Third time's a charm

Sun and moon

A routine settled between them. Eve would wake up and spend her time in the village until the first meal, after which she would quietly eclipse herself to the garden. Eve would then run till she'd reached the hidden path to the peach tree. Lilith would be there, waiting for her. 

Even without being able to fully understand each other, they still enjoyed each other presence. Lilith was a sort of enigma for Eve. The girl was, to the eight-year-old child, both; the weirdest and the prettiest thing she'd ever seen. She reminded Eve of the moon. Compared to her, Lilith seemed to be constantly running cold, even with the warm weather. She was smaller and looked so fragile next to her. Despite it all, there was something calming about her. Eve had instinctually felt protective over her.

To Lilith, Eve was just like the sun; warm and bright. Just looking at her seemed to make everything better. Lost in a place unknown to her, having someone whose smile managed to melt away any worries made it all look less scary. Eve's visit became the high of her days. Out there, under the peach tree, there was little she could do to occupy herself, and whenever she found herself all alone, the forest once again became a scary scenery full of sounds and shadows. Her constant nightmares made it impossible for her to sleep at night. She only felt truly safe around Eve. So when the time would come and Eve would appear between the bushes, Lilith would lay her head on her lap and sleep soundly. They'd hold hands as she dozed off, Eve content with simply being around her. 

"Aren't you tired of only eating peaches?" Eve had once asked in the broken language they'd come with as a middle-ground to understand each other. 

Lilith had shrugged. "There's nothing else around here, and I'm too afraid to go too far from the tree. But I guess sometimes I wished for something else."  She'd then opened one eye to peek at her friend's face above hers.  

Eve smiled at her, a resolute look on her face. "I'll bring you food then."  From then on, she always brought new kinds of food for Lilith to taste. Eve enjoyed watching her friend's expression after tasting each new item. She loved how Lilith would wrinkle her nose after tasting something bitter or how her eyes widened with glee when she gave her dates for the first time. Lilith quickly became her favorite person. 

However, Eve's constant escapades in the garden started to get noticed by the village, especially her parents. At first, no one said anything, but as it kept happening, they became curious about what could keep the little girl there for so long. It became even stranger when each attempt to follow her into the garden failed. They'd follow behind her, then take a turn, and it was as if she'd disappeared. No matter how hard they searched, they never found where she went. 

So one day, her father asked her what she was doing out there. There wasn't much fear of anything happening. They lived in perfect harmony with nature. Animals knew not to hurt them, and they respected them in return. So, no, there weren't many concerns about her safety, more curiosity. Every time she was asked about it, Eve would say she was seeing a friend. The adult would look at each other and shrug it off as her befriending a wild animal in the garden. 

But their question made the little girl think. Perhaps she could bring her friend to the village. Lilith was skittish at the idea, scared at the thought of stepping foot somewhere filled with people. She was even more terrified of people than she was of the garden. Eve couldn't understand why but respected that. It didn't become an issue until Eve's mother wanted her to stop going to the forest as much, wanting her to spend time with the few other children around. 

The week she stayed in the village without even once going to Lilith had been one of the hardest in the eight-year-old's life. She'd felt jumpy and like something -a part of her- was missing. It was then that she realized she didn't want to just see Lilith in their hidden spot for a few hours of the day but wanted to spend all her time with her. She wanted to spend her every waking moment with her friend. 

The second she'd walked into the clearing, Lilith herself at her and held on for dear life. She was crying, having thought Eve had abandoned her for good. Eve learned that Lilith parent's died trying to protect her from monsters. It was the first time that her friend alluded to where she'd come from, and the first Eve had asked herself if perhaps her parents were wrong and there was something beyond the garden. After that day, Lilith agreed to come with her to the city; both realizing that they couldn't bear being apart for long. 

Everyone turned around to look at them the second they made it to the village. Lilith stood shily behind Eve, holding the lapel of her dress with a death grip. Eve stood brave as she maneuvered them to where her parents and the rest of the council stood. Shock and confusion colored their faces as she introduced her friend to them. 

Eve had naively expected them to welcome Lilith with open arms. The eight-year-old never thought; that they would put her in a room isolated from everything. She herself had been confined to the walls of her own room. She'd a fit like never before, asking relentlessly to see her friend. Her parents had looked at each other and nodded; her father had then crouched to her level. That day Eve learned the truth. 

'The story goes as follows; the creator created the world in 7 days. On the sixth day, they created humans, beings meant to resemble them, as close to perfect as one could go. Unfortunately, nothing always goes to plan, even for the almighty. In the centuries that followed their creation, humans grew greedier and more immoral, their souls tainted by desire and darkness. And with the aftermath of a coup orchestrated by the creator's own children, those banished to the mortal realm turned into monsters, ravaging the human world into an even more consuming darkness.

Dissatisfied by what the mortal realm had become, they decided to give it a second time, creating the garden of Eden. A paradise on earth where only the purest of souls could reside. This time, the maker made the being perfect. They were resistant to feelings of greed, lust, and envy. Those beings were: sturdier, faster, and possessed more prolonged longevity compared to their human counterpart. They were the creator's greatest creations.' 

There was more beyond the garden, a whole world more. And Lilith came from that other world. However, no one from the outside was allowed inside Eden, just like they weren't allowed to leave. No matter how they tried, they couldn't. It had been like that for centuries, millenniums, until Lilith. Until Lilith appeared next to a peach tree.