Eden's Reality

A small 14 year old boy plans on escaping his abusive father and the house where he grew up in by moving to a boarding school with his two best friends, but on the night before he leaves he stumbles across something that changes his life, and his body, forever

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Chapter 3

‘Crap!’ I pushed myself off Alexis and walked into the bedroom, my legs shaking.

‘Was that your dad’s car?’ she asked, following me into the bedroom and closing the door. ‘Your mum said he wasn’t going to be home tonight!’

‘He’s supposed to be at a livestock show on the other side of the city, and then at a bar getting drunk!’

Alexis and I shared a concerned look. Dad hated her. When we’d been in kindergarten dad and Alexis’s parents had gotten into a massive fight and he’d banned me from ever seeing her again. She and I had drifted apart as both of us were terrified of dad seeing us together, but we’d reconnected in year nine and a year later dad had magnanimously “allowed” us to see each other again.

I fell silent as the front door opened and dad’s heavy footsteps creaked along the floorboards. I heard him call out for mum and the creaking disappeared into the kitchen for a while, then the sounds of arguing flooded the house. While I couldn’t make out exactly what was being said it sounded like they were arguing about me, as I heard dad say my name, along with Sanders.

My heart sunk. Dad hated that I was going to Sanders, and the fact that I was studying cartooning only made him angrier. He thought that creating comics was a waste of my time and wanted me to take an agricultural course so I could more effectively help him out on the farm, and one day take it over from him when he retired like just like he’d done with his father.

I couldn’t imagine anything worse. And it wasn’t because of the farm work, I’d been to other farms and met their owners and they were all completely different from dad. They’d been nice, encouraging and seemed to genuinely care for their livestock. Dad, on the other hand, was constantly shouting and swearing at everyone around him and seemed to despise the work he did. It was nightmarish helping him out on the farm, as every time I did something wrong I’d be showered in obscenities and sometimes even punched if he deemed my mistake large enough, which they often were in his eyes.

Herding the animals was almost impossible for me as the sheep ignored me just as much as the cows did, and I was so terrified of the bulls that I was useless around them. I wasn’t strong enough to help carry around supplies, didn’t have the stamina to spend all day outside repairing fences and the like, was far too easily distracted to be even remotely effective at clearing paddocks for ploughing and if it happened to be the birthing season I was always far more focused on playing with the baby animals than actually herding them.

Needless to say, dad didn’t have a very high opinion of me. He’d been hoping for a healthy, energetic son who’d grow up to take over the farm from him, and instead he’d gotten me.

I could understand his disappointment.

Silence fell in the kitchen and then the creaking reappeared in the hallway, stopped for a moment and then began ascending the stairs.
‘Oh no.’ I muttered and jumped onto the bed to stop my legs from shaking. Alexis sat down next to me and smiled reassuringly just as the creaking stopped in front of the door.

‘Eden?’ dad asked and then came in before I could answer, like always. He was a large man with sun-darkened skin and a gigantic beer belly that preceded him everywhere he went. His step was a bit wobbly and as he got closer I could smell the pungent mix of B.O and beer that had become so familiar over the past couple of years.

His hair was blonde like mums and mine, but cut close to this skull in a futile attempt to hide the fact that it was balding. It wasn’t very flattering to the rest of his face either, as his lips were thin and dry, his eyes slightly too large and his forehead wide. He wasn’t exactly unattractive, but as he got older and put on more weight he was starting to veer more and more into that territory. The constant drinking definitely wasn’t helping.

‘Hey dad.’ I said and forced myself to smile. ‘How was the livestock show?’

‘It was a waste of time.’ he said, adjusting the thick back glasses he wore when his eyes were sore. ‘All the cows were milkers and the rest of the animals were just poultry.’

‘Milkers?’ I said and almost giggled. I liked how it sounded. ‘Milkers! What are milkers?’

‘Dairy cows, you idiot.’ Dad said and I blushed.

‘Oh. Right.’

He sighed and looked at Alexis. ‘What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at home spending your last day with your parents?’

‘It’s my aunt’s birthday today so they’re visiting her.’

‘Why didn’t you go with them?’

‘I…didn’t want to.’ Alexis said awkwardly.

Dad frowned. ‘Why not?’

‘No reason.’

‘Well, whatever. I want to speak to Eden alone so go do something else for a bit. See if Erin needs some help preparing the food.’

‘Are you staying for dinner?’ I asked and to my dismay he nodded.

‘I am.’ He frowned at Alexis. ‘Are you going or what?’

‘Umm….’ she said and I looked at me in concern.

‘It’s okay. I’ll be fine.’ I smiled, not wanting her to stay and potentially get hurt by dad.

‘Okay…I’ll be back in a couple of minutes then.’

