The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (101 page)

             
“How very rude! I have heard similar tales of woe.”

             
Many of my acquainta
nces in the kitchen had been victims of thievery. One girl a few years older than me told me that her sister’s diamond earrings had been stolen. A man told me that someone had stolen his wife’s wedding ring. I had been silently hoping that the cowardly thi
ef was just one man or woman with a pitiful case of kleptomania. I knew better, however. I knew that not only was there more than one thief but that they were working alone. Somehow, multiple thieves stealing for just themselves was more frightening than a
band of thieves working in a group.

             
Human morality was slowly slipping away. People were embracing the lawlessness that would certainly coincide with Don's way of life.

             
“Has Don been looking for whoever they are?” I asked.

             
“No. Don says that it’s
unfortunate but he won’t be doing anything to stop it. We all just have to start locking our doors. You think you can trust people…”

             
“I do not ever think that I can trust people. I know that people are allowing their dark sides to get the better of them.
They are allowing apathy and selfishness to rule their lives. Don encourages that, doesn’t he? Look at how he pushes the Peace Fruit at everyone.”

             
“I know.”

             
“You’re going to starve us, Don!” I heard Elijah shout at him in the hallway.

             
“That’s what he wa
nts, Eli! I don’t even know why you’re surprised!” Frank yelled in response.

             
“Why would I want to starve anyone? I’m not…” Don stopped, afraid of treading too close to a personal insult with my rapidly growing brother. Elijah was beginning to show signs o
f the same evolution that had taken hold of James.

             
“What? You’re not my father? Well, believe me, you’re dancing pretty close to that line, Don! These people farm all day. They work their asses off in the hot sun all day long so they can feed themselves!
You can’t tell them how much they should be giving you!”

             
“I absolutely can or we
will
starve! Don’t you see?! I am taking enough food so that we can all eat. I am taking enough to be cooked and served to everyone. How you can believe that I should be enco
uraging selfishness at a time like this is beyond me, Elijah! You are so young! You are the product of your affluent upbringing, I'm telling you!”

             
“This has nothing to do with being young or growing up with money, Don! This has to do with right and wrong!
You’re stealing what people are growing themselves. That was never part of the deal!”
             

             
“What was the deal? Tell me what the deal was and I’ll do my best to make it happen!” Don
replied sarcastically. “I am doing the best I can with what we have!’

             
“You’r
e giving most of it over to him!”

             
“Him who?!” Don demanded and I watched him throw his hands up in frustration as he spoke.

             
“Adam!” Frank and Elijah shouted simultaneously and in the same tone of impassioned accusation.

             
“Adam gets next to nothing from u
s.” Don lied quickly. I could tell that he was being less than truthful by the way he stammered and rolled his eyes multiple times. For a moment, he looked as though he might be succumbing to some sort of fit. Given how much of the Peace Fruit he consumed
an evening, I would not be surprised if he suffered some form of neurological shutdown.

             
“We’re at the breaking point. Things were fine for a few weeks but he’s screwing us now, Brynn.” Rachel told me softly as she skinned a large rabbit behind me. I grima
ced at the sight and turned back to the vegetables and herbs that I was responsible for.
             

             
I nodded in response to what she had said as I picked up a handful of strongly-scented herbs that I had chopped and threw them into the steaming water on the stove.

             
“He expects us to believe his lies. He expects us not to question him. That is just plain irresponsibility and I will have no parts of it.” I told her solemnly.

             
I wiped the sweat from my forehead on the back of my hand and glanced over at Penny. She and
two of her friends were filling water bottles and glancing in apprehension towards the door. When Penny's fearful eyes met mine, I smiled, rolled my eyes and shook my head in an attempt to pretend like the argument outside was just an instance of three boy
s being utterly silly. A look of relief came over her face and I watched as she told her friends that everything was alright.

             
“Why do you think he’s giving Adam most of the crops?” Rachel asked.

             
“He is trying to appease him. He believes that Adam is also
aiding the Bachums, though I am almost sure that is not true. Adam has some sort of stake in this war. There is something very crucial in it for him. I have not yet deciphered exactly what that something is.”

             
“I can’t believe that Adam would just take ou
r food like that. Lord knows he probably has plenty to eat in that city of his. He’s their leader. I’m sure he’s eating well.” Rachel replied in disgust.

             
“Yes. I am sure of that, as well. But I absolutely can believe that he would take from us. He will ta
ke whatever he wants just to take, I’m afraid.”

             
We stopped talking for a few minutes to focus on our mindless jobs while also trying to drown out our opinions on the matter.

             
“Are you and James okay?” Rachel asked me. Her question moved a little too close
to personal territory in a way that I was not comfortable with entirely. But instead of snapping at her about her business versus business that was mine, I sighed heavily.

