The Garden

Adam meets Eve

He shuffled through the patch of sand, desperate to escape. He knew he was in a cage. He had crossed it in every direction, and walked around the perimeter. The walls were sheer and high. There was nothing to climb. It took half a day from one side to the other. The center of the enclosure was an almost idyllic garden. Food grew everywhere and there were small springs at even intervals throughout. It had everything he needed to survive. The sky was a hazy blue. A light coasted across the sky through the day. Not quite intense enough to be called a sun, it still hurt to stare at. He was quite sure it was not an actual sky because the "stars" did not move they winked on and off as it passed from day to night to day. There were no clouds but it rained every day at around the middle of the afternoon. The "sun" was always in the same place. There were shelters scattered throughout the cage consisting of a simple sloping roof. He did not have to get wet if he did not want to.

It basically was paradise, except he was entirely alone. There was not so much as a mouse to offer companionship. There were insects that primarily ignored him doing their enviornmentally necessary jobs. It was a cage meant to keep him safe and healthy, physically.

"Who are you! Why am I here?" He screamed. He was never answered. On the verge of going mad he began vandalizing the garden. "Let me out! Is there anyone out there?" His distress was clear.

Finally one day he awoke, beside him lay a woman. She was beautiful, and as he was, completely naked. She was deeply asleep. He remembered his first day in the enclosure. She would be slow to wake, highly groggy. He knew he should wait for her to wake. So he sat and stared. The fantasy of all the things they would talk about flashed through his mind. Eventually his hopes became oppressive and he had to wake her.

He shook her by her shoulder. At first she slapped him away moaning. Then as if suddenly realizing she wasn't alone she sat bolt upright. "Who are you?"

"My name is Adam. Do you know how you got here?"

"No, I am just glad I'm not alone anymore. My name is Eve," She said.

"What is the last thing you remember before waking up here?"

"I was driving alone on a highway. There was a bright light..."

"I was in the woods, hunting. Then there was a bright light. Do you think we have been abducted by aliens?"

"It would make sense, but why."

A booming voice filled the air. "You two will be founding a new colony of your species. We have nearly reached your new home."

Frustrated Adam hollered at the voice. "If you could talk, and were listening, why didn't you talk to me? I was losing my mind!"

"We did not know your need for companionship was this strong," The voice boomed.

"Now you know!"

"And we have remedied it. Prepare to set foot on your new home."

Adam wondered exactly what he was supposed to prepare. The next thing he knew there was a flash of light and he and Eve were sitting in the middle of a new garden, the walls were gone and there was every indication the light in the sky was a sun.

The voice boomed one final time, "Welcome to Eden. Behave yourselves this time."

prompt ▶︎

Daily flash fiction Prompt for 3/25
Write a story that includes the words: sand, cage, light

I didn't enter it because it was over three hundred words too long, and not that great.