"Come on Jen pick up the phone," I mutter to myself.

"Hello?"

"Hi Jen this is-"

And then the dial tone butts in. I've been trying to call her for days now but it's not working out very well. She was my friend even before Matt and Brian. She was with me since that first summer with the pottery class. I remember her grumbling about how collages wanted a well-rounded student. Even when she went to another collage we were friends. I don't care if Brian or Matt or Jen aren't the straightest straws in the bunch. Hell, I don't care if Jen has a crush on me either, it doesn't mean we can't be friends. Maybe Jen is too embarrassed to talk to me. Any other day I would have laughed so hard that I would pee my pants at the idea of Jen embarrassed, but I didn't think she would run away either.

I send her another e-mail, and I hope she will contact me when she's ready. Now that I have my computer with me I might as well start writing. I have what, a little less than week left? No, it's more like four days. Holy fuck, only four days! I really have to get writing, and writing well. I have a fucking degree in creative writing. I should be able to write one kick ass story. What I need is the Tree of Knowledge from Nordic legends. Wait....Tree of Knowledge....I can do a story on the Genesis. I dig through the junk in just about my entire house before finding a decent sized bible under my porn stack. One of my friends gave it to me saying that I needed to find God, and I'm glad that he did because it keeps my porn from falling off the shelf. I read through some of the Genesis and type a couple of notes on a word document. Then there is a knock at the door. Shit and I was on a roll too. Well maybe I wasn't quite rolling, but I was about to throw myself down the hill so I was close.

"Jacob!" I exclaim.

He pulls me to him and gives me a soft kiss. "You want to go to dinner?"

"Well I'm finally getting to writing and-" My stomach finishes my sentence for me.

Jacob smiles and I go to get my keys. Chances are that if I kept writing instead of going to dinner then I would faint on my keyboard. The Code of Writing says to bang my head on the keyboard if I'm disgusted with what I write or get stuck, not if I faint from lack of nutrition. Although I think there is something mentioning about not having enough food. We jump in Jacob's car and take a quick drive to a local restaurant. It's cheap but has really good food. We order and the food comes to us faster than it takes a man to cum. I instantly begin making sweet love to my meal. It's not just eating, it's an entire sensory experience. Jacob's phone rings and he answers it, but the sound of crispy tacos fills my ears.

"Rinny, could you stop making love to your food for just a moment?"

I look up at him and lick my lips. "Yes?"

His eyes are wide with surprise and he says, "My cousin is at the airport and I have to go pick her up. Do you want to come along?"

"But.....the tacos...."

"We can box the food."

I practically sing, "Okie dokie artichokie."

We jump in the car and fight our way through traffic to get to the airport. Surprisingly enough we find a parking spot within a two miles and we manage to squeeze ourselves into a bus. I think we're on a roll. Some man has his hand on my ass and I don't know if it is on accident or on purpose. Luckily I have a remark that would more or less fit both cases.

"You know, if you want any more I charge fifty bucks an hour."

He gives me a funny look and squishes into someone else instead. Ah, crowds are beautiful. I slide my hand up against Jacob and look the other way to look natural.

"Rin."

"What? It's crowded in here."

He chortles and the bus stops in the middle of honking horns and crying babies. Ugh, crowds are horrible. Everyone shoots out of the bus like at the end of a good blowjob. Jacob takes my hand and the tension in his arm tells me that it's not just to keep from being separated. We trudge through the maze of terminals and baggage claims until finally Jacob stops and looks around at Gate C. A girl that looks freakishly similar to Jacob leaps up from a bench and launches herself at him. He easily catches her and spins her around. She looks just over eighteen but I'm known for being a bad judge of age. The girl hops back to the ground and beams at him, but when she sees me her smile fades and is replaced by a curious look.

I squirm so Jacob wraps an arm around me and explains, "This is my cousin Helen. She can be a bit overexcited."

Helen points at me and starts ranting in a language I'm not going to even try name. Some people can tell the general area of the language, but to me it's all gibberish. She isn't quite yelling, but even in gibberish I can tell a rant when I hear one. She starts raising her voice and Jacob snaps at her. She quiets down and mumbles something under her breath. At this point I'm not annoyed at being confused since it's becoming a constant state of being for me.

Jacob says firmly, "This is America and things are different here so don't panic about everything."

She pouts, "But my name isn't even Helen."

