In the Garden of Eden By Hannah Kupson

Everything had all happened so fast. Her entire life passed her by in a second, barely

giving her time to process one moment before she was thrown into the next, then the next,

then the next, before it was all gone.

Her childhood was simple, borderline stereotypical. Named for harmony, beauty,

and light, Eden was an only child, raised in a small town on the west coast. She passed

through school with flying colors, making many friends and excelling at academia. All

impactful moments of her childhood had been average. But the day Eden’s life truly began

was a seemingly random December day. She was in fifth grade, and she and her mother

were Christmas shopping at the mall when he approached them.

It was every little girl's dream come true. Silas was a modeling scout. He was new in

the business, still relatively young when he found Eden. This made him more trustworthy to

her mother. Such a kind young man, he would do no harm to her daughter. None of them had

any idea what this was the beginning of.

Silas knew what he was doing, acting as both her agent and her manager. It started

simple. Easy, cutesy jobs where all they needed was a kid to sit and look adorable. Adorable

children were easy to love, to market, and to turn into something more. Eventually, more

quickly than Silas, Eden, or her mother ever could have imagined, children’s clothing turned

into pre-teen, and then suddenly Eden was fourteen, and she was a runway model, working with

luxury fashion brands. Her career was moving faster than she or Silas ever could have expected.

It was a fantasy come to life, something only either of them had dreamed of.

She’d had to drop out of school, at Silas’s request. Eden didn’t mind; she was constantly

missing anyways because of all of her jobs. But her mother wouldn’t hear any of it. Eden was

only a freshman in high school, after all. Silas and her mother had gotten into a screaming fight

over this. Eden, sat in the oversized armchair in the corner of his office, silently watched as the

two went back and forth.

Silas felt like her career should be her top priority. She was arguably one of the most

famous people in the world right now. She’d never be able to come back if she chose to walk

away now. Her mother felt like it was unrealistic to expect her daughter to live the rest of her

life with no high school degree. What if there came a time where Eden couldn’t do this

anymore?

At this, Silas scoffed and rolled his eyes. Even if something were to happen, she’d be so

rich it wouldn’t matter. But of course her mother didn’t understand. She wasn’t in the industry;

she was an outsider watching in and she thought that was enough to truly understand. Silas

knew it wasn’t. And even Eden, at her young age, knew that too.

“Well then why don’t we ask Eden what she wants to do?”

This was the first time in the last two hours that either of them had spoken directly to

Eden. It caught her off guard. She was so used to Silas making all of the decisions for her, her

mother being included for anything major, such as the prospect of dropping out of school. She

couldn’t remember the last time she made a choice. And now that her opinion was being

brought into consideration, Silas was the one who posed the question. Not even her own mother

had thought to ask her what she wanted.

So she told him the truth. She did not want to go back to school.

Even with her clear opinion, Silas and her mother went on arguing for another hour.

Finally, it was settled: Eden would not return to public school, but she would complete a

homeschooling program to earn a diploma. After the decision was made, Eden’s mother was

sent home so Eden and Silas could do some work before her next job.

That night, Silas drove her back to the apartment where her mother was waiting. The

ride back was short, and they discussed some new music that a singer Eden liked had released.

This was something Eden loved about Silas: even though he was managing her career, he

always made himself a friend to her. Simple conversations like this reminded her about how

much he actually cared for her as a person, not just as a model.

They’d reached her apartment and Eden had given Silas his hug goodbye, when he

stopped her just before she could get out of the car. He looked at her for a moment, and then

said something Eden would never forget.

“I just want you to know that no matter what, I’ll always be on your side,” he had

told her. “I only want something for you if it’s what you want.”

◆◆◆

Eden’s career truly skyrocketed when was featured in an ad for one of the biggest

fashion companies in LA. Her face was on almost every billboard, bus stop, and pamphlet

imaginable. This was what changed her from model to A-List celebrity. She was the most

beautiful teenager in America. Every young girl wanted to be her, and every designer wanted to

work with her. She wasn’t a pageant girl or an actress: she was a model, and the best one there

was.

Eventually, Eden and Silas decided, without consulting her mother, that she could drop

the homeschooling program and truly, for the first time, put all of her focus on her career. Eden

was failing most of her classes anyways. She didn’t have time for homework or tutoring

sessions. Silas helped her unenroll, and then they broke the news to her mother. She did not

take it well.

