After Eden

by Helen Douglas

  A sneer made its way up one side of Travis’s face. “Like what you see?”

  I felt the old flush start on my chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You were checking me out.”

  “No, I wasn’t.”

  “Ryan’s only been gone a few hours and already you’re looking for fresh meat. Nice dress, by the way.”

  I looked up and caught his leer. Self-consciously I pulled at the hem of my dress, trying to make it longer. This was not the Travis I thought I knew. This was an entirely different person.

  “Pass me your phone,” he said. “We’re going to do this again. And this time you’re going to tell Connor to haul ass over here.”

  He dialed Connor’s number and passed me the phone.

  “What do you want?” asked Connor.

  The phone was on speaker.

  “I need to see you.”

  “I don’t want to see you.”

  “Tell him it’s important,” Travis whispered in my ear.

  “Please, Connor,” I said. “It’s important.”

  “I have plans with Megan. I’ll call you in a few days.”

  Travis shook his head.

  “I really need to see you today. Please, Connor. You’re my best friend. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

  Connor sighed into the phone. “We’re going to see a movie in a bit. It doesn’t finish till ten.”

  Travis whispered in my ear again. “Tell him to take a taxi and you’ll pay the driver.”

  “Take a taxi,” I said. “Meet me at Ryan’s farmhouse halfway down Trenoweth Lane. I’ll pay for the taxi.”

  “What’s going on, Eden?”

  “Just come here later, okay?”

  I hung up.

  “Good girl,” said Travis. He checked his watch. “We have a couple of hours to kill. I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”

  “No. And Miranda is going to wonder where I am.”

  “Let’s sort that out first then, shall we?”

  He opened his own phone and dialed a number.

  “Hey, baby,” he said. “I’m still working. I probably won’t get to see you until tomorrow.”

  He was silent while Miranda said something on the other end of the line. For a second I considered shouting for help, but the pain in my jaw reminded me what could happen if I tried to pull something. I’d have to come up with a different strategy.

  “I just saw Eden. She’s going to the movies with Connor and some other friends.”

  I stared at him. He winked at me.

  “She asked me to let you know she’ll be home late. I’ll see you tomorrow, baby. Love you.” He pressed a button to end the call.

  “How could you pretend to like Miranda? How could you pretend to be our friend?”

  Travis shrugged. “I arrived nine months before Ryan and the others. Nine months of just waiting around. That’s a long time to do nothing. I needed a friend.”

  “Did you choose Miranda because she was my aunt?”

  “Yes. She was my second choice. I briefly considered Connor’s mother, but she wasn’t my type.”

  “You’re horrible. How can you do that to someone?”

  “You’re just a kid,” he said. “You still believe in true love. One day you’ll realize that we’re all just looking for someone to keep us warm at night. But let’s talk about food. I’m starving. The only place that’s willing to deliver to this godforsaken hellhole is Perran Pizza. Ben was thoughtful enough to leave their menu by the phone. Choose something.”

  The pizza arrived at eight o’clock. Travis went to the door to pay for the food. Connor would be here in two hours. Maybe the two of us would have a chance against Travis, but I doubted that.

  I called him while Travis paid for the pizza.

  “What now?” he said.

  “Forget what I said earlier,” I said.

  “Fine. You’re acting really weird.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. Just don’t come to the farmhouse, okay?”

  “Fine. I’ll call you in a few days.”

  I hung up and slipped my phone back in my pocket, out of sight.

  Travis carried two boxes of pizza into the living room. “Cheese for you and meat feast for me,” he said, placing both boxes on the coffee table.

  “I’ll go and get us plates,” I said.

  He didn’t try to stop me. I went into the kitchen and took two plates from the cupboard. Then I quickly looked through the cupboards and drawers for something I could use as a weapon. There was nothing. No bread knives or meat knives. Just ordinary knives and forks. I was about to settle for a fork when I noticed a corkscrew with a sharp end. It might do a good job on a cork, but I wasn’t sure it could harm a strong man. It was all I had to work with so I put it in my pocket next to my keys.

