Eden

Chapter 1

     Ian awoke startled. He just had the same nightmare for the third night in a row. But these weren't the first times he had this particular dream. When he was seven he had it for the first time. But for some reason he could never change what happened in the dream. He didn't even know the girl that was running beside him but he always felt like he had a strong connection to her. 

     He brushed his thoughts to the side as he  jumped out of bed. His feet landed on the reed floor of his small hut. He shuffled to his box of clothes in the corner and threw on his favorite shirt which was a soft royal blue t-shirt. He also put on jeans and grabbed a sweatshirt and tied it around his waist. After combing his sandy blond hair down a bit he stepped outside. People were milling about already even though it was 5:00 a.m. in the morning. The sun was rising casting a reddish orange tinge on the wonderful garden of Eden.

     People were preparing a great banquet at the gigantic feast table near the middle of the circular garden. Here there was no killing allowed so the only things available to eat would be fruits and vegetables of all kinds. Ian hated vegetables so he had been living on fruits for the last few years that he had been in Eden. Everyone here had their own hut of reeds like his splayed throughout the garden toward the edges. Beyond the houses were large hedges that seemed to reach to the sky itself. Before people had tried to climb the hedge but ended up falling to their deaths and their bodies would vanish without a trace to be seen by the next day. There were also those who attempted to cut through the hedge but ended up getting swallowed by the the bush.

     About a hundred people lived in Eden at a time but it seemed as though if one person left because they disobeyed the rules another person would show up the next day. Sometimes the new human would be a baby other times they were toddlers but there had never been a teenager or adult. Which meant that Ian had limited choices of his girlfriend or wife to be. That irked him because before the fateful day that he woke up in Eden he had unlimited choices but at that point he hadn't cared he was still a young boy that thought that girls had cooties and were gross. Things sure had changed.

     He often found himself getting bored because there was hardly anything to do. There were no jobs to do other than help the elderly gather their food and take care of the young children that would appear. Having friends was not really a thing for him because all of the other kids that were his age shunned him because he had been chosen to come to Eden and was the oldest child to ever awake in Eden. He had been seven when he awoke. He never understood why they had held such grudges.

     He walked over a small oaken bridge that housed a brook underneath it. From there he took the worn path to the library. The library was the only nice building in the whole entire area. He often came to the library to pick up books to read. Many people including himself created works of art and books and put them in the library. Most authors signed their books and art but Ian never did. He didn't want any one knowing that he had written or drawn them because they wouldn't like or even try to read them. At least that's how he felt.

     Ian entered the library and looked in awe at the vaulted ceiling. He walked by painting after painting plastered to the walls. Some were of places in the garden others were of natural things such as sunsets. But the art was not the reason he was at the library, he had come for a book. He meandered his way to the young adults section but noticed there was a young woman slowly walking down the aisle so he decided to walk to the next row to avoid any contact because that girl was Jennifer. Jennifer had a way of keeping everyone in a conversation for hours on end. Of course the row Ian walked into was the history section which was full of books of memories anyone had of before their times in Eden. The only person that Ian could remember was his best friend Matthew. Matthew's family had taken Ian in from an orphanage. Matthew had shared a room and everything that he had with Ian the whole time without any complaints.