‘No. I’ll let you know when we’re finished.’ Dad moved out of the doorway and gestured for her to leave, which after a moment’s hesitation she did so. He shut the door after her with more force than was necessary and then dropped down into my office chair. It was in front of my desk and he looked down at the half-finished drawings of snakes with a small frown.

‘They’re uhm…meant to be snakes.’ I supplied after he continued to look at the drawings for longer than I was comfortable with.

‘They look like shit.’ he snorted.

‘I-I’m not very good at drawing them yet.’ I flushed, wishing he’d stop looking at them.

‘What’s this supposed to be?’ he held up a drawing of what was supposed to be a tiger snake sleeping amongst a basket of apples. ‘It looks like a worm that’s been squashed by a rockslide.’

‘It’s supposed to be-’

‘You actually think the cartooning course can help you with this crap?’ he crumbled up the picture and threw it to the ground. ‘Because I think it’s going to be a waste of time. A toddler could draw a better snake than that.’

I suppressed a snarl and tried to speak calmly. ‘The teacher of the course is supposed to be really good at helping beginners like me, and the firs-’

‘You can’t turn shit into gold, Eden.’ Dad said seriously. ‘You’re wasting your time.’

‘No I’m not.’ I said as calmly as possible.

‘Yes, you are.’ His voice softened and he turned from the desk to fully face me. ‘I’m going to ask you one last time to stop this stupidity. It’s not too late for you to go back to your old school and take their agricultural course, they’ve kept all of your records on file and I’ve spoken to the principal. He’d be happy to have you back.’

‘No.’ I said firmly, immensely grateful that mum and I had gone behind dads back and applied for and received an academic scholarship. He had no power over me going to Sanders now, as mum had signed all the forms for me and paid for the uniforms and such. All he could do was try to convince me not to go, and there was no chance of that happening. ‘I’m going to Sanders.’

‘Eden, I’m trying to help you.’ Dad said as his voice hardened. ‘You’re actively destroying your future by chasing this stupid dream. Those shitty drawings of yours aren’t going to land you a decent career or a stable income. ’ he put his arms on his knees and leant forward. ‘But working here will. After a couple of years studying agriculture you’ll be more than qualified to work here under my supervision, and when your body finally fixes itself I won’t even have to worry about keep-’

‘No, dad!’ I interrupted, frustrated. ‘You’ve said all of this before and I don’t care! I’m sorry, I really am, but I just don’t want to work here! I want to make comics.’

‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ he growled. ‘I’m offering you a proper future, one that you can be proud of, one that’ll continue our family legacy! Don’t you care about that?’

‘Not really.’ I said, and immediately regretted it as his whole body spasmed with rage. ‘Uhm! I mean, I d-’

‘This farm has been in our family for fucking generations!’ dad snarled and jumped off the chair to tower over me. ‘Doesn’t that mean anything to you? Your grandparents died here! And their parents before them, all working here on this land so that their children would have a future. So we’d have a future! How can that mean nothing to you?’

‘I don’t know!’

‘You ungrateful little shit.’ he ran his hands over his skull. ‘What the fuck did I do to deserve a son like you?’

‘I’m sorry.’ I said meekly.

‘No you’re not.’ he let his hands drop to his sides and started breathing deeply. ‘Fuck! I’m so tired of going around this, trying to pull you back onto the right path and make you see sense. I should have known that it was pointless. He was right about you, you know. Jon. I should have given up on you years ago.’

I froze. ‘What?’

‘You think I’m an idiot, don’t you? That I actually believe this cartooning bullshit, like your mother does. But I don’t. I know what you’re doing.’

I blinked, completely lost. ‘Huh?’

‘Not even you’re dumb enough to throw away your future like that. You won an academic scholarship for god’s sake, you’re not retarded.’ He pointed at me and came closer. ‘No. No. You’re smart. A dirty, conniving little pervert that manipulates everyone around him.’

‘What are you talking about!?’

‘I found this last night!’ he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and threw it at me. ‘Packed away in a little box at the bottom of your luggage.’

‘You went through my suitcases?’ I demanded and grabbed the piece of paper and slowly unfolded it. ‘Why would...why…’

My stomach leapt as I realised the piece of paper was a photo, one I recognized. One that I kept hidden amongst various birthday cards in a special little box that I’d decided to take to Sanders with me.