  Back in the living room, I handed one of the plates to Travis.

  “I’m going to get another beer,” he said. “Sure I can’t tempt you?”

  I shook my head. He returned with two more bottles. He’d already drunk the bottle from earlier as well as the bottle he’d brought for me. If he drank these, that would be four. Maybe he would drink too much and pass out. I looked at him again. He was big. Lots of muscle. The bigger you were, the more alcohol you could tolerate without becoming drunk. It would take a lot for Travis to pass out. But perhaps if he drank enough, he would get sloppy. And then I could stab him with the corkscrew. Would it do enough damage if I could? Maybe if I went for a soft place like the inside of his nose or his eye it would hurt him enough for me to make a run for it. What if he overpowered me and stabbed me instead?

  “You’re checking me out again,” he said with a grin. “We have a couple of hours to kill. I wouldn’t say no if you’re interested.”

  I ignored him. But his comment made something clear to me: if he was going to hurt me—or kill me—he wasn’t planning to do it until Connor was here. He must need me to lure Connor to the farmhouse. But Connor wasn’t coming. What would he do when he realized I’d called Connor back and told him not to come?

  I picked at my pizza. Usually I loved it, but there was no way I could swallow more than a few bits of stringy cheese.

  Travis finished his pizza and lit a cigarette.

  “Smoke?” he asked, offering the pack to me.

  I shook my head.

  “You’re so uptight with your good-girl routine. But it’s starting to unravel, isn’t it? Getting drunk in the park, lying to Miranda, checking out older men.”

  I picked my drink up off the floor and sniffed it. Perhaps if I played along, pretended to loosen up, I would be able to get him drunk and escape. I sipped at the liquid and swallowed. It tasted sour and I pulled a face.

  “You don’t like beer?” he asked.

  “No. I prefer water.”

  He took another drag on his cigarette and exhaled in my direction. “You’re no fun.”

  But he got me a glass of water.

  “Let’s talk,” he said, pushing the glass into my hand. He sat on the couch, close, so that our knees were nearly touching.

  “About what?”

  “First of all, when are you planning to attack me with the corkscrew? We can get that over with now if you like. I can put my hands in the air and let you try and stab me with it.”

  I blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Travis laughed. “Go ahead. Stab me.”

  “I’m not going to stab you.”

  “In that case would you mind giving me the corkscrew?”

  I pulled the corkscrew out of my hoodie. Travis removed his jacket. “Come on then,” he said, winking at me. “I think I can handle a corkscrew.”

  I put the corkscrew on the table and sat back down on the couch.

  “Like I said before, you’re no fun.”

  He sat back on the sofa next to me. I could smell his deodorant or soap, the faintest hint of sweat.

  “What are you going to do to me, Travis?”
>
  He put his hand on my bare knee and squeezed it in a gesture that he must have meant to be reassuring. I tensed. “I’m just going to talk to you, okay? I need to know how much Orion told you. And then we’re going to figure out how to keep the future safe. Does that sound okay to you?”

  I nodded.

  He stood up. “Right, I’m going to take a leak. And then we’ll talk. Don’t try anything stupid. I know you think you’re a good runner, but you can’t outrun a car. And there’s nothing to be afraid of. All we’re going to do is talk.”

  He strode out of the room and I heard him thumping heavily up the stairs. A bolt of adrenaline surged through me. I clutched the car key in my pocket and calculated the time it would take me to reach the front door. Perhaps ten seconds. To get to the car? Another ten. To fire up the ignition and drive away? Another ten. Thirty seconds.

  This was my chance. He was upstairs. He could probably zip his fly and run down the stairs in ten seconds, but he would only do that if he knew I was trying to escape. And he didn’t know about the car. I tiptoed into the hall and quietly opened the front door.

  I bolted. I pressed the unlock mechanism on the car as I ran. The lights of the car flashed like an erratic heartbeat and I heard the locks unclick.

  “Eden! Wait!”

