Eventual Eden Chapter Two: "Going out on a limb"

By UndelvedInterpretations

UPDATE SCHEDULE ON MY PROFILE.

I do not own any of the character names. They belong to SM.

If you like the chapter, I encourage you to review. It helps my fingers glide across the keys. Any questions you have will be answered in upcoming chapters. Turns and twists abound!

I never tried to feel.
I never tried to feel.
This vibration.
I never tried to reach.
I never tried to reach.
Your eden.

(Your eden. Your eden.)

Еden by Sarah Brightman

"Come on!" The voice said taking his hand off my mouth and pulling me roughly from the dirty ground forcefully. "Keep moving forward and don't say anything," the voice commanded, pushing me forward.

I stumbled along broken twigs and hard, dead rocks. I didn't look back or bother to attempt to see who was behind me. I could feel his hand tap me on the back every so often as we ventured further into Eden, the trees thinning out and becoming less pronounced in the darkness of night.

"Here," he said after another five minutes of silent walking. "Stop here."

I stopped and looked around me. There was a clearing in the trees that I had never seen before in all the times I had come here. The rounded opening free of the Oaks I had come to know, and the moon shined very brightly on this patch of earth. There were two logs on either side of the clearing, and in the middle, was a large round tree trunk that was cut. It looked like a table made of wood, bark still firmly attached.

"What is this place?" I asked, turning around for the first time to the figure that arose me from my sleep. "You!" I exclaimed when I realized I knew this person.

Edward.

"Me," he replied, laughing slightly. "I knew it was you I saw last night! You were the girl I saw leaving my orchard!" he said, his eyes narrowing as he peered at me through the pitch blackness.

"And so you followed me? You know, in all fifty states, this would count as stalking?" I shot back.

Just then, the wind picked up, causing a chill to rip through me and the thin material of my clothing. I looked down and realized that I was showing slightly through the thin, sheer material. I crossed my arms immediately and sighed. He chuckled at my reaction, and I scowled.

"Trespassing on someone's property is punishable by law, too, Bella," he smiled at me. The fact that he remembered my name preference took me aback. He walked to my right side, and sat on the long dark log that rested on the clearings floor. "Come on. Sit down and explain to me what you were doing in my Orchard," he said, pointing to the log directly across from the one he occupied.

I walked over to the other log and sat down. I looked across at him for a moment before I spoke. He was smiling at me, his face half in light, half in darkness.

"Who was that yelling earlier?" I asked him, trying to stall the evitable explanation he was waiting for.

"It was just my father, Carlisle. I wouldn't worry about that, though. He probably went back inside by now."

"Probably?" I whispered. "Just my luck, I guess," I sighed.

"So, you still haven't given me any clues as to what you are doing walking in my orchard every night. Or should I say lying in my orchard," he commented, his eyes burning into my own. I looked away and picked a small branch off the ground to twirl in my fingers.

"It's complicated," I said, swinging the twig in between my fingers. "I wouldn't know where to start."

He bent over and removed the small twig from my hands, throwing it on the ground beside him. I, stunned and unmoving, looked into his eyes deeply for the first time in several minutes.

"Stop playing with the damn twig and tell me," he lashed out. "Eye contact rules out liars."

"I haven't said anything yet!" I defended, tears ready to expose as I felt the sting behind my eyes.

His eyes became softer now. He looked away from me and picked the twig I once held back up and handed it to me. His expression held no emotion as he sat back on his log and stared at me. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "Please tell me, I'm curious to know."

Struck dumb by his actions, or the change thereof, I began to once again move the twig in my hands. I loved the roughness of it; the bark rubbing my fingers raw as I turned it over and over in my pale, stiff hands. The moonlight cast a shadow across his face as I looked at him. He was half hidden, which gave me a little more resolve and confidence. I cleared my throat and hoped for the best.

"I don't know what I'm doing here," I began. "I wander in here almost every night," I said, shaking my hand in the air in a gesture of general direction.

"You have no idea why you walk this orchard?" he asked skeptically, his head cocking to the side as if to study the logic of that sentence. "Do you realize how odd this sounds, Bella?"

"I know you think it's odd. I do, too. But it's the truth." I leaned forward and discarded the twig. I placed my arms around my knees and brought them to my chest. "When I was nine, I started….walking. At first, it would be the porch or the yard next door. I thought maybe it was because of stress or something," I placed my cheek upon my knees and sighed.

"Walking?" he repeated my word. "You mean, like when you're asleep?"

I nodded furtively. "As time went on, I would wake up here. Usually, I would wake up when it was still early enough to get back home."

"And you would just wake up in the orchard? Without realizing you walked here in the dead of night?" he asked me, his eyes large and filled with a curious complexity.

"Yes. I always end up in the same spot, under the Oaks, asleep. Then, when I realize where I am, I would walk out from that path," I nodded behind him at the small winding path shaded by the moon, "and walk home."

"Wow. So then that explains why you were walking out of here last night. By the sound of it, for many nights before this," he said. I nodded confirmation, and he looked toward the trees, toward the blackness of the shadows they kept. "I feel the need to correct you, though, Bella," he smiled slightly.

