, please...to get to know you a bit more?"

I found her pleading face nonresistant, since she looked so sincere in the way she wanted me to come. I wondered why...it wasn't as if we actually knew each other, anyway. What did she want from me? I looked at her, then towards the direction of my house as though I was trying to figure out why I needed to be home, anyway, and once I glanced back towards my new friend, I smiled and nodded. She happily took my hand, giggling, before we ventured to where her house was.

There were already people at her house before we arrived, and the party had apparently already started. She told me her sister was the host, really, but she also told me that this was just as much her doing as it was hers. She clung onto my wrists softly before pulling me into the house, and the sudden feeling of needing to be somewhere else struck me. These people looked suspicious, and a strange feeling appeared within the pit of my stomach. It was telling me...to run? Run from what? Music loud and guests arriving by the second, Audrey simply smiled before I hit against the couch and watched a few of the people come near me. They seemed friendly enough, and due to the expressions on their faces, they were clearly more than happy with the party.

They looked completely and utterly drunk, and Audrey's sister ran up to where she was and giggled drunkenly before flopping down beside me. She neared me, her breath smelling of tobacco, before twirling some of my hair with her hand that wasn't busy carrying a beer bottle.
"Who's your friend, Audrey?" She slurred, hiccuping soon afterwards, and a feeling rose within me as her unbusy hand released itself from my hair and idly ran its fingers along the side of my thigh. Audrey didn't notice this, but instead smiled wider and sat on the opposite side of me.

"This is my friend, Lucy. Lucy, meet my sister Coraline."

The newly heavy accent from Coraline laughed hysterically, probably due to the alcohol, and as she was distracted from the sudden humor of whatever her sister told her, I broke away from the contact and scooted closer to where the more familiar girl was. Audrey smiled before running to the fridge and pulling out two beers. She arrived with the beverages shortly before throwing one into my hand and offering the drink, and I simply stared at the vile thing as though it was poison. My mother always told me never to drink, even though she did it all the time, but was this really the way a party needed to be started? After all, we were only young teenagers, so I glanced back towards the redhead with uncertainty.

"Oh, um, sorry...I don't drink."

The sudden glare that came from Audrey was enough to frighten anyone, really, and it certainly did so to me.

"Haven't you even considered trying it? You could grow to like it."

Her persuasion tactics seemed to be very impressive to the others, because they nodded in agreement at her statement, however I knew that alcohol was frightening because of its power to stimulate the mind to the point of no return. I watched as Audrey's reddish-brown eyes pierced into mine, and her glare quickly turned into a smirk once again. Was this not the same girl I have met in the bathroom earlier?

"Come on, Lucy." She tapped the bottle in my hand and chuckled and convincingly sent me the look that could run chills through my spine.

My heart could have erupted at the thought of how strangely coincidental the look she gave me resembled the look from...

I shook my head urgently and squeezed my eyes tightly. There was no way I was ever going to think of that dreaded reptile again, so I merely stood and started walking towards the door. There was almost a hissing sound coming from Coraline as the older of the sisters stood alongside me and grasped my wrist tightly, meeting my horrified gaze as though to challenge me to leave. Her sister and the other guests laughed darkly as they came closer, and the older girl found amusement in sinking her fingernails within my exposed skin and causing me to shriek in pain, before knocking me into the ground and pressing herself on top of me, as though this was a mere brawl. This was all too much, I knew, and before long I was crying once again. Coraline was much too strong to be simply pushed off, and with everyone around us, there was no escape. I screamed out, loudly, asking for someone to help me, but their demonic faces...they didn't offer to help. I wanted to escape so desperately, damn it! Was nobody going to assist me? I yelled as Coraline chuckled and leaned into my ear sneakily.

"Pretty little girls such as yourself shouldn't try new fruit."

My eyes widened at those very words, and the fingernails came from my skin, blood dripping off ever so slightly. Blood? I glanced towards my wrists and found that the nails that dug themselves so deep in my skin that blood was coming out at a fast rate, and the sight made me sick. How could this person do something such as this? New fruit? Like...

The apple. My God, was she referring to the dreams? How could this...?

"My God, somebody please help me!"

I screamed, and the blood continued to flow. Everything started to become blurry, but I managed to regain enough consciousness to watch as Coraline began to shapeshift in appearance. How this was possible, I dared not think so much about, but her white skin slowly started to become scaly, and fangs started to appear. Her once slim body started to become more and more slim as she had fully transformed from a girl into...into..

The serpent was now towering over me, and everyone else around disappeared into the air. It was ready to devour me, I knew, to consume me in the sin that was lusted so much in the nightmares, and for a clear moment I wanted so much to escape...to leave the serpent's deadly piercing gaze, and I watched as the serpent above suddenly looked upwards and became slightly frightened.

It slithered off of me, hissing and showing off its fangs in the way it did in my nightmare, and I watched as a sudden light flooded the room. My eyes lazily rolled back to find the figure of a Perfect Being, such as the Father was in my nightmare, and the protection I felt within my heart of being with him resembled so much to that of the dream. He was now over me, clearly protecting me from the serpent, before raising his hand majestically and speaking lowly.

"Lucifer. What brings you to the torment of this young girl, a creature of My doing?"

The voice...He didn't really speak, but I could understand Him so painfully well...the serpent hissed again before getting in a position where it might strike.

"Dear God, this girl might not know it know, but she was practically begging for it. You see, sin has a particular way of catching up to people, and since she has been tempted, I made sure that she gets what her heart yearns for." The snake chuckled evilly at the comment before somewhat smirking towards the Being, and God narrowed his eyes with determination deep in his eyes.

"Leave her be. Go back the pit of Hell where you so clearly belong, you and your filth."

The snake, wide-eyed, found itself being sucked into a hole and falling to what was presumed to be Hell, and the room was back to normal once more. There was nobody in the room, however, and my eyes traveled back towards God, who was now smiling down at me. I felt completely loved...something I honestly could say I haven't felt in a long while.

"Lucy...you have done well to avoid temptation. This will not be the last that Satan will try to get to you, however. Be on your feet, my loved one, and do not lose your faith in me, for I love you so much."

I watched as God vaporized in the air, not quitting to smile but to embrace me once before He left, and I felt a tear slowly start to come down my cheek. His presence...it felt so warm and loving, and I wanted more. I wanted to be with Him more, and He saved me from the snake's bite.

I sighed, wobbling and remembering the embrace and the warmness He brought, and I noticed something on the ground, red and vibrant. I walked over to where it was before picking it up and inspecting it, noticing it was a red apple, and noticing the small bitemark on the outside, as though a woman picked it up in a forbidden manner and took a bite from it. I simply took my gaze from the apple and looked up at the sky, trying to wonder what kind of sign God was giving to me, before I took the apple and walked back home.

Author's Note

I like critique, so please don't be afraid to cross the borders. What did you think, did you enjoy it? I love reviews, so any kind of words will make me happy. Thanks for your time :)

Reviews

[L. Fenella]

Great writing!!!

[Purplerose]

This is amazing. Really enjoyed reading thru this. Great talent. :)