Eden’s mother wanted to pull her daughter from the entire thing in general. No more

modeling, no more fashion, photographers, paparazzi, nothing. They’d move, put Eden back in

school. They’d change her name if that’s what it took to get her life back. This turned into

another one of those hideous arguments between Silas and Eden’s mother. Screaming back and forth for hours, revolting insults lobbed back and forth in hopes to make the other give up and

give in. Her mother accused Silas of brainwashing Eden, turning her into a pawn for his own

personal gain. Silas accused her mother of being jealous, disappointed she would never be half

as special as her daughter. It was the worst of the arguments they’d had.

Yet again, it was Silas who turned to Eden after hours of arguing had gone on, asking her

what she wanted to do. Would she rather give up her career and return to a normal, average life?

Or did she want to keep building her legacy as one of the most successful models of all time?

The answer was obvious, leaving Eden’s lips before she could even process what she

was saying. She wanted to stay here, with her career and with Silas, living out everything she

ever dreamed of. This was what she was born to do. Eden had never been so sure of something

as she was of this.

This time, Eden’s mother did not have to be asked to leave. The rest of the evening

was spent at Silas’s office, the two of them flipping through old fashion magazines and taking

the time to talk and catch up.

That night, when Silas drove her back to her apartment, Eden leaned over to the driver's

seat and gave him a hug a bit tighter than usual. Tonight, watching him and her mother argue

back and forth, and then spending the evening with him, she’d remembered what he’d said to

her that night a few years ago. And she knew it was true. Silas cared about her and what she

wanted. He was always on her side.

Eden and her mother didn’t speak that night after Silas dropped her off. That night,

things had changed, and they both knew it. A divide had appeared between the two of them and

neither of them would be able to see the other person's side.

◆◆◆

For Eden’s eighteenth birthday, Silas threw her a huge party. Anyone who was anyone

was there, and everyone was there to celebrate Eden. It was unlike anything she had ever

experienced before. Silas had been to a number of parties in the time that he knew Eden, but

she’d never been invited to tag along. She had always been too young for that; this was the one

thing her mother and Silas ever agreed on. But now that she was eighteen, things were

different. She was plenty old enough to be in that kind of environment.

Silas hired people to do every job you could imagine for this party. A decorating company

came to decorate the house. There was a theme, of course: the garden of Eden, just for her. The

house had been transformed into the most beautiful garden imaginable, all real flowers, all

grown locally. Nothing less was appropriate for his best girl. He hired a catering company, a

number of local bartenders to serve, a DJ, and photographers. It was unlike anything Eden

had ever been to. It felt almost magical.

As everyone arrived, Silas and Eden spent the time upstairs hiding in his bedroom; he

had insisted on her making a grand entrance. She should be the center of attention tonight.

Before her entrance, Silas presented her with her birthday present: a diamond bracelet, customized to fit her wrist perfectly. It was unlike anything Eden had ever owned. Tears filled

her eyes, and she hugged time tightly, trying to find the words to use.

“This is the most precious thing I have ever owned,” she finally whispered, pulling

Silas into a tight hug. “Thank you.”

“And you are mine,” he told her, holding her close to his chest. The two sat like this for

a while, before Silas clipped the bracelet around her wrist and they made their way into the

party. Silas spent the entire night doting on Eden, making sure she was having fun, teaching her

which drinks mixed best with which pills, and helping her bite her tongue when the cocktail of

substances people had given her started to reach her head. He kissed her when, in a drunken

stupor, she told him he was the best thing that ever happened to her. The next morning, when

she woke up miserable and sick, he held her hair back and ran her a cold shower. Her mother

moved out of LA a few weeks later, going back to their hometown. Now that Eden was

eighteen, she didn’t need a mother.

The party was a turning point for Eden’s life. It introduced her to a world she had

never been a part of before, one she’d never been allowed into. But she was an adult now—

she was legal, as the tabloids put it. This changed the way everyone looked at her. The public

expected more from her now, as did Silas. The people had watched her grow up and mature,

he had explained to her. They wanted to see what she had in store for them now that she was

legal. He started getting her to model for more adult brands, showing off more skin and less

smiles. This was a new age for Eden.

It wasn’t long until people started to notice the way things had changed for Eden. People

noticed her change in appearance, the excess time she spent with Silas socially. It only took five

weeks for someone to leak that they’d been sleeping together.

