Four

Note... this constitutes my least favorite part of what I have written so far. It gets some exposition out of the way, but I am not happy with it. Any feedback, suggestions, concerns, criticism, or (if you have it) praise would be welcome here, as in all my other posts. Thanks.


When Eden was born, I think a lot of people were worried about Michael. He had been an only child for eleven years, he was bound to be resentful, or at least a little uncomfortable. But I knew Michael well enough to know that he was not just happy about his little sister’s birth, he was ecstatic. He was never meant to be an only child. His parents had wanted a house full of kids – kids running around, making noise, bouncing off the walls. Michael had tried valiantly for years to fill that big place in their hearts, and when Eden came along to help soak up some of that love, Michael was relieved and grateful. I think it was actually Michael who chose her name – Eden, like a paradise you can only hope for. And she lived up to it. She had the sweetest smile of any kid I’ve ever seen, and she never held it back – everyone got a little piece of heaven when Eden was around.
Michael treated her like a little princess, never even teased her, like maybe most older brothers would. He went out of his way to find things to make her happy, took her along everywhere. She was never left out of anything she wanted to do. He loved that little girl, would do anything for her. The police really didn’t get it though. Since Eden had been with Michael the day she disappeared, he was their first suspect. Michael never told me what they asked him, but he was in the interrogation room for hours. I know they were just doing their jobs, they were just trying to find Eden – we all were. But I think it broke him, the things they accused him of, the things they suggested with their questions. He came out in tears, and we never talked about it, not once.
Michael was picking Eden up from daycare, when it happened. She didn’t normally go, but Mrs. A had a dentist’s appointment, so Eden went to daycare and Michael picked her up after school. Somewhere in those three blocks between daycare and home, Eden disappeared. At first I didn’t ask Michael about it; after what he’d been through with the police, I didn’t want to make him repeat it again. After that though, I tried to ask – but any time I got close to the question, Michael would change the subject, he’d ask me about homework or mumble something about getting something from his locker, forgetting his lunch. Eventually, he stopped even changing the subject. He’d just bite his lip and shake his head quickly, look away. It was probably the main reason we stopped talking. Every other subject seemed hollow. And Michael just wouldn’t talk about what happened that day. He just wouldn’t.
Sitting there in the dimness of the cave with the fluttering demons all around me, looks of deep concern on their faces, waiting to hear about Eden, all I could think of was the promise I’d asked Michael to make. Could I even ask him, when he finally woke? Would I be brave enough, or maybe cruel enough, to hold him to it and make him break his silence? I bit my lip and looked away, and was sure I looked quite a bit like Michael in that moment.
The demons blinked expectantly. “Her?” they asked, all echoing the questioning tones.
“Michael’s sister.” I finally answered. “An… angel… told him we could find her—” I started to explain but at the mention of the word angel the demons erupted into frenzied whispers.
I tried to make sense of the words, but I soon realized they were no longer speaking English. The demons were chattering away in foreign sounds, and I couldn’t tell if they were angry, excited, or terrified. Their shapeless faces reflected no emotion. I waited, slightly frightened, mostly very confused. Finally, there was silence. The main demon spoke again.
“The angels cannot be trusted. But they do not lie. If they told you to find the girl Eden here, then here Eden will be found.” She stopped speaking, as if that explained everything.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said finally, when I realized she wasn’t going to say any more. “What do you mean they don’t lie, but they can’t be trusted? I don’t understand! Where’s Eden? Is she here?” This was crazy… absolutely crazy. I had no idea where I was, I was surrounded by some sort of mythical being, and they were claiming we could find Eden here. I didn’t even know where here was.
“Angels cannot be trusted,” the demon repeated again simply, and there was no urgency or anger in her voice. She touched my face kindly, then turned and all the other demons followed her. They walked toward Michael, knelt over him and began cooing just as they had whispered and sang to me. “Michael, Michael.” Finally, Michael stirred and I watched as the demons gave him food and urged him to sit up, lifted his pain away with their soft, shimmery fingers.
Without the demons attending to me, for the first time since I had awoken, I had the chance to actually think about where I was, and what was going on. In the dim light of the cave, I couldn’t guess at what time it was, couldn’t guess how long Michael and I had been unconscious – minutes, hours, days? Maybe this was like Narnia – I’d spent half my childhood expecting the back of my closet to turn into a snow-covered, fawn-infested woodland, so why not? Maybe we had slipped into a fantasy world, and time was standing still in our world, waiting for us to complete some sort of quest and return safely to or houses. I shook my head. I’m going crazy. Angels, demons, and mountains that suddenly flipped upside down and dumped you in some sort of alternate universe were issues I was not quite ready to grapple with at the moment, so instead I dug into my pocket looking for the watch face I always kept with me. The band had broken, but my brother had given it to me before he left for college; it was kind of a sentimental thing I guess. I felt around for it, but my hand caught on something else first – a piece of paper. I pulled it out, wondering what ticket stub or homework assignment I had shoved into my pocket, but it turned out to be a note. I grimaced disgustedly – just Sadie’s stupid note from this morning. I unfolded it anyway, maybe just looking for anything familiar, and that’s when I discovered we definitely weren’t in Narnia.