Oh no…

It’d been taken eight years ago, when I was six, outside my old kindergarten. I was beaming at the camera and mum was crouched down next to me with a wide smile on her face. Alexis was on my right side and holding my hand, also beaming, and her mum was the one who’d taken the photo. Alexis and I had been extremely excited because we were about to go to the zoo and…well…

I was dressed as a girl, in a neat pink dress and knee-high socks with black Mary-Jane shoes. The day before the picture was taken I’d stayed at Alexis’s place and when I was there I always dressed in her clothes. I’d liked it for reasons I can’t really explain, looking like a girl and pretending that Alexis and I were sisters, and whenever mum picked me up there was always a struggle to get me back into my boy clothes. Every now and then I’d sneak some of Alexis’s clothes to kindergarten and change into them in the bathroom so I could be a girl around the other kids, and the day of this photo had been one of those instances. Mum arrived at lunch to take me to the zoo and found me dressed like that, and after a small argument decided that she wouldn’t force me to change if I promised not to tell dad, who was spending the day at a friend’s bachelor party.

I promised her I’d not tell anyone, especially not dad, and so began the best day of my life.

Mum proclaimed that if I was going to be dressed as a girl then she’d treat me like one, as her daughter. She used female pronouns to refer to me, didn’t correct strangers when they thought I was a girl (which always happened as my hair was longer then than it was now) and she’d even bought me a red ribbon for my hair and a cute butterfly brooch, both of which had been hidden in the box along with the photo. I really hoped dad hadn’t found them too.

It’s impossible to explain why being treated as a girl made me so happy, but it did and I’d felt closer to mum on that day than I ever had before, like I’d crossed some invisible barrier that had been holding us back from being fully affectionate with one another. Mum seemed to feel the same way too, as she easily slipped into calling me a girl and was more physically affectionate than she ever had been before, hugging and snuggling me every chance she got. When she tied my hair back into a ponytail with the ribbon she'd smiled and said that she'd wanted to do that for a very long time, and was glad that she finally got to spend a day with her daughter.

I'd been so warm and happy in that moment.

Just looking at the picture filled me with confusingly pleasant feelings, but feelings that were now tainted by what Jon had done to me. I didn’t know if I wanted to be a girl back then or if it had been some kind of exploratory phase, but it didn’t matter anymore. I was more likely to kill myself than even dress up as a girl now, as the scars on my body can attest to.

Jon had dressed me up as a girl before he’d…hurt me.

Despite that, I hadn’t been able to throw out the picture. It reminded me of when things had been simpler, before dad had found out about me dressing as a girl and banned me from seeing Alexis, before Jon had hurt me, before my development issues started, before mum had started becoming more and more depressed…

I carefully folded it up and put it in my pocket, my hands shaking. I took a steadying breath and looked up at dad. ‘This picture doesn’t mean anything, I-I only have it because…’

‘Because you want to be a girl.’ Dad finished and I flinched.

‘I don’t! You know I don’t!’

‘Stop fucking lying!’ he shouted and grabbed me by the shoulders. I cried out and tried to push him off but it was futile. ‘I went through the Sanders website last night and I saw their LGBT program, and how supportive they are of trannies. That’s why you’re so intent on going there, isn’t it? You’re going to see one of the doctors there and get them to pump you full of hormones and cut off your cock!’

‘What? No!’

‘Stop lying!’ he slammed me against the wall. ‘That photo proves it! I went looking through your suitcase to see if you had any girl’s clothes or something that would prove me right, and I found that. A picture of you dressed as a girl, hidden away like some fucking treasured gem!’

‘It’s just a p-photo!’ I stammered, my head spinning. ‘It doesn’t mean anything!’

‘Oh yes it does!’ his eyes flashed. ‘You’ve wanted to be a girl ever since you were little and nothing’s changed! I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think I’d managed to beat it out of you after finding you dressed in that bitches clothes. You probably didn’t even listen to me when I told you how disgusting it was! All you did was get better at hiding it from me!’

‘No…I-I did listen…’ I just hadn’t believed him back then.

‘I said stop lying!’ he slammed me against the wall again and pain exploded inside my head. ‘Fuck! You lied about Jon too, didn’t you? You tricked him into fucking you so you could feel like a girl and then when you were found out you pretended it was his idea! He was telling the truth this whole time and you ruined his life for it!’

You liked it, didn’t you? You wanted to feel like a real girl.

I whimpered and began breathing heavily, my head clouding up with horrible memories. What the hell was wrong with dad? He shouldn’t...he shouldn’t …

‘And you’re going to do the same at Sanders, aren’t you? To some poor guy living in your dorm, trick them into thinking you’re a girl and get them to fuck you. And when t-’

Soon you’ll be begging me to put it in you.

‘No! Shut up!’ I screamed through the memories and kicked out, trying to get him to let me go. ‘I don’t want it! You don’t know anything about me!’

‘I know everything about you.’ he snarled, shoving his face up against mine. ‘You’re a dirty little faggot tra-’

I smashed my head against his in a blind panic, unable to handle what he was saying anymore. His nose cracked and blood spurted down his face, causing his hands to finally weaken. I tore out of them and bolted to the door before he could react, but it swung open just as I reached it. Mum stormed into the room with clenched fists, her eyes blazing with rage.