They’d been caught at a party, and it was on the front page of the tabloids within 48

hours. The public was horrified, at first. Silas was her agent. He ran her entire life. He had

practically raised her. How could he watch someone grow up the way that he did and then

do this? It didn’t make sense.

Eden was the first to jump to his defense. She spoke to anyone who would listen,

singing his praises and promising how much she loved her life with him. They’d been out one

morning, taking a walk and getting Eden some much needed fresh air, when a reporter

approached them, asking about their new relationship and their thoughts on the public’s

opinion. Silas made it very clear that he didn’t care about what anyone else thought. No one else

knew Eden the way he knew her. No one else could possibly understand what the two of them

had. “Do you love him?” the reporter asked Eden.

“Of course I do,” she answered. “I have more love for him than I’ve had for anything

before. He gave me everything I have. I’ll never be able to repay him for that.” Silas just smiled

and ushered her away, insisting to the reporter they had somewhere else to be.

Two months into their relationship, Silas made Eden sell her apartment and move in

with him. He insisted it was the best idea for them, both professionally and personally. She

obliged, and they were living together by the end of the week.

Their life together was perfect for exactly what the other needed.

Eden loved the way Silas doted on her, constantly checking in on what she was eating,

what she was wearing, and who she was talking to. She had no responsibilities; all she had to

do was exist.Perfection can only last so long. It was an unexpectedly hot day when Eden heard from her again. She had been lying outside, sunning herself and flipping through the most recent collection of fashion magazines that Silas had gifted her, when she heard the landline ring from inside the house. It rang three times before, presumably, Silas answered and there was silence again. She hadn’t thought much of it in the moment, they got more phone calls than they could keep track of. But a few moments after the quiet, the back door opened and Silas handed Eden the phone.

“It’s your mother,” he told her.

Her heart dropped. She hadn’t spoken to her mother in months. What was there to say?

“You’re living with him now?” her mother's voice blared through the phone, causing Eden to

flinch.

“Is that why you called?” Eden asked. She looked up, Silas still looming over her,

watching her side of the painful conversation. “I don’t have to tell you anything.” “I had to find

out my daughter is sleeping with the man in charge of her entire life from the cover of a drugstore

magazine. Do you have any idea what that feels like?” “You’re the one who left me,” Eden

hissed. “Silas was the one who stood up for me and defended what I wanted. He’s been on my

side since the day we met and that is never going to change.”

“You think that man cares about you?” her mother was almost yelling now, or maybe she

was crying. “He is using you. You’re nothing more than a body to him and the minute you serve

no purpose he’ll throw you to the side. That’s the way men like him are!” “You don’t know

him—”

“Maybe I don’t. But I’ve seen men like him, they don’t care about you.”

“At least he stayed with me. You are the one who threw me to the side. He didn’t.”

“Because I could not stand by and watch as you let that man ruin your life!” A silence

hung between the three of them, Eden and her mother stuck in a standstill, as

Silas observed from a few feet away. Eden could feel tears brimming her eyes, her throat

tightening. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry. She would not cry in front of

Silas, the man who despised weakness, and she would not cry in front of her mother, the

woman who abandoned her.

“Then why didn’t you take me with you?” Eden asked. At this, Silas turned around

and went back into the house.

“Would you have come?”

Another silence. A single tear slid down Eden’s cheek, which she feverishly rubbed

away. She couldn’t answer. She knew what she would have done. They both did. “Don’t call me

again,” Eden finally told her. “You made your choice. And I made mine.” She hung up and

threw the phone into the yard away from her. She would get it when she went back inside.

That phone call caused a rift between Silas and Eden. It was clear, once she got up from

her lawn chair and brought the phone inside, that there was a new tension throughout the house.

At first, Eden tried to ignore it. She spoke in her usual sweet manner, smiled when he talked,

and helped around the house when she could. But Silas was cold, speaking shortly and harshly,

ignoring her when he could and only responding when it was necessary.

He tightened his grip on her, starting her on a more rigorous and full schedule. He had

her in more workout classes, more modeling jobs. He started running her social media for her.

He told her she wasn’t allowed to answer the phone anymore, in case someone was calling for

him and it was something Eden couldn’t know about. How many phone calls from her mother

did she miss because of him?