  I pulled open the driver’s side door and threw myself inside, banging the door shut behind me. I pressed down on the central locking just as Travis reached the door of the car. He pulled at the door handle.

  “There’s no need for this!” he yelled. “You’re overreacting. Open the door!”

  Trembling, I pushed the key into the ignition. Travis banged so hard on the window that I was afraid it would shatter. The engine shuddered to life. Clutch. First gear. Gas. Release brake and clutch. I slowly released the clutch and the car crept along the gravel driveway.

  Travis walked alongside the car, continuing to bang on the window.

  “You can’t drive. This is ridiculous. Stop the car! I won’t hurt you. We need to discuss how to deal with this.”

  I pressed the clutch and moved into second. Travis began running. Once I reached the lane I could shift into a higher gear and there was no way he could outrun me.

  My instinct was to go home to Miranda. Lock the doors and tell her everything. She had always kept me safe. She would know what to do. But what if she wasn’t home? What if she’d given Travis a key? And if I told her everything, she would just become part of the “mess” Travis wanted to clean up.

  At the top of the lane, I stopped. Miranda’s car was in the driveway. Decision time. I checked my rearview mirror. A black car with tinted windows was approaching at high speed. I put the car in gear. And stalled. Travis approached from behind. He had slowed down, but not enough to stop. I was thrown forward with a jerk as he rammed into the rear bumper.

  Shaking, I turned the key in the ignition again, and the engine roared to life. A red light flashed on the dashboard but I didn’t know what it was. I ignored it and pulled onto the coastal road. He followed. I had no idea where I was going or what I would do. The coast road led to Perran and stopped. There was nowhere else to go in this direction. My only option would be to stop in Perran or turn around and head back out of town on the bypass. There wasn’t even a police station in Perran.

  I checked my mirror. He was matching my speed, not attempting to ram me again. He must have realized I had nowhere to go.

  It began to rain. Great sheets of water fell from the sky and my windshield was awash. Frantically, I pushed buttons and hit the sticks on either side of the steering wheel. My turn signals came on. Then my headlights. I kept the headlights on. It hadn’t occurred to me that I needed my lights. Finally, I found the wipers.

  As I shifted down and took the corner above Lucky Cove, the car shuddered. We were passing Perran golf course now. Rain glistened on the road. My wipers raced frantically from side to side. The engine roared, and then shuddered again. I was losing power. I shifted down to first gear and the engine screamed. And then stopped.

  I turned the ignition, but it sputtered and refused to come to life. The red light on the dashboard was still flashing. Taking a closer look at it, I realized it was the low-fuel light. I was out of gas.

  Checking my mirror, I could see Travis undoing his seat belt. He would be on me in seconds.

  I unclicked my seat belt, flung open the car door, and hurled myself across the road toward the golf course. Without looking back to see if he was behind me, I launched myself over the low fence. He couldn’t follow me over the golf course in his car.

  “Eden!”

  I could tell from his voice that he was close. I was not a sprinter; I was an endurance runner. If he was faster than me, I was done for. I pushed myself harder, not saving any of my energy for the long haul. My chest ached and the rain slashed my skin.

  “Eden!”

  He sounded a little farther away. Resisting the temptation to turn around and check his position, I pushed myself on. The rain was in my eyes and the footpath above the cliff top had turned to mud. One slip and I would either be over the edge or flat on my face.

  If I could just get to Perran, if I was among people, he wouldn’t be able to hurt me. I could see the streetlights bright in front of me. It was nine o’clock in the evening and raining, but it was June. In June there were always tourists. Even in the rain, there had to be tourists. But what if there weren’t any? Then what? I would go to Connor’s.

  I passed the end of the golf course and the path narrowed. I was running alongside fields of potatoes. I couldn’t hear Travis so I risked a glance backward. He was a couple of hundred yards behind me, running slowly and panting. Too many cigarettes.

  I had found my rhythm and if I had been in my running shoes, I could have kept this up for miles. But I was wearing sandals that were soaked and muddy. I could feel my feet slipping inside them with every stride. I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long.