             
“We are doing well. I forgive him for what he did.”

             
“That’s pretty big of you, co
nsidering exactly what he did.”

             
“Well, he was high. He has not taken the Peace Fruit since. I cannot believe so many others are still recklessly endangering themselves and everyone else in this house by doing so.”

             
“It’s what everyone wants though, isn’t
it? They don’t want to think. That’s why so many people aren’t calling Don on his bullshit. They just want to keep their mouths shut and tow the line.”

             
“That kind of thinking led to the mess we were in on Earth. The political mess, I mean. The
governmental mess…”

             
“I guess you’re right.”

             
“I
am
right.”
             

             
“Of course you are.” Rachel chuckled before turning to another serious, personal topic, “What about Penny? How is she?”

             
I looked over at her again and Rachel joined me in the glance. The water
bottles were full and standing in neat lines on the sink. Penny and her friends had moved on to separating vegetables both known and exotic. Nick was there with her, talking to her quietly while stealing a little of everything.
Penny beamed when he ate wha
t he had taken in grand gestures. A few times, she even laughed out loud. I could not help but smile to myself.

             
“She is coming around. It has been a few weeks. She still feels badly about it but we are working to resolve her guilt. It is a struggle, but s
he will endure.”

             
“I don’t doubt that. Not when she’s got her tough-as-nails mama to look out for her.”

             
I grinned at the compliment; it was so very fitting.

             
“I do my best. James and I have both picked up the slack that was never carried by my parents. Fi
nally, she has a respectable father figure.”

             
“He is respectable. He loves her a lot. Everybody says that. Everybody says that he loves you a lot, too.”

             
“I know he does. I am sure our relationship is still very shocking to everyone…”

             
“Not at all. People
get it. He’s good to you. Everybody sees that. Except for what happened with the Peace Fruit but then, so many others went through the same side effects. He’s a good man, Brynna. Don’t let him go.”

             
How very sentimental and yet, how very true as well. The
smile on my face widened at the thought of him. When they were not running back and forth to the campsite, the security detail worked out in the fields with the gardeners, harvesting the land for our sustenance. I pictured him out there with his shirt tied
around his head, sweating as he plowed the fertile earth. I pictured him laughing along with the jokes and banter that the gardeners tended to use as their conversation. A swelling of love for him spread throughout my chest, caressing my insides and warmi
ng me straight down to my soul.

             
“I am glad that you said that.” I told Rachel through my small smile.

             
“Why is that?”

             
“Because though I might not ever have doubted this, I suddenly acknowledged openly to myself how lucky I am to have him. He loves me. He
loves Penny and Violet. He even loves Elijah, to a certain degree.”

             
“That’s definitely not reciprocated.”

             
“It is not. But in time, Eli will see why I love him so much. When I would come in contact with men I thought to be upstanding in all ways, I alway
s described them as good, honest and decent. James fits all three of those traits quite nicely.”

             
“He does. Plus, he has a rocking body and a hot face. He’s the total package. Consider yourself lucky and believe me when I say, most women here are jealous t
hat you have him. They’re jealous of what you two have.”

             
“That gives me very little pleasure, surprisingly enough.” I said, “I do not care about the envy of other women.” I thought to myself for a moment before clarifying a nagging point, “But if any of t
hem try to take him from me, they are going to suffer the full wrath of my evolution, I can tell you that.”

             
Rachel and I both laughed half-hysterically.

             
“Yeah, girl! That’s
your
man!”

             
“Damn right, he is.”

             
We laughed again, ignoring the ongoing argument
out in the hallway. I did not care to listen. I just wanted to muse briefly on how everything had remained level despite all that had lead me to believe that chaos was inevitable. I looked around, feeling great affection for my coworkers in the kitchen. I
liked mostly everyone in the house. I enjoyed socializing with them, which as I am sure you have gathered, was quite an odd turn for me.

             
I had help, finally, in taking care of Penny. I did not have to shoulder the responsibilities completely on my own. S
he had a paternal figure who was both strong and caring. Violet had somebody else to bother with her requests for permission to do teenage things. Sure, Elijah had someone to hate but I did not view him through the eyes of maternity the way I viewed my sis
ters. I could not have cared less what he thought of James.

             
I loved that man dearly. I would hold him close to me for all the immortal years I spent on Pangea. We would strengthen our deep bond with every moment we spent together. Maybe, I thought quietly
to myself with uncertainty, we would even have children of our own.

             
No, maybe not.

             
Outside the window, thunder rumbled and a streak of lightning slashed a jagged line of light through the dark gray clouds.

             
How very, very cliché,
my mind drawled sarcast
ically.

             
No,
I thought forcefully in response,
It's nothing. Superstition is for the young and stupid.