This was doable for a period of time. Eden didn’t question it, she went along with

what he wanted, as she always did. Slowly, over time, her strenuous schedule combined

with the endless nights of parties and pills and drinking was taking a toll on her. Silas

had filled her plate with so much she had no time to breathe, barely any time to sleep. It

was starting to show physically, but no one had dared to ask any questions about that.

It wasn’t until she collapsed from exhaustion in the middle of a photoshoot that she

spoke up for herself, but even that was met with dismay from Silas.

“I know what I’m doing. Let me handle it.”

It was all she ever heard.

Silas didn’t take it well when she asked him for a break. It reminded Eden of the

vicious fights between him and her mother. They were manageable when she was seated in the

corner, just a witness. It was horrible to be the victim.

He told her it was disrespectful, disobedient. He’d given her everything she had. She was

being ungrateful. He was the one who knew what was best for her. She would be nothing without

him. Who was she to question him?

The argument had been going on for far too long, Eden reduced to tears many times,

when he snapped, throwing his wine glass in her direction. It just barely missed her,

shattering against the wall, as he yelled.

“I made you, and I own you. The quicker you get that through your head, the better.”

That was all he had left to say, before leaving the room. Eden stood still until she heard the

slam of their bedroom door. She held her breath, trying to prevent herself from crying again.

He was right, and she knew it. Everything she had was because of him. That was part of why

she loved him so much. He’d given her so much, more than she ever could have asked for and

more than she ever could have gotten on her own. She owed her entire being to Silas. Who was

she to ask for more?

She spent the next hour scrubbing wine off the wall and the floor and picking up

the small shards of glass that had scattered around. She fell asleep on the couch watching

old movies, too embarrassed to go upstairs and face Silas.

◆◆◆

The night it occurred, Eden knew something terrible was going to happen to them. She

woke up with a pit in her stomach, her head pounding. Silas blamed it on her drinking the

night before and told her to take a cold shower. But Eden knew it was more than that.

That evening, Silas dragged Eden to some nightclub, full of people she didn’t quite

recognize but he demanded she smile for. She’d begged him not to go, pleading for the two of

them to stay in for the night. But it didn’t matter what she wanted. Eden knew Silas would

never listen to her. He was the one who made the decisions.

So she put on the red dress, Silas’s favorite in her closet, and they went to the party,

where they both were given more booze than they could keep track of. The night became

blurry, and at some point it began to rain. No one could hear it over the music and the hundreds

of voices within the club.

Around the time the rain began, Eden and Silas began to fight. Neither of them could

remember what started it, but everyone remembered how it ended: with Silas too-roughly

grabbing Eden by the wrist and practically dragging her out the front door. Those would

have been the photos that ended up in the tabloids had it not been for what happened after

they left.

The rain was beating down so hard, Eden could barely see out of the windows as Silas drove

them home. The streetlamps, billboards, and other cars around provided her a small idea of

where they were on the road, but neither she nor Silas were in the condition to be driving. Her

head was spinning, her vision was blurry, and both her and Silas were yelling at each other,

each interrupting before the other could finish a thought.

It all happened in an instant. The other car, a family sized SUV, hit them on the

passenger side as Silas ran a red light. Their car had spun off the road, crashing into a telephone

pole that collapsed down on their car. There were flames, smoke, and neither Eden nor Silas

could leave if they tried. It took 20 minutes for emergency services to arrive, and by that time,

the damage had been done.

Silas was almost fine. He suffered a few cuts and bruises, a broken wrist from the

airbag, and a surface level burn on his leg. Nothing a little medical attention couldn’t fix. He

would make a full recovery.

Eden was the one who suffered the most. Silas went to visit her in the hospital once he

was allowed; Eden had yet to wake up, but he told the nurses he just wanted to see her. Later,

he described it as ‘unbearable.’ She was unrecognizable. She was hideous.

Being beautiful was all that had ever mattered. It was the thing that Eden offered the

world, it made everyone fall in love with her. Her beauty brought her her career, it brought her

Silas, it brought her love and adoration. What was she if not beautiful? She’d lost the one

thing she’d been able to give the world.

It took a long time for Eden to recover. She had to spend around a month in the hospital,

just laying in her bed and dealing with the pain on her own. At first, Silas came to visit her at

least once a day. But overtime, his visits became less and less frequent. He’d miss a day here

and there, and then before she’d realized it, he stopped showing up at all. The day she was

finally released from the hospital was the worst.