‘What the hell is going on in here!’ she demanded. ‘I can hear you shouting from downstairs!’

‘Mum!’ I cried in relief and threw myself into her, and she wrapped her arms around me protectively.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked and I nodded wearily.

‘Fuck him!’ dad roared. ‘The little cunt head-butted me!’

‘Why?’

‘Because I confronted him with the truth and he didn’t like it.’

‘The truth?’ mum’s eyes narrowed. ‘You mean that insane idea you’ve got about him going to Sanders to be a girl?’

‘It’s not insane.’ Dad hissed, wiping blood from his face and flicking it onto my desk. ‘That photo I showed you proved it. It was in his suitcase!’

‘That doesn’t mean anything!’

‘Why would he have it then? Hidden away in a special little box full of birthday cards?’

‘Because it’s a happy memory!’ mum gently pushed me aside so she could walk up to dad, both their eyes shining angrily.

‘A happy memory of being a girl!’

‘Of going to the zoo with his best friend!’

‘A female best friend, whose clothes he’s dressed in! ’

Mum rubbed her forehead. ‘He was six years old, Daniel. Kids that age always dress up.’

‘What about when they’re twelve then?’ dad crossed his arms. ‘Because I-’

‘Don’t.’ mum said dangerously. ‘Don’t you dare go there.’

‘Why not? You don’t want to hear the truth?’ dad spat. ‘Too bad! Our son was dressing like a girl and getting Jon to fu-’

‘Don’t say that man’s name in this house!’ mum snarled.

‘I can say whatever the fuck I want!’ dad stepped forward so he and mum were inches away from each other, his breathing coming out in shaky gasps. ‘Eden lied about what Jon did to him.’

‘No. He didn’t.’

‘Yes he did! He’s a fucking liar!’

‘Oh, so the doctors were lying too then were they? And the police?’

‘They were retards! Of course they’d believe a sad little kid’s bullshit made-up story over that of a man’s! That’s the kind of bullshit world we live in now!’

‘What about the marks and bruises all over his body then? Were they made up as well?’

‘He did that to himself! Or he got Reece to do it, to make it look like Jon had hit him!’

‘He didn’t know Reece when the bruises first appeared!’

‘Then he did it to himself!’ Dad’s breathing harder now. ‘I’ve known Jon for twenty years and he never, not even once, showed an-’

‘I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY HIS NAME!’ Mum shouted.

‘I can say whatever the fuck I want in here! This is my house! I was born here!’ Dad shouted back, his hands balled up into fists. ‘Jon! Jon Zeke Hander! My best friend whose life our son ruined with his lies! My best friend!’ Dad’s voice started to shake. ‘Jon was all I fucking had and he took it away from me!’

‘Oh, you poor thing.’ mum sneered. ‘Are you seriously about to cry over him? Fuck you! Jon was a paedophile-’

Dad smashed his fist into her face, throwing her backwards and right into me. I squealed and crawled out from under her as she pushed herself onto her feet, clapping a hand to her beautiful face. Blood streamed through her fingers, coming from her nose and mouth, but her eyes were still wide with hatred. Dad towered over her with clenched fists, seemingly unsure of what he was going to do next.

I stared at them both in horror as my body shook uncontrollably. This had happened so many times before, all because of me. Whenever they argued about me things descended into violence more often than not, and mum was the one who got hurt the most. All I could do was just watch, shaking like a pathetic little coward. I was always so weak and useless…

I looked at mum, dripping blood and staggering to her feet. She’d gotten hit because of me! This was my fault, I had to do something! I had to try and help her, even if it meant dad would hurt me too.

I stepped in front of mum before I could fully comprehend what I was doing and glared definitely up at dad.

‘L-leave mum alone!’

‘Get the fuck out of my way.’ Dad snapped and slapped me with the back of his hand. I cried out and fell onto the ground, tasting blood in my mouth.

Yeah…I was useless…

Mum was in front of me in an instant. ‘Jesus, Dan! Think about what you're doing!'

‘Fuck you.’ Dad said, his eyes red. ‘This is your fault! Why do you have to piss me off so much? You goddam…bitch!’

Mum wiped her face and looked back at me. ‘Alexis went outside looking for the frogs. Go find her.’

I shook my head. Dad was going to hurt her again and I couldn’t just leave her! But what was I supposed to do? He’d just swatted me away like I was an annoying fly, and if I stayed here he might hurt me even more. But he’d hurt mum even more too!

I needed to stay and do something!

But I couldn’t do anything!

What-what-what-

‘Go!’ mum shouted and when I didn’t move she shoved me backwards. ‘Get out of here Eden!’

My will broke and I fled out of the room.

