A Lonely Eden 8 (Patreon)

“You sure?” I asked Jacob. The sixteen year old stood in front of me, his back straight and his eyes firm.

“I am, Father,” he said in response, meeting my gaze resolutely. “This is what I want.”

I took a deep breath, held it for a second, then let it out. I honestly had been wondering if it would be Jacob or one of his brothers who would do this first. To feel like my presence was stifling them, to feel the urge to go out and see what else was out there, to set up his own home. Eve, Ayla, and the rest were watching from the sidelines, wondering how this would play out.

I couldn’t blame him too much, in the time that Jacob and I had had our puberty talk, our family had grown from the then twelve (including Eve and myself) to twenty. Jacob had his own son (Kyle) now with his sister Amy, Eve had had twins (John and Jessica), Daniel and Emily had ‘hooked up’ and had twins as well (Esmeralda and Coco), while Ayla had given birth to triplets (Michael, Gabriel, and Ian) and was pregnant again.

Walking up to Jacob, who had by this point grown to be a couple inches taller than me, he swallowed nervously as I came to a stop directly in front of him. To his surprise, I wrapped my arms around him, hugging my son.

“You will always have a home with us, if you feel the need to return,” I told him, as he returned the hug. “I’ll go with you, and help you pick a place, alright?”

“Thank you,” he said, his voice choking up a bit.

It was hard, hearing that he wanted to set out, find his own place and establish his own home. But sooner or later, it was going to happen. Eve and I had noticed that he'd seemed a bit antsy lately, so it wasn't a surprise. Still, after all these years together, I didn't want to lose any of them. Even when they felt the need to move on, I wished we could stay together as a group, but there was no way around it. We were the only humans on this planet, sooner or later someone was going to want to move further away.

That didn’t make it any easier. Jacob and I left the next day just before dawn, heading south to look for a good spot. He knew the land better than I did, having been scouting this direction for the last few months in preparation for this. As we walked along, I explained some things about making a new campsite, and how to scout out an area. My son was listening intently, but I could tell he really didn’t want to hear any more. To be fair, it was mostly stuff I'd already told him as I taught him the various tricks to make a more successful hunt, but it was important to know anyway. Plus, I admit, it was partially my nerves.

We stopped at one point to look at a small creek, which was running clear water into a pool below. The pool was fairly shallow, but still deep enough to swim, and was surrounded by brush and trees, with the stream continuing past in both directions. In addition, there were several large boulders near the edge of the woods, and it looked like there was ample room to build a fire pit and make a nice shelter for the night.

“That's a good place,” I said after looking it over. “There are rocks nearby, and plenty of dry wood. You get the fire going, I grab us something for dinner?”

Jacob nodded, “Sounds good.”

I left Jacob by the creek and headed off into the woods, searching for a good spot to hunt. I could hear the birds chirping and the sound of small animals scurrying around, but nothing seemed to be in sight. I walked further and further, my eyes scanning the trees and bushes for any signs of prey.

Just as I was about to give up and return to Jacob empty-handed, a rustling in the bushes caught my attention. I crept closer, slowly and quietly, trying not to alert whatever was hiding in there.

Then I saw it. A small deer, grazing on the leaves of a bush. It hadn't noticed me yet, so I took a deep breath and readied my bow. I aimed for the heart, drawing back the arrow and holding my breath.

With a smooth exhale, I let the arrow fly. It hit the deer straight in the heart, and it went down instantly. I ran over to it, checking that it was indeed dead, then slung it over my shoulder and headed back to Jacob.

When I returned, Jacob had already started a fire and had set up a small campsite. He looked up as I approached, a smile on his face when he saw the deer over my shoulder.

“Nice catch, Dad,” he said, standing up to help me with the deer.

Together, we skinned and gutted the animal, then prepared it to cook over the fire. As we waited for it to cook, we talked about what kind of shelter we wanted to build, where to look for materials and how to make it sturdy enough to last.

By the time the deer was ready, we had a lean-to set up that would be large enough for the both of us. There wasn't a sense of weirdness about sharing a shelter, considering that the beds at the cabin each housed at least five of us at a given time. Practical necessity killed twentieth century hang ups on things like that.

Sitting down to eat, we both dug into the savory meat, enjoying the fruits of our labor. As we ate, I couldn't help but feel proud of my son, who had grown into a capable young man. I knew it was time for him to move on, but it didn't make it any easier to let him go. By the time we finished, the sun had begun to set and the stars were starting to twinkle in the sky. I could see the excitement in Jacob's eyes as we got the rest of the meat set to smoke into jerky.

