Water poured from her eyes, draining pure heartfelt liquid from her insides where she wondered if anyone would ever notice.  Her hair was damp, soaked in wet, fleshy moss from the soft, supple ground she lay in.  Her shape pushed an imprint into the green earth and made an impression on her back, as if their two forms had become one unto itself.  The trees leaked a soft drizzle of cold rain from their leaves and it showered her nude body, as she used her hands to spread the cool water to all parts of the body she so badly wanted to give up.  She thought so many wonderful thoughts looking up into the cloudy sky about this paradise lost and unseen.  She remembered when she found it: it was only twenty minutes ago.  She awoke here and opened her eyes into a vision that she could only describe as Heaven.  It took only seconds for the pure beauty of the place to set in on her and it took even less for her to fall in love with it.  She wondered why no one else had stepped here.  Why had no other footprints intruded upon this oasis of wonder she now found herself in?  Has every other person so wrapped up in themselves they forgot?  Why had that happened?  Why had they lost this place that God had created for us? She writhed on the surface of her new home, and rubbed her legs together, creating a warmth deep inside her skin that pulled great pleasure from somewhere she didn’t know existed.  It made her toes curl in ecstasy.  She bit her lip from pleasure she hadn’t found in her young life.  She didn’t want to rise; but she was hungry and the rain wasn’t enough to satisfy her stomach, even though it refreshed her dry tongue when it struck the pink surface of it.

 She found it difficult to get up, as if the ground had hands and they were grabbing at her, keeping her pinned down.  It pulled and groped at her creamy body, but she pulled away, using great will power to leave her horizontal position.  She wandered only a few feet and found sustenance: a lone red apple, clinging to the low hanging branch of a tree.  She tugged it on it successfully, and gripped it in her hand.  It was a ripe and strong apple and she craved the juices inside, the sweetness of its flesh.  She brought it to her mouth and dug in with her teeth, the gnash making a violent sound, and the bite pushing out sweet, juicy fluid that dripped quickly and wonderfully down her throat.  It was a delightful morsel and she enjoyed her every bite.  She took it along with her as she walked along the moist earth.  The green turf lasted only a few dozen feet, as it ran out, running dead into an ugly, brown muddy surface.  It was destitute and horrific.  It gave her chills up her jaunty spine.

She wondered what happened to her beautiful landscape; all she saw now was hopelessness and a world long dead.  She placed one foot into her new surroundings and it was rough and deep.  Her foot sank into the lucid ground, but she quickly pulled it out only to see that her foot was stained and dirty.  She wondered where this material had come from and why it was so close to her pretty place.

 She went back into her own private nest, the green tropic that soothed her as she walked around its vast area.  So, that’s what she did, for the better part of an hour, finishing her tasty snack.  Her body felt energized and she longed for a bath, or a friend to share the experience with.  It would have further supported the fact that this place that she had found was the most amazing place in the known world.  She decided to see how far the nasty area extended and thought maybe she could run through it.  She put her tender foot onto a branch of the nearest tree and pushed herself up onto the wet bark.  The tree limb was thick and strong and it could support her weight easily.  It felt good to rest upon it, to exert herself on it and climb its heavy limbs.  She raced up it quite easily; she discovered she was quite nimble.  When she neared the top, she pushed through the bushy leaves gathered at the top of the tree, and rested her self on top of a knot at the base of two branches intersecting.  It was uncomfortable at first, a slight pain on her bottom, but she nestled herself onto it, and the pain went away.  She got used to the feeling of the branch being under her and she started to think of it as a positive, reassuring herself she was fine, and even then, she started to feel good about it.  She darted her eyes out upon the world in front of her, and she discovered the world upon her.  It was empty land, overridden with deep pools and lakes of blue water, devoid of human life and structures, buildings, or anything man made.  The earth had become a desert flooded.
 

 She pulled herself off from the stump of the tree and climbed back down the length of it, sweating.  The humidity there was something fierce; she wiped the gathering perspiration from her forehead.  She had tired herself and longed to rest back down into the saturated earth and sleep, dreaming long, passionate dreams of someone to share her paradise with.  But, before she did, she saw someone: a man.  He wore a long, shaggy beard and torn clothes.  He was stumbling towards her, as if either lost or crazy.  His eyes were wild blue, like a searing flame.  It burned her from way back where he was.  She approached him, gracefully, her naked body fully facing his tired and hungry face.  He spoke before she could even feel his sun darkened skin.

 “What, what…what happened?  What is this?” he screamed out in desperation.  She tried to put her arms around his crisp shoulder, but he swatted her away.

 “Where is everyone?  My…what… is this?  What happened?  Where is my house, family, friends, job, what, what, what, what is this?”

 He was screaming at her now, and she did not know what she had done.  She tried to follow what he was saying, but could not determine it.  She wondered if he was from some other land that speaks a different language.  She pulled his cheeks to her face and embraced him tightly, pulling his parched tongue from inside his jaw and into hers, exchanging natural fluids from one mouth to the other.  She released him and his eyes calmed a little, looking a little less frenzied.

 “Who are you?” he asked.  She watched his lips move, but she couldn’t discern what he said.  She reached out and pulled him in again, but he stopped her hands with his.  They were rough, and dirty.  They felt strong enough to manipulate her in any way.  She liked him already.

 “I’m Adam.  Where are we?” he said, taking his eyes off of her for the first time, surveying the breathtaking scenery he now found himself in.  She did the same, rotating her head on her shoulders in a full circle and taking in the amazing setting she now stood in.  A short green snake slithered next to her foot, as she held Adam’s face in her hands, and kissed his cracked lips again.

- Jessie