Breaking Eden - (rough draft)

6 - The Act of Manipulation (Part One)(unedited)

I hope to have another chapter up tomorrow at some point. This chapter gets really gross so beware. Please note that this hasn't been edited yet. It's a raw draft. Feel free to rip it apart. Tell me what you like or hate. I want to make BE the best book it can possibly be so honest feedback is always welcome. Thanks for reading! :0)

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6 – The Act of Manipulation

****Flash Back****

Time crept on for young Eden Burrows. Weeks turned to months which turned to years. The seasons passed by in a blur. What seemed an eternity for a child happened within the blink of an eye for an adult.

Eden had celebrated her thirteenth birthday and to her it was the one that changed her from child to adult. A woman, so she thought. Much older in mind than in body. She understood things that no child should ever know of.

For Eden, her entire life had changed within a single moment.

A plan had developed within her mind and she thought about it almost every night since she turned ten years old. Almost four now.

She didn't dare write a word of it down out of fear of it being found and used as evidence crime of vengeance. The only thing left for her to do was to set it all into motion. Then sit back and watch her plan morph into the sick and twisted reality it was always supposed to be.

I'm a survivor of Keelan's game. Of my parent's gross negligence. I'm a survivor of my environment.

Knowing this fueled her to continue.

Eden knew this had to be done. It was the only way to stop her suffering, the physical and emotion abuse she dealt with for as long as she could remember. To offer that same suffering to those who had wrong her or knew of her torment and did nothing to stop it.

It was nearing her fourteenth birthday and time was of the essence. It was now or never.

Eden lifted the hem of her dress as she sprinted through the woods behind her house. The underbrush was thick, almost ankle deep, and grabbed at her hemline like the tiny hands of the void grabbed her in her times of need.

Only now, the woods seemed to tell her to halt her plan of destruction, to wait for some good-hearted person to finally notice her pain, to notice her.

"Eeeeedeeeennnnn." Eighteen-year-old Keelan, no longer looked like a teen but a grown man from head to toe. He was too close for comfort.

She pressed on.

His voice echoed around Eden, driving her deeper into the trees, towards the tiny clearing that served as her safe haven. In a split second, she ducked behind a sturdy oak that was wider than her body.

He won't find me here. Eden pressed her back against the bark and focused on steadying her breathing and calming her pounding heart.

"Eeeeedeeeennnnn." The way Keelan drew out her name brought about a wave of goosebumps to her skin, made her hair stand painfully upright on her arms. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

In the blink of an eye, he seemed like he was right behind her.

Eden concentrated on the sound of his footsteps, the way the twigs snapped beneath his feet. The way he gasped for air much like herself. He was out of breath, proving that she was stronger, more resilient than he could ever be.

Then all was silent with the world, save for the wildlife scurrying around.

She listened harder. Nothing.