Eden by Gregory Hoffman Page A

tried to make my way upstairs without any unwanted encounters. I felt like I was about to go into shock and the last thing I wanted was to be interrogated by my mother. I reached the foot of the stairs and thought I was home-free when I heard a voice boom from the living room.
    “So, how did it go?” my mother asked.
    “Um, it was alright,” I tried to sound calm and did a horrible job. My mother’s face became a mask of concern.
    “What happened?” she asked, approaching me.
    “Nothing,” I lied.
    She stopped. “You did it, didn’t you?” she accused.
    I couldn’t fathom how my mother could make an innocent word like ‘it’ sound so dirty.
    “We didn’t do anything,” I said, telling her the truth about that, at least.
    “Then why do you look so concerned?” she questioned further.
    “I’m just tired,” I said, “I’m going to bed.”
    “Good night,” she said in a peculiar voice that let me know that this wasn’t the end of her questioning.
    I made my way upstairs and shut myself in my bedroom. I wasn’t tired in the least; too many questions were running through my mind. I wondered if I would ever get to sleep tonight.
    How could Eden have lifted that couch? Even though I had read many comic books in my younger years, I knew that there was no such thing as super heroes. What if Eden was an alien from another planet? Like a planet of beautiful Asians? I didn’t think so, but there had to be an explanation.
    Could Eden be a mutant? Could she be the next step in human evolution? No, things like that didn’t happen in real life. I had to think this through a little more and stop coming up with these “explanations” from out of a comic book.
    I settled down and tried to come to some conclusion that could be based in reality. I realized that I have never seen Eden’s parents. She told me that they travel a lot on business. Could they be scientists? Maybe Eden is like an experiment, a super child, made in a secret laboratory? That could explain why Eden’s family moved here because it was safe and quiet; maybe they thought no one would notice that she was different here. But if that were true, why would they let her become involved with me, a normal human? Unless Eden was seeing me behind their backs and they didn’t know.
    It sounded a little far-fetched, but it was the most reasonable explanation that I had come up with so far. If it was true I had to stop seeing Eden. What would happen if her parents found out that I knew the truth about their daughter? Would they hunt me down and kill me to ensure my silence? Not only them, maybe the whole United States Government was behind all this and were secretly funding the research. If they knew that I found out about it, my whole family could be assassinated.
    Getting ready for bed I decided that I had to stop seeing Eden, for my own safety and the safety of my family. I couldn’t tell my friends; the less they knew about the truth, the better. My only worry was that if they found out that I broke up with Eden, that Drake might make some moves on her. I didn’t like that idea because no matter what, I still had feelings for Eden and I didn’t like the idea of her making out with anyone else.
    I couldn’t break up with Eden because then she would want my reasons for ending our relationship; reasons that I couldn’t give. I had to stay cool; spend less and less time with Eden until she broke up with me. I could then go to my friends for consolation. As I climbed into bed, I hoped that Drake had enough scruples to not go after a girl that dumped his friend, but that would be a lot to hope for.
    The next morning I didn’t bounce out of bed like I had the day before. I had to practically drag myself from under the covers. I dreaded the thought of spending the whole day beside Eden. I wasn’t sure if I would have the strength to stay away from her. I sluggishly made my way down stairs.
    “What’s wrong with you?” I heard my father