"It makes it easier for the Americans to pronounce. They-"

"Holy Jesus juice, she can speak English?" I burst out in amazement.

They look at me with almost identical expressions of amusement.

"My parents taught both of us English since we were young," Jacob says soothingly.

"Oh okay..."

I walk behind them in silence as they chatter in their Martian language. It's oddly comforting to listen to their strange cadence. Ooh, I used the word cadence. I'm getting down right fancy now. Before long we get out of the airport building and shockingly enough there is a bus at the side of the street. We manage to mold ourselves into the mass of people already inside. Somehow I find myself sandwiched between Jacob and Helen although it isn't as uncomfortable as before with the strange man grabbing my ass. I feel a hand slide up said ass and turn to look at Jacob. He gives me a wicked smile and a light peck on the cheek. Helen watches us and says something softly. Jacob answers and just as finishes his last foreign syllable the bus doors open. The drive back to my house takes twenty-seven minutes and fifty-two seconds, all passed in silence since Helen fell asleep in the backseat.

"Thanks for dinner," I say while climbing out of the car with my doggie bag.

He does that impressive eyebrow rising thing. "You didn't time the trip?"

I announce, "It took twenty-seven minutes and fifty-two seconds."

Jacob gets out of the car to walk me to my door, and Helen wakes up and demands to come with us to see American apartments. We walk down the sidewalk to my building and Helen spins around trying to see it all at once.

"It's so big!"

"I know you like it like that," I automatically respond.

Jacob gives me a warning look and I try to look cute and innocent, he just glares harder. I guess I just can't do innocence. Suddenly Helen screams and we whirl around in shock. Her eyes are filled with fear as she stands frozen on the edge of a patch of grass. Jacob starts towards her but Helen puts her hand out.

"Stop, don't come any closer."

"Helen what's wrong? Just come over here and it'll be alright," Jacob says.

She wails, "No! Please, leave me behind and live your life. I'm not moving an inch."

"Why not?"

"The land mine will go off if I do, you know that," she cries.

There is a moment of silence before Jacob starts laughing.

"One minute and forty-eight seconds," I murmur.

"What are you laughing at? I'm going to die!" Helen yells in fury.

Jacob calms down enough to say, "That's not a land mine, it's a sprinkler."

Helen's cheeks turn so bright red that I wonder if her blood has neon in it. She steps off of the sprinkler and marches with a stiff back down the sidewalk.

"Um Helen, her apartment is the other way."

Her face is stony as she turns to the left. She walks across the grass to the other side and jumps when she touches another sprinkler. We make it to my apartment safe and sound. The crazy lady pops out of her house but I motion her away and she slips back inside. Helen is still wide eyed and if possible they get even wider when she sees my living room. We say goodbye and they walk to the elevator. Before the doors close Helen waves excitedly. I close the door and sigh. Finally back home.

"Here Kurt - oh, right."

I plop down on my couch and stare at the blank television screen. He used to rub against me when I came home, and curled up with me at night. He would even sit watching me type away at some new story. Oh shit story! How many days are left? Oh no, I have just four more days until the dead line. Fucking shit on a Sunday, I have only one story saved, and that isn't enough. Wait, the Genesis notes. Oh sweet sex in the morning I'm saved. Wow, I guess I have some talent after all, some being the key word, because these notes are down right bitching. I mean, I can really hit and run with this. Okay now it's time for me to bring out my insanely good writing skills and let them do their magic. I hope.

So God created man in his own image. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the middst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge and of good and evil.

When Adam saw God his heart skipped a beat and his body ached to touch him. In his eyes God was the more beautiful than all of the trees and animals. He tried to look around but still keep him in his sight. His eyes fell on a tree with bright red fruit hanging from it.

God saw Adam gazing at the fruit and he said, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Adam didn't care what God said just that he had said it to him. Something deep inside of him wanted to please him as much as he could. Adam would obey and do whatever God said, and he followed him just to be touched by his shadow. Adam was afraid of being forced away from God, so he didn't dare reach out and put his hand on him. Fire raced through his body simply looking at him and he could feel his blood throbbing in his veins. Adam was overcome by the new feelings of his unfamiliar body. The Lord turned around and smiled at the faithful man he had made from dust. He could see the joy in Adam's face with the golden light of Eden illuminating his eyes. His eyes scanned his creation's body for imperfections. His gaze falls on Adam's excitement and he fills with rage.