 
Chapter 4

The front door slammed shut behind me as I tore outside, lost in a blind panic. I don’t know where I was even running to, and it didn’t end up mattering as I tripped over a rock jutting out of the dirt a few meters from the house and crashed into the ground. Hard dirt scraped against my face but I ignored the pain and got onto my knees, shame crashing inside of me.

‘Oh god oh god oh god.’ I moaned and grabbed the sides of my head. The world felt like it was tearing itself apart around me, like I was in the middle of an earthquake.

I was so fucking pathetic! I was a boy but I couldn’t even protect mum, or stand up to dad. I was so small and weak and….and disgusting! I should have just died, none of this would be happening if I hadn’t messed up killing myself. Dad never hurt mum this badly before I was hospitalized, before I told them what Jon had done to me. If they didn’t know what he’d been doing to me over the years everything would have been fine! I should have just shut the fuck up and died! Why hadn’t I died?

I just wanted to make you happy.

‘Shut up!’ I screamed and slammed my head against the ground, again and again. ‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I’m sick of hearing you in my head! Go away! Go…’

I trailed off as something landed in the dirt in front of me. In the dim light coming from the house I could see the outline of something...familiar, squatting amongst the cracked dirt. As my eyes became used to the darkness I made out eight black eyes staring up at me, shining slightly in the house’s light.

It was the spider from before.

‘Huh?’ I blinked, wondering if I was seeing things. My vision was scarred and blurry from my head hitting the dirt so many times. I looked around and found that I was across the from the cows paddock, a few steps away from dads ute. That was all real, so the spider must be to. I guess? ‘What are you doing here?’

It reared up like before and I jumped to my feet, blinking stupidly at it. What the hell…

‘I’m sorry.’

I flinched as a woman’s voice echoed around me.

‘W-who’s there?’ I turned around but couldn’t see anyone.

‘I don’t know why he wants you dead, but know that this isn’t personal for me. I’m just doing my job.’

‘What?’ I looked at the spider, but the voice wasn’t coming from it. It was as if I was standing in the middle of an empty hall and someone was speaking from directly above me.

‘Don’t fight the spider. Its poison will numb you first, before it becomes fatal. You won’t feel anything and in two minutes you’ll be dead.’

‘Uhm! Excuse me?’ I backed away from the spider as it slowly began walking towards me. ‘I don’t…I know I was just thinking about wanting to be dead but…but…’

‘Again, I’m sorry. Goodbye, Eden.’

‘Wai-’ I cut off with a gasp as the spider’s fangs began smoking and a sharp hissing sound emanated from it. Which was impossible because spiders didn’t hiss. Or have smoky fangs! What the hell!

I took another step backwards just as the spider flung itself at me, its legs stretched out on either side of its bulbous abdomen. A terrified scream escaped my lips and I swatted it away with my right arm, but not hard enough to damage it. It landed safely on the dirt with an audible thud and turned back to face me. Before I could even think about reacting, it reared onto its back legs and shot a multitude of thick strands at me from its abdomen, all of which connected to my chest. I grabbed at one and ripped it off, the slimy silk snapping from just a small amount of pressure from my hand.

There were far too many for me to remove all at once though and the spider was speeding up them, its horrible fangs still billowing with smoke and a silvery spike having appeared where the silk had been shot from.

I realised too late that I should take off my shirt, because just as I grabbed its sides the spider reached my chest. It sunk its fangs right above my heart, and pierced just below with the spike protruding from its abdomen.

A silent scream escaped my lips and I fell backwards, my body freezing up. I could feel the spiders poison pumping into me, into my heart and then all throughout my body. My head became dull and sticky, all of my thoughts and emotions tangling up upon themselves.

What was…going on…was…was I…dying?

You can’t hurt anyone if you’re dead.

Yeah…that was true but…

No. No.

But it would be so easy…I just had to let go…

Stop fighting. You’ll learn to love it one day.

Fuck off!

It’ll only hurt for a minute.

No! No!

Alexis…mum…

Jon…

I said fuck off!

No!

NO!

The spider started shrieking as warmth exploded throughout my body, seeming to come from every single cell inside of me. It almost hurt, like having a shower just on the edge of burning, and I felt the poison stop flooding into me. Only for a moment though, because after a couple of confused seconds my body began sucking it in somehow, pulling it out of the spider. I think? I had no real idea what was happening.
‘What are you doing?’ the woman’s voice demanded and I could hear panic resonating around me.

I looked at my chest to see the spider melting, its legs bursting into streams of blood and its eyes trickling away. My body somehow drew that all inside me along with the venom, and the warmth became more intense. The abdomen exploded like the legs had, revealing what appeared to be a tiny heart, one that was beating frantically.