Eden had called Silas five times, letting him know she was released. She sat in the waiting room,

just waiting for him to call her back or pick her up, for hours. It was a different experience than

what she was used to. When she and Silas went out, there were people asking for photos and

autographs and interviews. But Eden sat alone, unbothered, unnoticed, in the hospital waiting

room. No one was paying attention to the poor girl covered in bandages. She waited almost four

hours before calling a cab to take her home.

Silas wasn’t there when she arrived back. The house was eerily quiet. She had never

been alone in the house before. There had been no reason to be here without him. She went

straight to their bedroom to change out of her hospital clothes, only to discover all of her clothes

were gone. She put on one of Silas’s shirts, and wandered the house for a bit. Everything related

to her was gone. Her personal items, as well as their collections of photographs, posters, and

magazines she’d been featured in. It was all gone. She knew, in that moment, it was over.

Everything she’d worked so hard for was gone. Eden spent the rest of her time on the couch,

watching old episodes of reality TV, waiting for Silas to return from wherever he was. He

returned three hours after she’d gotten back, late into the night. He reeked of cigarettes and

booze; she could smell it the moment he walked in. They stared at each other for a moment,

both unsure what to say. Silas spoke before Eden could figure it out.

“You’re back,” was all he said.

“I called you five times,” she said. “You didn’t answer.”

The silence between them was deafening. Eden had imagined when he came home, she’d have

lots to say to him. She’d scream and sob at him, demanding an excuse for abandoning her at

the hospital and where her things had gone. Maybe she’d get up off the couch to throw things

at him. Maybe she’d even get angry enough to hit him.

But none of that came when Silas walked through the door. Her body was glued to

the couch, her throat almost too tight to speak.

He had given her everything. He had sworn to her that he was on her side, that he would

always do what was best for her, that he was the one who was looking out for her best interest.

She had her entire life to thank Silas for. A part of her thought maybe he loved her back. But

now, he couldn’t even meet her eye. She knew how horrified he was at what she’d become.

“Where are my things?” was the only thing, she could bear to ask, her voice barely

rising above a whisper.

Silas sighed at her, shaking his head and throwing his keys on the kitchen island. “This

was a tragedy, I know,” he said, pulling a bottle of wine from the cabinet and pouring himself

a large glass. He didn’t offer any to Eden. “But what was I supposed to do?” “I don’t

understand...”

“Look at you, Eden,” he snapped, staring her down. “What am I supposed to do with you?” He shook his head a bit. “There is nothing left for you here. Not with me.” There was

silence again. The two of them, alone in what used to be their house but was clearly just Silas’s

now, staring at each other, listening to the sounds of the other breathing. Eden was trying to

control her tears, Silas trying to control his annoyance. “I put all your things in a storage unit.

I’ll give you the key and I can help you get a hotel until you find a place tomorrow. You can

stay here tonight.” That was all Silas had to say, before he disappeared upstairs, leaving Eden

alone on the couch. She knew better than to follow him.

◆◆◆

She got a small apartment outside of LA; a sad shrine to what her life used to be. She

hung her old posters and magazines on the walls. She kept the polaroids and photographs of

her and Silas, hanging on the fridge or framed on her nightstand. It was comforting, it felt like

another person belonged there, like she wasn’t all alone.

Her mother called her at her new apartment a few times, leaving the same message on

the machine. She wanted to see her. She came to visit at the hospital but wasn’t on the visitor

list. She was sorry. Eden never called her back. She was too ashamed. In the end, her mother

had been right.

A few months passed before someone new started to show up in the tabloids: Rebecca.

Eden could tell right away she was one of Silas’s girls. She was young, just as young as Eden

was when Silas first found her. And, of course, she was beautiful. It was all anyone talked

about when they talked about the new girl.

At first, Eden hated her. Rebecca was going to take everything that should have

been her’s, and she’d have no choice but to watch. How was it fair? Why was Silas allowed

to abandon her and pick out someone to replace her?

She could hate Rebecca all she wanted. But she knew what was coming for her. One

day, Silas would decide she wasn’t good enough anymore. She’d get one too many scars, too

many stretch marks. She’d get a bad haircut or wear the wrong shade of lipstick. And she’d lose

all the value she had, and Silas would abandon her, just as he had before.

He’d done it to Eden and he would do it with Rebecca. Silas would never be satisfied, no

matter who he had in his grasp. Even now, months after seeing him for the last time, Eden could

still feel his grip on her life. She would never be free.