"About what?" I asked warily.

"You refer to the orchard as having Oak trees. They are not Oaks, Bella. You are laying among Pyrus malus. That's Wild Apple trees to you," he said, leaning back, smug look etched across his face. "If you were lying in a field of Oaks, you would surely get pinged in the head with acorns. They all produce them. Not in the winter of course."

"Oh." I said, because I was surely stupid in his mind, now.

"It's alright. I just call it an Orchard. But feel free to keep calling them the wrong name. Oaks!" he laughed, the musical hum falling upon my ears.

Just then, a harsh wind picked up and blew across the clearing, shaking my bones and making my teeth shudder. I secretly wondered how I endured the cold when I lie among the ground. It was a miracle I didn't get sick. Edward seemed to notice this, as well.

"You're cold," he said. "I will be right back. Will you be all right?" he asked.

I nodded. He stood up and walked back the way we had come. I could hear him rustling his shoes over the dead, decaying leaves in the distance until he was too far away for the sounds to carry. Ten minutes had passed when I heard the rustling sounds resume; this time coming toward me. He appeared at the path with some things in his arms. He smiled as he walked over to me in a long, widened stride.

"Here," he said, "These belong to my sister, Rosalie. I'm sure she won't miss them," he said, sitting a pile of clothing on the log beside me. "I think they will fit."

I looked from him to the small pile of clothing beside me. I turned to him and gave him a small smile.

"Thank you," I said, pulling the first article of material off the top. It was a black V-Neck sweater. I looked around and frowned.

"Um, you could change behind one of the trees," he offered, seeing my problem. "It's dark there, too."

I smiled and stood, taking the pile with me. I walked a little beyond the opening of the path and stood behind a giant apple tree. Stripping my Pajamas, I put on the sweater; jeans and tennis shoes Edward had provided me, and stepped out into the light of the clearing. He turned immediately.

"Thank you for the warm clothing," I offered my thanks. "They fit very well."

"Good. You look pretty damn fine in her clothes," he said, raking his eyes over me. He sat back down on his log, and I sat upon mine. "You can keep those, by the way."

I smiled. I planned to wash them and return them anyway. It was a long time before either of us spoke, the humming of the crickets the only sound for a while.

"You're welcome here anytime," he said finally, "on one condition."

"What Condition?" I asked warily. I was accustomed to being told 'no', so this took me by surprise. Then again, nothing about Edward seemed guessable.

"Yeah. If you are going to be taking trips into my orchard, you can't be alone. It's very dark out here and you really shouldn't be walking a mile in the dark to get here, either." He explained, as his face was unreadable.

"I don't know I'm doing it," I said. "If you hadn't woken me up tonight, I would still be lying among the darkness."

"I know that. That's why I figured I could come to your house before you go to sleep and maybe…guide you here," he offered, his eyes excited now.

I laughed. "What? Do you even know where I live? And someone might see you waiting or guiding a sleeping girl down the road," I laughed again.

"I know where you live, Bella. I used to deliver Apples to your dad all the time. And I rather get seen then risk having something happen to you…in your state," he pushed.

I was silent now. He wanted to make sure I got to Eden without being hurt. That couldn't hurt, could it? I hesitated, my mind racing with a mix of what-ifs and If nots. In the end, I decided that it wouldn't hurt. But he had to make me two very big promises.

"Okay," I began, "but you have to promise me two things."

"What are they?" he asked, leaning forward so that his face was illuminated by the moon.

"First: you have to promise to keep this a secret. Nobody can know. Second, and most important: when we get to Eden, to this very clearing, you must wake me up," I said, leaning forward, too, until I was inches from him.

"Eden, huh? Nice. Alright, done, Bella," he said. I looked down as something caught my eye in the moonlight. Around his neck, on a white piece of string, was a hand-carved pendant. There was a tree in the center, filled with deeply carved wooden apples and blossoms. Below the tree, there were two people carved into the bark on the trunk. It was amazing. His eyes followed mine to his chest, where it lied.

"That's a beautiful carving," I said, my eyes finding his again.

"I carved it. I do that in my spare time. I take twigs and branches, and whittle small things like this. You like it?" he asked, a smile widening on his face.

I nodded. Like it? It was the most amazing thing. The best part was that it was carved from the trees of Eden. The symbolic nature of it captivated me. He smiled and placed his hands behind the back of his neck to unclasp it.

"Come here," he said, pulling it from around his neck. I scooted over closer to him.

He reached around my neck and tied the necklace. It dangled and danced with the moonlight. He touched it gently, gazing at its new resting spot.

"There. When I make you your own, you can return it if you want, but you can have it. I want you to have it," he said, letting go of it and sitting back on his log. He sighed deeply, his face turning into a sad, distant frown. He looked at me as if he wanted to say something, and then stopped. Then, when I began to scoot back away from him to my own log, he spoke. "There is something I have to tell you. When I told you I heard rustling, and that's how I saw you…Well, it's not the truth," he said slowly, his hands resting on his knees now.

"It's okay, you don't-" I began to tell him. He cut me off abruptly.

