02-21-2007, 09:33 PM
Back again <3
The clean white sand of the beach stretches out forever. Warm salt water gently licks at the shore, leaving tiny shells and coral fragments in its wake. Far along the beach, a small dark shape is the only blemish on perfection.
Look closer.
The dark shape becomes two human bodies, limbs entwined, naked on the wet sand. They lie motionless as the waves creep closer to them. The woman's dark hair fans out across the glittering sand. Her slim hand, resting on the man's chest, holds an apple.
Look closer.
The apple gleams invitingly under the late afternoon sun. Red as bright blood. Smooth as young skin. It has only two bites taken from it, the flesh inside pure and white as the bleached summer sky. Now look at the two still figures. Both, you will notice, still have the juice of this perfect fruit shining upon their lips. And both have a small trickle of blood, the colour of apples, leaking from the corner of their mouths.
Watching them, he feels numb, unable to believe what he's done. But surely, it had been justified. Hadn't it? He had warned them. Only once, that was true, but once should always be enough. The fact that seeing them together on the beach had made him angry was irrelevant. They had sinned; they must be punished.
They aren't dead, though. Watching closely, you will see the man's chest rise ever so slightly, lifting the apple so the light hits it in a different way. The calm water still rises slowly. Now it caresses their knees. The sky darkens gradually, softening into tropical night.
The island had been perfect until they arrived. He wasn't sure how many years he'd lived there now.
Far back in his memory, clouded by time, he faintly remembered another life, one of crowded streets, smoke and pollution. Then a short time on a huge ship, noisy and hot, its dirty bulk defiling the ocean. But the ocean had got her revenge in the end. He had been the only survivor, drifting onto this island unconscious, floating from a piece of wood. He had only one thing left in his possession - a small Bible, waterlogged from its time in the sea. He had dried it carefully in the sun, page by page. Now he barely needed it - he knew each word by heart. Knew each commandment, each law. Knew the ones the couple had broken.
It hadn't been hard, to poison the apple. He'd known that she would take it, despite his warnings. Because that was how the story went.
Watch carefully now, as he comes to stand over them. His face is calm, his body language peaceful. Now, look into his eyes. But don't look too deeply, or for too long. You see? He is mad. By the standards of the wider world, in any case. Perhaps it is the long years alone which have caused this, with only the Bible to turn to for comfort and company. Perhaps the seeds of insanity were already planted in his mind before he was even born. Whatever the cause, his eyes glitter as he watches the waves begin to lap at their still faces.
He stands there for a long time, moving backwards as the water gets higher. As the ocean splashes over her face, the woman's eyes open in terror. But she finds she cannot move. She is paralysed. He watches her calmly.
'You sinned, and now, for your sins, you must pay,' he murmurs softly, as the water lifts the two bodies, their open eyes now glassy and still.
'Goodbye, Adam. Goodbye, Eve.'
The clean white sand of the beach stretches out forever.
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