90

SUNDAY

Iwas dreaming again. Fuck.

It started the same as they always did, nothingness interrupted by the thundering sound of hoofbeats. I braced myself for the oncoming terror, for flames and death and the nightmarish landscape I’d become accustomed to. Instead, the world around me was lush and green, a peaceful creek cutting a path in front of me. The sun was high in the sky while birds sang from the trees.

“What the hell?”

“Eden, actually,” my mother’s voice corrected.

I spun around to find her wading through the water, an apple in her outstretched palm.

“I think I’ve heard this story. The person with the apple isn’t to be trusted.”

“It’s good for you. An apple a day. Isn’t that the saying?”

“Why are we here? What’s going on?”

My mother’s serene expression twisted, and a bolt of fear shot through my heart. Then I blinked, and she was smiling once more. “I’ve been trying to tell you, to show you the truth, but we’re running out of time. You need to feed, daughter.”