The Wall

Lilith watched her man climb the slope below her. Like everything else in the Garden, Adam was imbued with vigour and beauty, and a hunger for him stirred within her.

A hunger laced with frustration. She lifted her gaze to the distant wall, and the mist-shrouded lands beyond. It looked dark and cold out there – frightening, almost.

Lilith often climbed to the summit to look out over the Garden, lush and familiar, a riot of vivid colours in bright contrast to the dull hostility beyond the encircling wall. To remind her that Eden was home. Safe, and abundant with delicious fruits and a rich variety of nuts.

Eden was everything, and yet Lilith longed for something else, something more. Increasingly she was tired of fulfilling the same role every day, subject to restrictions that made little sense to her.

It suffocated her. The wall was just the most visible aspect of her confinement. To be surrounded by such vibrancy, such an effusion of life, and yet be alone save for one man… Well, he was a good man, though stubborn as a rock and sorely lacking in imagination.

“Sometimes I see people out there,” Lilith said as he joined her.

Adam snorted. “Nonsense. The mist plays tricks.” He brushed her hair back from her cheek and kissed the corner of her eye.

She didn’t need to imagine his desire for her; it was quite evident. She knew what he would do next, because it was always the same. Before he could, she moved around and straddled him, and she pushed him down onto his back as she kissed him, attempting to rekindle the passion she had once felt.

Adam played along, but as usual he tried to roll them over. Even in sex he was stubborn and unimaginative.

“No,” Lilith said, resisting him. “Let’s do it this way.” She kissed him again, but his heart wasn’t in it, and she felt him wilting between them.

With a sigh, she relented. “Why?” she demanded. “Why must you always be on top? Do you have no desire for something new?”

Adam shrugged beneath her. Apologetic, and yet not. “I like what I like. And no, I like things the way they are. The way they’ve always been.” He pushed her off him and sat up. “Why can you never be content? Everything we could wish for is provided for us here.”

Lilith scowled. “Everything you could wish for.”

It was an old argument, and they were both sick of it. Adam pulled her close and tried to kiss her, but she flinched away angrily. “Why must I always be the one to yield? Do you care so little for my desires?”

“And do you care so little for what my father has created? He made this Garden with all its riches. He made you for me, to love me and to be loved by me. We have been happy here for years beyond count! Why must you now fight against it? How can you be so ungrateful?”

Lilith struggled to her feet. “Ungrateful? Yes, I suppose I am. Beautiful though the Garden is, I am weary of sharing it with you.”

“Lilith,” Adam said, reaching for her.

She wrenched her arm away. “Don’t touch me.”

“Your place is by my side, Lilith. If you deny that, another will take your place.”

Lilith laughed. “Another? Am I replaced so easily?” She looked out over the wall at the mist and gloom. There was freedom in that unknown – its sense of possibility was seductive. “Thank you,” she said, “for making the decision so simple.”