It was mid-autumn, so while there wasn't yet snow on the ground, it was going to be pretty chilly at night. Which would help with drying the rest of the deer meat, the cold helping keep it from overcooking. As we sat by the fire, the silence between us was comfortable. I could tell Jacob was lost in thought, his eyes staring into the flames. I knew he was thinking about his future, about what lay ahead for him. I didn't want to push him, so I let him be.

After a while, he spoke up. "Dad, do you ever regret coming here?"

I took a moment to consider his question. "No, I don't. It's been hard, but it's also been an adventure. We've learned so much, and we've survived."

Jacob nodded, his eyes still fixed on the fire, "It's just...I remember Mom talking about the things in the life before being brought here. It seems...I don't know, easier in some ways. Like there were always people around, and food and shelter were easy to come by."

"I know what you mean," I said, understanding his sentiment. "I don't remember my time in that era very well, but what I do remember is that people were more distant from each other. Here, we have a strong bond to each other because we have to. We have respect for the world around us in a way that a lot of people thought they did, because we know exactly where each and every different thing we have comes from. When you mother first arrived, she didn't know where food came from, to the best of her knowledge it just appeared in storage somewhere.

"Life here's hard, incredibly so, but getting to know your mother, having all of you, has made the difficult times more than worth it."

Jacob nodded slowly, still deep in thought. We sat there for a while longer, watching the fire burn down to embers. Eventually, I could see that Jacob was getting tired, so I suggested we turn in for the night. We crawled into our lean-to, pulling our leather blankets up tight against the cold, and settled in for the night.

As I lay there, listening to the sounds of the night, my mind wandered to my other family members back at the cabin. I wondered what they were doing, if they were missing us yet. I hoped they were doing well, and that they were happy. But for now, my focus was on Jacob and this new chapter in his life. I knew it was going to be hard, but I also knew that he was capable of anything he set his mind to. And as long as he knew he had a home to come back to, I was content.

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The next morning, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the smell of smoke from the fire. Jacob was already up, tending to the fire and getting breakfast ready. We ate a quick meal of jerky and some berries we'd gathered the day before, then started packing up camp.

As we broke down the lean-to and gathered our things, I could see the excitement in Jacob's eyes. He was ready for the next leg of his journey, ready to see what lay ahead. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness, knowing that this was the beginning of the end of our time together.

But I pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the present. We had a long journey ahead of us, and we needed to be prepared.

"Are you ready?" I asked, looking over at Jacob.

He nodded, a determined look on his face. "I'm ready, Dad."

We set off down the stream, following it to where it met up with the river. The river stretched out before us, wide and powerful. Fortunately, we didn't have to cross it. Instead, we continued to follow it downstream.

That was how the next few days continued, the deer I'd downed that first night providing us with the majority of our food as we hiked. Eventually, we came to a stop as we reached the place where the river met the sea. Jacob stared in awe, his eyes wide at seeing such a massive body of water.

We stood there for a while, just taking in the sight of the ocean stretching out before us. I could see the excitement in Jacob's eyes, and it made me smile. This was what it was all about, exploring the world around us and discovering new things.

After a few minutes, we set up camp on the beach. Jacob helped me gather driftwood for a fire, and we set out to explore the area around us. The beach was vast, with craggy cliffs on one side and a dense forest on the other. We spent the day exploring, collecting seashells and driftwood, and just enjoying the day.

As the sun began to set, we returned to camp and started a fire. We cooked up some fish that Jacob had caught and roasted some vegetables we'd found on our journey. We talked about what we wanted to do next, where we wanted to explore, and what we hoped to find.

As the night wore on, we sat by the fire, watching the stars twinkle in the sky. I could see the excitement in Jacob's eyes and knew that he was ready to continue his journey. But at the same time, I couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness. The thought of him leaving, of continuing on without me, was difficult to bear.

But I knew that I couldn't hold him back. He was meant to find his own way, and it was time for him to discover his own path. So I pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the present, enjoying our time together.

The next morning, we packed up camp and set out once again. We followed the coastline, exploring the nooks and crannies, and by the end of the day, he said the words that I'd seen coming ever since his eyes lit up upon seeing the ocean.

"This is where I want to settle."