"Your body has sinned, cleanse it in the river," God commands.

"Sin?" Adam asks in confusion.

"Go!"

Adam ran to the nearest river and plunged in. He didn't know sin. In paradise there shouldn't be sin. God paced around the garden of Eden tortured by his thoughts. Time didn't have any effect on God, so he walked for longer and shorter than he realized.

The Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."

Satisfied with his decision he reenters time and strolls through Eden admiring his word. He walks out from behind the bushes to see Adam on the floor with water streaming from his eyes. Adam knew joy and adoration, but pain was new to him. He turned around and gazed at God with a tear stained face.

"My Lord, there is a hole inside of me, you need to fix me."

He places his hand on Adam's head regretting how he had treated him. His eyes shine with love and the sun dries his tears. God formed every beast of the field, and every foul of the air; and brought them unto Adam. He watched in wonder as the beautiful Lord created life with grace and power. God smiled, pleased by Adam's awe.

"You are named Adam, but they don't have a name yet. Whatever you call these creatures will be their name from now on," God said.

Adam's heart filled with happiness from having such an important job. Something clutched his chest and he learned what nervousness was. He wanted to make God proud by naming his creatures with names expressing the majesty of the Lord. God watched Adam's childish purity with amusement. He reasoned that maybe there isn't sin in Adam and what he saw was only an accident. After all of the animals were named Adam's excitement faded and God decided to give Adam a creature similar to himself.

"Sleep Adam, sleep deeply," God softly commanded.

Adam obeyed instantly and the second his head touched a mound of grass he was asleep. God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto man. God turned away from the woman to look after Adam. He didn't wake up and his heart beat changed. God didn't know if he was harmed by the lost rib. He knelt down and shook Adam.

"Wake up Adam, wake up."

His eyes snap open and God touches his chest to be sure nothing was wrong. Adam flushed with the thrill of being touched by him. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to look at God's newest creation.

Glancing back at God he saw the slight nod and declared, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of by flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

God added, "You are Adam's wife."

Woman's first feeling was anger. She watched God with sharp eyes, waiting until his gaze locked with hers, but he looked back at Adam's open awe. Adam basked in the Lord's warm glow of power, but Woman wasn't impressed. She walked into Eden and wandered around the garden. She saw all of the beautiful plants and animals that were so pristine they hurt her eyes. When she heard the bubbling of a river she ran to it and slipped in with a sigh of pleasure. She learned what contentment felt like. Hearing footsteps she sank further into the river so as not to be disturbed. God walked by with Adam following dutifully behind and Woman could see that God enjoyed being worshipped by Adam.

They were the only ones in the garden that looked like her and she wanted to know more. Her curiousity was greater than her anger so she stood up in the river to walk with them. God turned around to find Adam and Woman walking behind him. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Woman's nakedness disturbed God because she stood almost sinfully with the pride of a lioness. He could see something behind her eyes that wasn't in Adam's. He watched them both as Adam timidly reached out to touch him. God smiled at his creations until he saw the kind of joy that Adam got from touching him.

"Adam you've sinned again. Go wash youself!" he commanded.

Woman stood watching him as if he were just another thing in the garden. Slowly she asked, "What is sin?"

God was startled. He had made the garden free of sin. "If you are good then you don't have to worry about sin," he vaguely explained.

"What is good?"

The Lord said, "Good is doing what I say. You came from Adam so go do as Adam does."

Woman locked eyes with him and strode further into the garden. No one disobeyed God, but he didn't know what to do. Adam could easily be chastized, but Woman didn't give into a simple command. He waited until Adam was done before continuing through the garden.

Woman walked the garden and saw that it had changed. She held a peach in her hand. The lines had softened, the color dulled, and small imperfections appeared. Woman looked at it and watched as the further from God it grew the more flawed it became. The peach was remaking itself. Woman felt a strong determination well up and seize her being. She named herself Eve.

Time passed and Eve grew restless. She spent long moments enjoying the garden and playing with the animals. She tried to talk to God, but most of the time he was quiet. She didn't know her husband Adam because he followed behind God relentlessly. She would watch as time after time Adam sinned and was sent to the river. A list of apparent sins was formed in her head as Adam committed them. God never said what he did and it took Eve countless hours to figure it out. Once again God sent Adam to the river, and once again he ran to the nearest one desperate to free himself of sin. Adam was scrubbing at his skin with a rock trying to get it off.

