Beginnings

In the beginning, there was Adam and Eve. Most know of the story of how the snake tricked them into eating the apple and being punished. About them living out their days outside of the garden of Eden and eventually passing on, but what if there was more to the story?

Let me begin by saying I know the truth, not because I have something proving otherwise or some long-passed-down family secret. No, I was there and not on the sidelines watching. That's right, me the one and only Adam! Now you may be wondering what I mean when I say there is more to the story.

It is true we were tricked by a snake. And that I got the curse of having to labor the land and slay the very creatures I named, and Eve the curse of pained pregnancy. Yes, we birthed the human race. And yes, we died. What's the difference between what happened and what you've read? Well, one thing is the fact that I didn't stay dead.

After my death all I saw was darkness, I thought that it was going to be my time to return to the lord. Well, it wasn't, the next thing I know I'm hearing all these noises and it feels like I'm being pushed at random times. My consciousness went in and out from time to time, and when I finally got a firm hold of my mind there was a blinding light with some idiot screaming their lungs out.

I couldn't see for quite some time or really gather my thoughts. Time passed and I noticed people talking to me in a language I didn't know. Everything was blurred and dulled and I really only acted on instinct, but as time passed things became clearer. It took me what I could only estimate as being 3 to 5 years to place the pieces together.

Apparently, I came out of the womb of a woman by the name of Sertha Mystil, and I had a father by the name of Fuster Mystil. As the years went by I realized not all my memories were there and that I was somehow reborn as a child.

Even though I was a man hundreds of years old before, when around my, as they called themselves, "parents" my body refused to listen to me and behave in a childish manner. "Parents", something I never had but, understood and was one myself showed love and cared for me as I did my own. At first, I felt wronged by the Idea of having someone older than me other than God but, as time passed I realized the immaturity of my thoughts.

By the time I was nine I had a firm enough grasp of the language to hold a conversation with others. It was around this time I was debating whether the tell the Mystils of my real age. On one hand, I knew from my long life before that people often rejected things out of the norm but, on the other hand, I remembered the many times my children had hidden things from me. There were so many times I wished they had just told me their troubles no matter how outlandish, knowing that I would believe them.

So on my tenth birthday, I decided to tell the Mystils of my past life. Coincidently the week prior was the birth of my younger brother Jacob and all of the extended family had come to visit. We had lived on a small farm far from any city, the farm had all the things we could need to provide for ourselves. My father taught me how to handle the farm and showed me things that even from my past life I never knew.

The day I told them the truth, I brought them around to the back of the house and explained everything to them, who I was, how I lived, and even the mistakes made. At first, they smiled as if it was a joke, but as I went into more detail their smiles turned into furrows, the furrows into frowns, and the frowns into something depicting deep fear. As I finished my story they put on concerned expressions and told me they needed time to deal with what they had heard. At the time some part of my head told me that my parents were not going to understand, and some instinct told me that something was very wrong, but I shrugged the feeling off as me being overly paranoid and projecting past trust issues onto innocent people. Sometimes I wish I had listed to that feeling.

Days passed after my confession. My parents acted more or less the same, occasionally throwing me strange glances. While the suspicion did make me feel uncomfortable, at the same time I understood it and just hoped they would eventually trust me again.

It was around the 8th day after my birthday when my father had to leave for his yearly trip to town to pay taxes. Hooking up the wagon to the horses my father bid us goodbye early in the morning, saying he should be back in ten days.

After he left I went back to my daily task of tending to the crops and feeding the animals. But it was as I was working that I happen to glance up towards the house. Sertha was in the window staring directly at me with tears rolling down her face, confused I ran back to the house only to see her perfectly fine sitting in a chair rocking Jacob. While I was concerned, Sertha acted normal enough so I passed it off as the sun having caused me to hallucinate. As the days passes though I noticed that my mother would keep a subtle distance from me.

Initially, I ignored it, but as the day my father was supposed to come back got closer, my gut instinct was telling me something was wrong, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. The day my father came back I noticed two things, one, that the wagon was packed full of bags, and two that Fuster was not alone. Right beside him was a man dressed in what I now know as priest clothes.

When the duo finally reached the house my mother came out to greet them. Leaving the wagon behind my father ushered everyone inside. Standing behind the man were my parents, both having expressions of relief.

*****

Looking at his son, Fuster smiled and said " son this is Mr. Huna, please explain to him what you told your mother and me."

As Mr. Huna looked at the couple's child he noticed that although he seemed extremely ordinary, something about how the child looked at him made him feel on edge. Keeping the thought to the back of his mind he watched as the child hesitated for a second before explaining one of the strangest stories he heard in his life. The story, though crazy showed him that Fuster was right, when he went to him asking for him to help his deranged son and he listened, he only did so just to follow the orders of the head priest of the church. But hearing the story he realized that this child really did need help and that only the church could help him.