‘No! That’s a part of m-’ the voice cut off as the heart crumbled and slowly melted into a bloody mess, one that my body slowly absorbed.
The remaining pieces of spider rolled off of me, just two empty fangs and an eyeless head. I began to sit up but the warmth inside of my body suddenly exploded into an ocean of unbearable agony and I began screaming. It felt like every part of me was being torn apart and a blinding white light consumed my body, pulling my consciousness away as if I was being dragged out to sea by a riptide and then…

And then…

And then it was gone. The pain, the tearing sensation, the feeling of being dragged away, and the light. Everything. As if it had never even happened.

I lay on the ground for a moment, staring up at the starlit sky, and then sat up with a gasp.

‘What the hell!’ I croaked and got onto my knees.

That wasn’t real, that couldn’t have been real, I imagined it, hallucinated it or something! I was panicking and I must have…I don’t know…I don’t know! What the fuck!

I looked around for the remains of the spider but couldn’t see them, perhaps because of how dark it was, or perhaps because they weren’t there to begin with. My body seemed fine too despite having felt like it was being ripped apart a minute ago. I put a hand to my chest and found that my shirt was dry despite having apparently been drenched in spider blood and webbing.

‘Okay. Okay.’ I said as I took slow, calming breaths. ‘I imagined it, just like with Jon before. Nothing happened. No spider, no voice, no weird body things. Hahaha! Oh god…I’m losing my mind aren’t I?’

I once again fell backwards and let out heavy sigh. Maybe I should go and see a councillor at Sanders like mum suggested. That had been terrifying, being attacked by the spider. And its venom in me, tearing me up from the insides…it had felt so real, so painful. Almost as bad as what Jon had done to me.

He’d never had the decency to try and kill me though.

A rustling came from the paddock with the cows and I sat up to see a dark figure climb over the fence. I frowned tiredly at it and was relieved to see that it was just Alexis.

‘Eden?’ she asked when she saw me. ‘What are you doing out here?’

‘What are you doing out here?’

‘I was trying to find those frogs you mentioned but it got too dark so I headed back, but I wanted to get a picture of the cows first.’ She said and held up her phone. ‘But the moons not out and the flash on this isn’t good enough to light up a whole cow so I gave up. I was hoping to get some kind of…I don’t know…majestic cow picture.’

‘Majestic cow?’ I asked, the two words not gelling together in my head.

‘It was just an idea.’ She muttered and sat down in front of me. ‘You didn’t tell me what you were doing out here.’

I considered telling her about the weird spider incident and then gasped. Oh god! I’d almost forgotten! ‘Mum and dad! They…they’re fighting…’

‘What! Why?’ Alexis asked just as the sound of glass shattering came from the house. ‘What happened?!’

‘Dad was being really weird, asking me…things.’ I scratched the sides of my head, not really comfortable sharing the stuff dad had accused me of with Alexis just yet. ‘Stuff about Sanders, and he got really angry and…and mum came in and she was really angry too and…and…uh…s-so she told me to come and find you and I did.’

‘Are you okay?’ Alexis turned on her phone and shone the light onto my face. I could only imagine how bad I looked, with a bruised lip and scraped forehead, covered in dirt and blood. ‘Oh my god! That piece of shit!’

‘I’m fine.’ I said and rubbed my face to try and clear away some of the blood, but just made it dirtier.

‘Let me see.’ Alexis reached out to touch my face but I flinched and slapped her hand away, a gross feeling wrapping itself around my stomach. A disgustingly familiar feeling.

‘Uhm! I don’t want to be touched at the moment sorry!’ I took in a shuddering breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm myself down.
Alexis looked at me in shock and then blushed, pulling her hand away. ‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to…’

‘No, it’s okay. I just…I feel weird.’ I shrugged awkwardly, trying to get rid of the feelings crawling down my spine. I don’t know if it was because of the spider or Jon but I didn’t want anyone to touch me right now.

Alexis began to say something but stopped as the front door slammed open, and we both watched as dad stormed out, his whole body shaking. He walked to his ute, which Alexis and I were a couple of meters across from, and when he noticed us he froze. After a moment of tense silence he twitched his shoulder awkwardly and came over to us. Alexis stood up and stared definitely at him but he ignored her and looked down at me. His face was wet with tears and I felt a confusing moment of pity for him.

‘Here.’ he took out his wallet and removed some bills. ‘I wanted to give this to you before. It was why I wanted to talk to you before, I just wanted to give you this and some advice but…’ His face shook and tears leaked out of his red eyes. ‘I…I didn’t mean to…what happened shouldn’t have happened, I didn’t mean to get so angry but…but you…that fucking photo Eden! It just set me off, made me…you know…like I was before but…your mother was right, it was just a photo and I…reacted badly…’

‘Okay.’ I said warily and scooped up the money, wondering how he could afford to give me this much money. There had to be over two hundred dollars here. Had he been saving it to give to me? A pang of guilt ran through me.

