At the End of the Garden

Prologue

August 2009

You don't question what you grow up with, at least, not when you're young and have never seen anything else. So, I never questioned the never-ending garden at Eden's house. The fact it was so big was normal for me. I'm sure it was the same for Eden too. Some of my earliest and fondest memories are in that garden. Eden and I had spent a lot of time together as children, and while I appreciated the company of another sibling-less child growing up, our parents hadn't considered the consequences of this. So, the story will start with the two of us together. Nothing could be more appropriate.

One of my most prominent memories was the summer when we were eight. Eden's birthday had just passed a week before and I would be turning nine in a month. At every opportunity over the summer, my parents would come to Eden's house to enjoy the warmth in the glass conservatory with his parents. It was like this the summer the year before, and the year before that.  Except, this was the year Eden's father had told him that he wouldn't simply let him into the school he ran, nor would he pay his tuition fee. Eden Quinn's only way into 'Quinn's Academy' was by coming in the top 1% of students taking the induction test, and therefore earning himself a scholarship. He'd spent a lot of time that summer panicking and studying as if those exams were the next day, not years ahead.
   As a result of this, I'd spent days at Eden's house bored. He would study in the garden, which allowed me to entertain myself by staring at the sky as I sat with him. If I was looking up, I wasn't looking at the grassy area that tempted me to play on it.
   "Are you finished yet? Can we play now?" I'd asked him.
   Eden's face had been buried in a book, just reading. He didn't really know how to revise properly, but what eight-year-old should? He had been seemingly so engrossed in the book that he couldn't even look up at me to tell me 'no'.
   "Do you have to study all the time?" I threw another question at him.
   "No." He replied, still not looking up.
   "Then can we play now?"
   "No."
   My response to that was to whine. My lack of entertainment was frustrating. While I could have watched TV inside, I would have to go and ask the adults to put it on for me. And interrupting them was the last thing I wanted to do. My mum liked to make sure I was ignored until whoever was speaking was finished. Eden's mum would ask questions about why I wasn't playing with Eden and his dad had a look that scared me. It was all made even worse by the fact that at this point in the afternoon, the group of four were usually already drunk. Playing with Eden was usually more fun and hassle free.
   "Aren't you going to study too?" Eden asked. He'd looked up from his book momentarily to judge my response.
   "Not really." I'd answered. I'd been sulking, so my response came out in a whiny tone that my mum always scolded me for. I was being honest. School was boring. Revising was boring. Playing was fun. It was simple to eight-year-old me. I explained this to Eden while dramatically curling up into a ball on the grass.
   "But, don't you want to go to the same secondary school as me?"
   Eden and I went to different primary schools. Eden's school, according to my dad, was like the army, with how they made the children dress and walk around the building. Meanwhile, my primary was closer to home and, unlike the secondary school Eden was aiming to get into, was a public school. Eden's suggestion that I wanted things to stay this way offended me.
   "Of course I do!"
   The thought of going to separate secondary schools was a tragedy in our young eyes. Since we started going to school we'd spoken about how fun it would be to share a classroom and a playground. "But I don't need that collar-ship thingy. Mum will pay for me to go."
   This seemed to wind Eden up more, and justly too. But, like his father and unlike me, he rarely lost his temper. Rather than reacting, he turned his head back to his book and ignored me.
   A few minutes after our conversation, I had decided to pry again. I must have thought the tension I created earlier had died down.
   "Eden - "
   "Go play on your own!"
   The tension hadn't gone, and Eden hadn't learned his father's temper control fully yet. After snapping at me, he turned completely around, letting me only see his back.
   In response, I stood up and stomped away towards the back of the garden. The space was so big that I managed to go to areas I didn't remember  exploring before. In fact, the main reason I believed the garden was never-ending was because of the miniature forest of shrubs and trees that blocked the view of the back fence. To me, the forested area was huge, miles and miles long, even though it wasn't even a quarter of the whole garden. It was a different universe, far away from home and far away from Eden.
   We'd had petty argument, not even that. It wasn't the first and it would definitely not be the last. It didn't stop me from over complicating things. I kicked stones. I crossed my arms over my chest and muttered about how Eden was betraying me, picking school over his best friend. I had kicked up dry dirt so it flew everywhere, then settled on my knees and shoes like fairy dust.
   In my strop, I'd neglected to pay attention to my surrounding. I was tripped up by a tree root and fell onto my arms. The fall grazed my now dirt stained elbows and left a scratch on my knee and earned a tiny bruise on my foot. At eight-years-old, I was convinced that this was the most pain I had and will ever face in my life. My anger at Eden was completely replaced with a flood of tears.
   I doubted Eden could hear me, or had even payed attention to where I had gone. I was concealed in this tiny forest, convinced that I could die here if I wasn't found. But, believe it or not, this turns into a happy memory. Turns out, Eden had followed me with intent to apologise (though it took him years to admit it), and within minutes I could here my name being called. I called back in my whiny, croaky childish voice and soon enough Eden was rushing over to me with a concerned look on his face.
   "What did you do?" He asked, as if it wasn't obvious.
   "I tripped." I said, barely. My tears were making it hard for me to talk properly.
   "Don't - please stop crying." He said, helping me up without judgement or complaint. And even though I could walk fine, Eden held my hand as we walked back to the house. Every step of the way.