  Travis was probably three minutes behind me. The field petered out and I was on the seafront road. The street was deserted. Where were all the tourists? I blinked hard to squeeze the rainwater out of my eyes and aimed for Connor’s house at the other end of the seafront road.

  I slammed into his door and pounded on it.

  “Connor!” I shouted.

  I banged my fists against the door.

  “Connor! Open up!”

  Nothing.

  I looked behind me. Travis was halfway along the seafront road. He would be on me in a minute.

  “Open up!” I screamed. God, he must still be at the movies. He couldn’t help me.

  I looked back again. Travis was close. Desperate, I turned toward the beach. It was deserted; the boats bobbed and dipped on the high water, their masts clanging together eerily. In seconds I would be out of options. I got myself ready to run again.

  Tears joined the rain in my eyes. I ran. I ran back down to the seafront road, which was toward Travis. We passed within a couple of meters of each other before I hit the sand and headed toward the harbor wall. The sea was high and I had one chance. One slender thread of hope. That I could jump off the harbor wall and avoid the deadly rocks. That Travis would follow me in without knowing where to jump.

  The wall was slick with rain. I paused to kick off my sandals and took a quick look over my shoulder. Travis was about ten seconds behind me. He was walking. As if he knew I had nowhere to go.

  I reached the end of the harbor wall and looked down. When the sea was flat calm, you could just about make out where the rocks were under the water. But now, with the sea sucking and surging below, I couldn’t tell with any certainty where they were.

  “Eden! Don’t jump!” Travis yelled. “No one’s going to hurt you!”

  He was only a yard away from me. I looked down at the sea again, trying desperately to find that safe place between the two groups of rocks. I felt his hand grab for my hood and then I hurled myself toward the place where I had seen my friends jump so many times before. />
  The cold water opened up to swallow me. I sank deep, down beneath the seething surface. My eyelids closed and then reopened. A pearly brightness high above me suggested twilight. I kicked hard and aimed upward. By the time I broke the surface, my lungs were exploding with pain. I gasped.

  I squinted up to the top of the wall. Travis was there, watching. I swam toward the opposite headland, the way I had seen my friends do countless times before. Glancing back, I saw Travis shrug off his jacket. Someone else was approaching him. I swam hard. I’d never been a strong swimmer. I’d always been terrified of deep water, intimidated by large waves.

  There was a deep splash behind me. Travis presumably. I didn’t waste time looking behind me; I swam harder.

  “Eden,” I heard Travis yell hoarsely.

  My arms ached as I parted the water, my mind focused on one thing: reaching the opposite headland. Waves lifted me up and threw me down. I tried not to panic.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder. It touched, barely, and slid off. I swallowed a scream and a mouthful of water. When I caught my breath again, Travis was swimming alongside me, a bloody gash on the side of his head. His eyes were wild with panic. He reached out to grab me. One of his hands grasped my shoulder and pushed. My head sank beneath the surface. I struggled, but he had a tight grip on my hoodie. I hit upward toward his face but the water stopped me from getting any power behind my punch. I tried to swim away. His hand held tight to my hoodie. Bubbles escaped from my mouth and drifted upward. Above me, red radiated around his head like a bleeding poppy. I panicked and dug my fingernails into Travis’s hand. He gripped my shoulder tighter. My chest was tight with pain. I needed oxygen. My legs began to kick randomly as I used my arms to push for the surface. Travis continued to push me down.

  I closed my eyes. My lungs were empty. I felt a heavy movement in the water nearby, but couldn’t register what or where. Salt water was in my nose and mouth. In my ears. I thought of Ryan. I pictured the sticky pink of blood above me. I saw a blue planet spiraling away from me.

  This was the end. I knew it. I had been under too long. The light was too far away. But Connor was safe. The future was safe. The planet would continue to thrive. Ryan. His face swam into my mind. I wanted it to be the last thing I thought about, but a jumble of images floated through my consciousness: my mother’s windblown red hair; the photograph of Connor on the last day of school, a seagull gliding through the air.