‘A-alright then.’ Dad said after I didn’t say anything else for a while. He wiped his eyes and began walking to the ute. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
He got in and started it, but just sat there staring at the steering wheel.

‘I’ve never seen him cry before.’ Alexis said quietly as she knelt down next to me.

‘He’s been crying a lot since I went to hospital.’ I said, putting the money in my pocket. ‘I really hurt him whe-’

‘You hurt him?’ Alexis said and glared at me. ‘You didn’t do anything!’

This is your fault.

You made me do this. You s-

‘No!’ I clutched at my shirt and shivered. ‘Shut up!’

‘What?’ Alexis looked at me in surprise.

‘Not you.’ I shook my head angrily.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Alexis asked just as we were bathed in the bright lights of a car’s headlights, and we turned to see a red SUV turning into the driveway.

‘Oh!’ I recognized that SUV.

‘My parents!’ Alexis said excitedly and jumped to her feet. ‘Oh thank god!’

Dad’s ute started up with a roar as soon as the SUV approached and he began to drive off. Alexis’s parents beeped at him in greeting but he ignored them and disappeared around the corner just like Reece had, hidden behind the hedges.

‘Eden.’ a voice said from the house and I turned to see mum leaving it, a frozen bag of peas held against her face.

‘Mum!’ I ran over and went to hug her, but the sick feeling stopped me before I touched her. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Here. Put this against your lip.’ She handed me another bag of frozen vegetables. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Are you?’ her face was free of blood but her lip was clearly bruises and her left eye was red and raw.

‘I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.’ She reached out to touch my face but I backed off, making her grimace. ‘Eden…I’m not going to hurt you.’

‘I know.’ I said but when she tried to touch me again I moved away. ‘I’m sorry!’

Mum snarled and clenched her free hand into a fist. ‘That fucking asshole! Look at you! How could your father still think you’re lying?’

I just stared sadly at her, not sure what to say. She went to pat me on the head but stopped herself with a growl, then walked past me and went over to the SUV, where Alexis’s parents were just getting out. Her dad was as tall as his daughter and of Japanese descent, with short black hair and a rather pudgy, kind face. His wife was also slightly overweight and had a kind face like her husband, but she Caucasian and over a head taller than him. Alexis looked like her more than she did her father, which I think is why they named her Alexis and not something Japanese like they had with her sister, who far more resembled their father.

They were both amazing people and I felt myself relaxing just from seeing them. I hurried after mum to greet them and the slimy, cold fingers caressing my stomach slowly disappeared.

‘Hey guys!’ Mrs Nakamura smiled as we approached. ‘Sorry we’re a bit early! We j-ah! What happened to your face?’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ Mum said. ‘Look, c-’

‘Oh my god! Eden!’ she gasped when she saw my face. ‘What happened? Did Dan attack you two?’

‘What?’ Mr Nakamura turned from where he’d been hugging Alexis to stare at us. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Did he do that to your face?’ Mrs Nakamura asked. ‘And to Eden too?’

‘Yes.’ Mum said and rubbed the side of her face, her eyes tired.

‘Are you hurt as well?’ Mr Nakamura asked his daughter and she shook her head.

‘No, I’ve been out here for a while. I don’t even really know what happened.’ She said, staring at mum’s bloodied face with wide eyes.
‘Everything’s fine now. ’ Mum said and looked at Alexis’s parents. ‘I’ll explain what happened later, but…c-can I ask you two for a favour?’
‘Anything.’ Mrs Nakamura said immediately.

‘Can you take Eden home with you tonight, and then take him to Sanders tomorrow?’

‘What?’ I exclaimed, dropping the bag of frozen vegetables. ‘No!’

‘We can do that, sure.’ Mr Nakamura frowned. ‘But you and I should go inside and talk, okay?’

‘Mum! What are you doing?’ I grabbed her hand and forced her to look down at me.

‘Your father’s going to be home sometime tonight or tomorrow. Do you want to be here when he does?’ she said as she pulled my arm off of hers.

‘N-no, but…you shouldn’t be either then!’

‘You’re more than welcome to come with us.’ Mr Nakamura said.

‘No, I’m staying here. I need to talk to him when he’s sobered up.’ Mum growled.

‘What if he hurts you again?’

Mum laughed bitterly. ‘He’s not going to. He’ll spend the night at some bar getting drunk and then come home full of bullshit apologies and be all loving and shit. If Eden’s here though-’

‘What?’ I demanded angrily.

‘He might get angry again.’ Mum finished heavily. ‘And I don’t want us to have to deal with that.’