"Adam, what are you doing?"

Adam didn't look up when he said, "I'm cleansing myself of sin."

Eve saw his blood start to stain the river and compassion washed over her. She rushed towards him and pulled the rock from his hand. Drawing him into her arms she stroked his hair and rubbed his back. He sobbed against her shoulder and she made small, comforting noises.

"Woman, I don't know what he wants from me. I try so hard to please him," Adam choked.

Eve ignored the sting of hearing her old name and held him until he stopped crying. He looked her in the eye and held her face in his hand.

"Now I am cleansed."

Adam walked out of the river and Eve smiled. She could see the strength growing inside of him. Regardless of good and sin and God's confusing demands what he did to Adam wasn't right. Eve found God alone in front of a peach tree.

"Don't do that to Adam."

He turns around and asks, "Do what?"

"Don't make him wash himself of his sin. He didn't do anything except try to please you."

"Sinning doesn't please me," he said.

Eve snapped, "How is Adam supposed to keep from sinning if you don't say what sin is?"

"You were made without knowing sin!" God bellowed.

Eve walked away frowning to herself. He never answered her question. She found Adam gazing at a tree with ripe, red fruit.

"It's beautiful. What is it?" Eve whispered.

Adam nodded and replied, "God told me that it is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that we aren't allowed to eat it."

"Why not?"

"Woman, only God knows that," Adam answered sadly.

"My name isn't Woman," Eve states.

Adam frowns in confusion. "But that is what I named you."

"I know, but my name is Eve."

Adam smiled sadly and stroked her hair as if he understood. They gazed at the tree for a while before Adam slinked off to find God. Eve turned at the sound of rustling leaves.

"Oh hello Serpent, I haven't seen you in a while."

"I've been laying in the sun," he replied.

Eve turned to him and said, "Isn't the tree beautiful?"

The Serpent pointed out, "Aren't they all beautiful?"

"Yes. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree in which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

"Why do you want to eat this one if there are other fruits you can have?" he asked.

Eve sighed. "Adam said it was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and I'm tired of being in the dark about what God wants from us."

The Serpent offered, "If it helps any ye shall not surely die. God wouldn't do that to one of his creations."

"I'm glad that I'm something, but I don't want to be a creation, I want to be Eve." She turned to the Serpent and asked, "Have you noticed that the longer we exist the more beautiful we become?"

"God made us that way."

Eve shakes her head. "No, God made us perfect. We made ourselves beautiful."

The Serpent looked at her and he could see the determination in her eyes. He said slowly, "He won't be happy with this. You could be exiled from this paradise."

Eve thought of all the beautiful things around her that God had created. They still hurt her eyes. She asked, "In the other world are there plants like these?"

"Yes, but not as defined as these."

"More beautiful."

The Serpent laughed. "You have a warped sense of beauty. Don't do anything to upset God okay?"

As he walked off, Eve just smiled and gazed at the tree and it's shining red orbs. Then she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat. She saw the world no differently than before. It was not tainted or any less vibrant. She looked down at her body and knew that she was naked, and just what that meant. Smiling she took another fruit and caressed it with her hands as she walked over to Adam. He was crawling out of the river with red skin and small rivulets of blood. He sprinted to Eve and wrapped his arms around her, burying his head in her chest and sobbing.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Eve, I don't know what I'm doing wrong"

"Adam, do you want to know what sin is?"

He looked up at her with watery eyes and nodded. She gently placed the fruit in his hands. She could see recognition flicker in his eyes.

"If you want to know, then eat."

He clutched her in fear and bit into it. When was done eating the fruit looked at their bodies pressed together and pushed Eve.

"What was that for?" she demanded.

He pointed at her and yelled, "Sin, that is sin."

In that moment Eve realized that she shouldn't have offered it to Adam. He didn't understand what it meant to know the nature of good and evil. Adam took that knowledge and applied it to what God said was sin. His eyes weren't open, they were more shut than ever before. Adam looked down at his body and knew what it was to be naked.

"Quick, take these leaves and cover yourself."

"Why?"

"You're naked that's why."

Eve watched as he tried to piece together leaves to hide himself, but they kept falling off. She saw his naked body and knew what it meant, but she didn't find it evil. She loved God's creatures and what they made of themselves, but Adam would take a long time before he renamed himself. She smiled and stood there proud to be naked.