"Yes, I do. You were honest with me," he said, shaking his bronze hair. "And now it is my turn to play honest. The truth is that I am always up. You could say I have the opposite problem of you," he laughed sadly. "I don't….can't sleep, Bella."

"It's okay, Edward," I said, reaching out a hand to place on top of his that rested upon his knee. "You don't have to tell me anything you really don't want me to know."

"A year ago, there was a fire," he began anyway, dismissing my complacent words. "Before anyone could do anything, it spread to most of the house. Rosalie was trapped in her room from the flames, and the knob was too hot. She tried, of course. But the fire spread so quickly. I remember her screaming," he closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "I remember kicking the door in as hard as I could. Her room was already engulfed by the time I got it open. The smoke so thick," he paused, and then continued once he gathered himself, "I could barely see her. She was lying in the corner of the room. I thought-when I turned her over, she was burned along the side of her face and her hand was, too," his eyes remained closed, but they squeezed tighter. "I yelled for help, but everyone was already out of the house. I don't remember much beyond that only that I woke up in the hospital," he continued. I cringed at the infliction in his voice.

"Edward," I whispered, "do you have nightmares about what happened? Is that why you don't sleep?" I asked gently, hoping that I wasn't prodding too much. He nodded.

"It's my fault. She looks like that because of me," he said, his voice wavering between embarrassment and sadness.

"No, you're wrong, Edward," I said, scooting as close as I could get and rubbing his hand with mine. "You tried to save her, and by the sounds of it, you did..."

He opened his eyes and smiled, but there was something behind the smile that seemed out of place. His hand came up to stroke my cheek gently.

"You seem to find the good in people, Bella," he said softly, "how do you do it?" He dropped his hand and looked up at the sky; at the moon shining down its rays into the clearing.

"Edward?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you ever sleep? I mean, do you ever find yourself falling asleep sometimes?" I asked, looking up at the moon, too.

He was quiet a moment, letting the moons clouds curl up around it before he spoke: "Sometimes. When Rosalie is in therapy or sometimes when she's in the hospital, I will," he explained, turning his head to look at me now. "But the nightmares still come. Sometimes they are so intense, that I am crying when I awake, or I am lying in sweat," he said. "We all have our secrets. It's what makes humans susceptible to failure. We keep in things that eat our soul. We let them fester as we die inside. We all have problems, Bella. Sleep walking and nightmares are only the tip of the scale. You told me yours, so I told you mine. Each of our problems seem to hold tight to us, don't they? Like bindings too tight to get out of."

I nodded my agreement of that statement. I picked up the small carving that hung at the hollow of my throat.

"You make these to stay awake?" I asked, showing him the necklace.

He nodded solemnly. "Amongst other things. I have you to fill that now," he smiled. I got it then.

We needed each other. I needed him to guide me, to protect me at my most vulnerable, and he needed the same. The one and only difference was of no real significance, other than being opposites. I would be asleep, and he would be awake. Those were our most vulnerable moments; those moments when we control nothing.

We sat there looking at the moon for a long time in quiet; nothing but silence filling the air around us. The smell of wood was the last clue that we were still even in Eden. When the moons light began to fade, I knew it was time to go home.

"Let me walk you home," Edward offered, getting to his feet when I announced I must be on my way.

"No, that's fine. I'm awake, after all," I assured him, gathering my strength as I walked over to the path that led out of Eden.

"Goodbye, Wanderer," he whispered, watching me as I turned toward the exit out of Eden.

"Goodnight, Insomniac," I replied, chuckling slightly.

So it was with a goodbye that I traveled out of the familiar path, my pajamas under my arm. I looked back as I made my way to the winding road back to Forks. Edward was not there. I walked on in the darkness, knowing that I would not be walking—asleep or awake—to Eden alone anymore. The events that had taken place weighed heavily on my mind as I briskly walked. It felt as if two separate souls, with two very different problems, seemed to find a solace in one another. An understanding of what it was to hurt, or feel different. What happened to his sister, without doubt or reciprocations, weakened him slightly. He was needy. I was needy. We both needed each other. After all that, though, I still felt as if there was something Edward was not revealing to me. I thought about this as I walked along the wintery night, my head down. When I got to my house, I reached down to get the key from the mat. I went about my routine, but being careful to place Rosalie's clothes in my hamper instead of the floor, and hopped into bed. A part of me wondered what Edward was doing right now. Was he carving? Was he still even in the clearing? It was with the fear that he was asleep somewhere, his dreams torturing him, that I fell off into a fitful sleep once more.

A/N:

There you go. Edward FINALLY corrects her about the Oaks, and he also opens up to her about his problem, along with what causes him to have nightmares and avoid sleep when possible. But what is he not telling her? And Bella will never walk to Eden alone, awake or asleep…*raises eyebrows*

Thank you for the lovely reviews and the fav. Story alerts. There were quite a bit in my inbox, mainly story alerts. It means a lot. Keep them coming, Love the reviews, I read them all.

Edward's PoV is next chapter with a special Flash-back. Future Chapters will not be updated this quicly.