‘Then let’s go!’ I tugged on her arm but she once again pulled my hand off.

‘I told you, I want to be here when he gets back, so I can talk to him.’

‘About what?’

‘About what just happened! And how to make sure it never happens again.’

‘What about after that then? Can you come take me to Sanders?’ I grabbed her arm with both hands this time.

‘I don’t think I can, Eden…’

‘But you said that we were going to have lunch at that café near the campus! And you were going to buy me a little soft toy possum to put on my bed so I wouldn’t get lonely! You haven’t bought me it yet! I don’t have it! You have to come with me and buy one!’

Mum’s lips trembled and she wiped her eyes. ‘I…Eden…let me think…’

‘No! Mum!’ I tugged on her arm. ‘You promised!’

‘Eden! Stop!’ Mum said in the same tone that she’s used to make me leave the house. I froze and slowly let go of her arm. ‘I need time to think, okay? Go with Mrs Nakamura. Please. We’ll talk again tomorrow.’

‘But…’ I began, unsure of what else to say.

‘Everything’s going to be fine.’ Mum said and tried to smile, but just ended up looking more miserable. ‘I’ll see you soon, yeah?’

‘I guess…’

I watched in confusion as she tried to smile again and walked back to the house. Alexis’s dad said something to his wife and Alexis but I wasn’t paying attention, and before I knew it he and mum had both gone into the house and disappeared from sight.

‘Why don’t we just call the police?’ Alexis asked as soon as they were gone. ‘This happens like once a month now and Erin never calls them! She always says that she’s going to talk to him about it b-’

‘Alexis. Not now.’ Mrs Nakamura said sharply and put a hand on my shoulder. ‘Come on Eden. Have you had dinner yet? We could pick something up on the way home.’

‘We were going to have roast chicken…’

‘Oh yeah!’ Alexis said unhappily. ‘I was really looking forward to that.’

‘Why don’t we get some KFC then?’ Mrs Nakamura said and Alexis perked up.

‘What about pizza? Can we order from that place down the road from us?’

‘Sure! What about you Eden?’

‘Okay.’ I wasn’t hungry in the slightest, but I did need to stick to my diet and I hadn’t had any meat today.

‘Let’s get going then.’ She smiled and we got into the SUV, Alexis and I sitting in the back. It smelt of doughnuts and coffee, which made me relax a little bit more.

‘I don’t understand why mum can’t take me to Sanders tomorrow.’ I said as we pulled out of the driveway. ‘What does she need to think about?’

‘Adult things.’ Mrs Nakamura said and looked back at me with a smile. ‘She’s doing to do what’s best for you though, honey. Don’t worry about it.’

Don’t worry about it? Hah. That was impossible. Mum had seemed more tired than I’d ever seen her before! Dad had hit her a lot in the past, more times than I’d like to count, but she seemed…exhausted this time, like she’d been about to collapse and break into tears. I’d only seen her cry a few times before, but none of them had been after dad hit her.

She wouldn’t have been this upset if I hadn’t told her what Jon did to me. Or…

I shouldn’t have…failed…trying to kill myself. I should have made sure I died…if I had then both mum and dad would have never known what Jon did to me. They’d be sad I was dead but dad hadn’t really liked me anyway and without me to worry about mum could probably leave him and live in a small apartment by herself, get a job and find someone to love who wouldn’t hurt her. She could even have another kid, she wasn’t too old for that. A better me. A boy who wasn’t a pathetic embarrassment. Same with dad too. They could both live happy lives without me.

My wrists started itching. Itching so badly…I needed to cut…I needed to feel good! I nee-

‘Eden?’ Alexis asked and I blinked, realising that she and her mum had been talking to me.

‘Sorry, what?’

‘Are you okay?’ she asked and looked at me in concern.

‘I’m fine!’ I rubbed my face, realizing that some tears had fallen down my cheeks. ‘What were you saying?’

‘I was asking what you wanted to do when we got home. I was thinking that we could play some video games? We could play some Country on the WiiU?’

‘Okay.’ I shrugged, not really caring. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and wait for mum to call me. I hated being separated from her at times like these, when I didn’t know if she was going to be alright or not. All I wanted to do was hug her and make sure she was okay, that she wasn’t going to start crying or feel lonely.

Alexis gently held my hand and squeezed. I blinked and them smiled, warmth flowing through me from her grip. She smiled as I squeezed back and a warm, comforting feeling ran down my spine.

I…guess this was okay…

To be continued....

Thankyou so much for reading! I apologize if this is moving a bit too slow, towards the transformation part, but it's necessary. Eden's world needs to be shown as it is before so that the changes mean something.
I hope the spider sequence wasn't too jarring, but I needed to add it in to lead into the transformation and later plot-lines.

~ BrokenFox