They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam grabbed Eve and tried to shove her behind the trees. She watched as he warred with himself.

He turned his tortured gaze on Eve and choked out, "You stole, that's a sin."

She agreed that it wasn't a good thing to do, but didn't feel any regret. Adam tried to hide further amongst the trees, but Eve stood where she was.

And the voice of the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, "Where art thou?"

And he said, "I hear thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

And he said, "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?"

And the man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat."

And the Lord God said unto the woman, "What is this that thou hast done?"

She stared him in the eye and said boldly, "I have taught us good and evil."

God glowed with suppressed anger. Adam watched with awe and fell to his knees in his reverence towards God. He was proud of his perfect creation, and he swelled with the pleasure of being adored. He smiled at Adam, but the smile faded. Adam looked down at himself and realized that his love for God was evil.

He screamed, "Sin!"

Curling up into a ball he sobbed with the knowledge of all of his sins. He tried scraping them off with his fingernails, begging for a forgiveness he knew he wasn't going to get.

"Are you proud of what you taught him?" God demanded.

"I didn't teach him this, you did. The tree gave him the knowledge of good and evil, but he only understands sin."

"You were made not to know sin," he shouted.

Eve retorted, "We didn't know what sin was, but you did and you made us repent for something we didn't know about."

"I made you in my image, I made you perfect, unflawed."

Eve smiled sadly. "We were made in your image, but you are flawed. I've seen you love Adam's worship of you, I've seen you angry and afraid. Look at your garden, it's not perfect, but it's beautiful. Don't be proud of what a good job you've done creating us, be proud of us as we make ourselves."

She leaned down and took Adam by the hand. She pulled him up and cradled him in her arms. God watched them because they were naked, and they knew it, but didn't seem to care. He counted on Adam to follow him, to take away all of Eve's words. Adam pushed away from Eve and walked into the river. He splashed water on himself to rinse off the drying blood. God was confident that with his sins clensed, that Adam would return to him and justify all that he had done. The Serpent walked out of the trees and glided next to Eve, worried about what was going on.

He whispered, "Did you do what I told you?"

"I took the fruit."

God wheeled on the Serpent and declared, "Because thou has done this, thou art cursed above all the cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon they belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of they life."

Before he could open his mouth to protest, he fell to the ground and was forced to slither away.

Eve shook with anger and spat, "That was evil and you know it."

God said, "Woman, you-"

"Lord, her name is Eve."

God was shocked into silence. This was not how he created them. He didn't think they would be so wicked.

"You're going to eat from the tree of life. Get out," he raved.

Eve looked at him and said, "You have no faith in us."

God shouted, "Get out, leave paradise, leave the Garden of Eden.'

Adam took God's hand and kissed it softly. They walked towards an archway of vines and fruit. They stood just inside the archway and Eve stopped to stroke the long branches and her hand came to rest on a single peach.

She picked the peach and said softly, "I'm glad to leave this false perfection. Take a really good look at your garden and stop ignoring the imperfections. This is real beauty."

Eve tossed him the peach and walked with Adam through the archway and out of the Eden.

"That's it!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

I dance around my living room until I trip on the rug. I hug the little corner that always gets me. Sure most of the time I desperately want to get rid of it, and the only thing that saves the rug is that I spent a deal of money to get it, but right now I'm completely ecstatic. Not only does that story kick ass, but it takes it from behind too. It's great, and more than that, it's five pages long. Now all I need to do is clean it up a bit and it's good for submission. Ah, finally I have something to work with. I yawn big enough to make my jaw crack. I really don't think that's a good thing. Okay, now that I've finally written something that fits Locke's natural law of crapless writing, I'm going to reward myself with sleep. Oh goody, sleep.

I skip into my room and do a little strip dance for the lamp on my bedside table. The lamp isn't turned on by it considering the lack of light. Oh ha, I'm fucking funny. I jump in bed and giggle softly to myself. Okay fine, the people next door can probably hear my giggling, but that's not really the point. I'm so close to publishing a novel, so close to my dream. I know that there is a possibility that I won't win, but it's such a big chance that it's still close to being published. Hmm, I wonder... if I..... should.... use a..... pen... name.

…..

A/N: No flames for the Genesis thing please. It's not meant to offend or anything, and if you've gotten this far only to be upset by that I'd have to point out a bit of hypocrisy. On a happier note, cookies and kisses for everyone who has read this far!