Finding Eden Read Online Free

Marcia puts away the
groceries.
    Marcia's shuffling around
noises mix with the sound of the television, both of which I'm not
really paying attention to. The noises converge into some sort of
white noise that I can hear but don't listen to. Pots and pans bang
together, Marcia is saying something, and then all of the sudden
dinner is done after what feels like only ten minutes.
    “ What is it?”
I ask before I even get up.
    “ Didn't you hear me
when I first started? I had told you I was going to make chicken
enchiladas casserole style, and if you didn't want it for you to tell
me.”
    “ Oh, sorry. I guess
I didn't hear you,” I say, “It must have been the
television.”
    “ Alright, well,”
she shrugs, “dinner is done, so come eat.”
    I get up from the couch,
plate my food, and sit down at the table. I'm not sure if I'm hungry
or not. I'm also not sure if a whole day has gone by or not. I look
at the clock and it tells me it's already eight at night. Where the
hell did all my time go today?
    “ Marcia,” I
look up from my untouched food and see her getting up to take care of
her dish already.
    “ Hmm?”
    “ Have you ever,”
I stop and frown, trying to figure out how to word it without
sounding crazy, “have you ever felt like you've been losing
chunks of time? Like, one minute it will be morning and then the next
moment several hours have gone by?”
    “ Once,” she
says, “when I was younger. I got really sick and I slept a lot.
I was in and out for a few days, sleeping all the time. Was really
tired. Why? What's up? Are you sure you're feeling okay?”
    “ I'm fine. I just
don't think I slept too well because of that dream last night. This
whole day has just felt like it's gone by too quickly.”
    “ That's
understandable,” Marcia smiles at me, “why don't you get
to bed early tonight and rest up so this doesn't happen tomorrow,
alright?”
    “ Yeah,” I
agree, “sounds like a good plan.”
    I get up from the table,
my food untouched. I'm not hungry. I'm mostly just tired and
awestruck. I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I've been
spacing out this much. It makes no sense. And to top it all off I
still can't remember the nightmare.
    When I crawl into bed, I
tell myself everything will be better in the morning. Everything will
be better with sleep. Every lost bit of time that I don't remember
will be given back to me. Or so I hope.

Chapter
Three
    I feel like chunks of
time have been stolen from me. I don’t know, or remember,
what’s going on half the time, and it's getting ridiculous. For
the past week I've been completely out of it. If people were thinking
I was on drugs before now, they were surely certain of it now.
    Since that horrible
dream, the one I can't remember, my time has just been slipping away
from me. Someone will be talking to me and next thing I know two
hours have gone by and I'm doing something completely different. I
don't like the feeling very much.
    “ Hello,”
Brock snaps his fingers in front of my face, “Eden, are you
there?”
    I snap back to reality,
blink a few times, shake my head a little and smile at him.
    “ Yeah, I'm here.
Sorry,” I say, “I don't know what's wrong. I've just been
feeling spacey lately.”
    I trace my scar.
    “ Maybe you have a
cold or something,” Evaughn says as she puts a potato chip in
her mouth.
    “ I don't know,
maybe,” I shake my head.
    “ Maybe you have
mono,” Brock says with a shrug.
    “ Mono?”
    “ Yeah, you know,
mononucleosis? The 'kissing disease'?” He makes kissing noises
at me.
    “ Yes,” I say
and roll my eyes, “because we all know I've kissed so many
people lately.” I adjust my sunglasses and look out into the
crowd.
    “ Hey, you never
know. Wishful thinking, right? I mean, it's better than what it could
be, right?”
    “ Yeah,” I
say, “you have a point.”
    I take a sip of my tea
and glance at my watch.
    “ Shit,” I
grab my purse.
    “ What’s up?”
Brock looks at me.
    “ I'm