martina martinez – eve and the serpent

I wanted him to go away. He gave me the creeps. He wouldn’t take a hint. I wasn’t even trying to talk. I was just exploring this side of the garden. 

I saw him in the Tree. I did notice him. He was a very strange creature, and I’d never seen him before. He had a long body, with no legs or arms. He was covered in scales, and had big yellow eyes with black slits in the middle. 

I continued walking through the garden, looking for beautiful flowers in the field, and I could feel his gaze on me. I looked his way and immediately regretted it. I could tell that eye contact was all the invitation he needed, even though I despised him. I turned and tried to ignore his presence.

Then, I felt something behind me. I looked back, but there was nothing there. I returned to the flowers, selecting my favorite ones to pick and bring back for Adam. But then I felt the gaze again. I tried to ignore it. But the feeling lingered. I moved forward on the ground, scavenging for more flowers, still feeling the presence behind me. Suddenly, I jumped. There was a flutter by my ear, something wet and fast. It made me gasp as I rolled over on the ground. There he was, that thing. Dangling from the branch of the Tree, he flicked his tongue out again and smirked. He seemed so amused at startling me. I thought that was cruel. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, but I didn’t believe him.

“Who are you?” I asked, regaining my breath. 

“Oh, that’s rude of me, scaring you without introducing myself. I’m called the serpent.” 

Then I saw my flowers scattered all over the ground. I think he heard me groan, because as I gathered them back up, he seized some with his darting mouth. He nudged my shoulder with his head, and dropped the flowers into my hands. 

“Thank you,” I said, and stood to leave. 

“And you are?” he asked.

“I’m Eve,” I responded. “Listen, I should get going.” 

“Where are you going?” he asked. 

“I want to give these flowers to my husband.” 

“I know a gift far greater. Stay.” 

“What greater gift?” I asked. 

“You know about my home, right? This Tree…what it really is?”

I was a bit suspicious now. “Of course. That’s the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” 

“Yes,” he responded, and curled back up in the branches, and into the Tree. A moment later, an apple dropped to the ground, and the serpent came back down, hanging from the branch. 

“You should eat the apple,” he said. 

“No thanks.” 

“No?” he responded, sounding insulted. “But you haven’t even considered!”

“I know that my answer is no.” 

“Eating a piece of fruit isn’t going to kill you.” 

This made me giggle a little. “I know it won’t.” 

“So, help me understand. What’s the problem?”

“There is no problem. I just don’t want to eat it!”

It was strange how persistent he was. I knew to be suspicious, but his insistence was wearing me down. Maybe the fruit was delicious and that’s why he was dying to share it with others. Maybe he actually had good intentions, and I wasn’t being fair, denying him the benefit of the doubt. 

“You can’t deprive your husband the chance to try this fruit. That would be selfish.” 

“No, serpent. I’m not going to bring him the fruit from that Tree!” 

The serpent recoiled a bit. His voice changed now, sounding hurt. 

“You haven’t even given it much thought,” he responded. 

“But God said not to,” I said. 

“Wouldn’t you like to try?” 

“I’d like to try, but God said not to. I will respect His wishes.” 

“Why did He say not to?” 

“He said that we would surely die.”

The serpent burst into laughter. “I don’t know why He would say such a thing. He means to scare you so that He can control you.” 

I gasped. “You shouldn’t say that about your Creator!” 

“Well, think about it. Am I wrong? It’s the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil after all. There is a reason why He wouldn’t want you to have that knowledge.” 

“He isn’t like that. Why would you doubt his intentions?” 

“I’m just offering my perspective.” 

Now I was getting annoyed. I wished again that this creature would go away. Why won’t he leave me alone? Why won’t he take no for an answer? 

The serpent slithered his way down the branch, approaching my face. 

“You’re so beautiful, Eve. Do you know that?” 

The ugly creature saying that made me wince.  “Goodbye, serpent,” I said.

As I turned, the snake dropped himself from the branch and onto my shoulders, pushing me down to the ground. He wrapped himself around me, moving his body around my waist and bringing his face to the nape of my neck. 

“Does Adam even care what you think? I’m giving you a chance to know things about this world. That’s what the fruit of this Tree will give you, my dear. The freedom of your will. Don’t you feel that God is trying to deny you that?” He rested his head on my shoulder, staring directly into my face.

“Please let me go.”

“Did you expect to just stay in the garden and do nothing with yourself? Did you ever imagine that there could be more to life than this place? Imagine if you had all the knowledge that God is trying to hide from you.” 

The serpent wrapped his body around me tighter, pinning my arms back so that I couldn’t get off the ground. I started thrashing, kicking my legs, hoping the momentum would help bring me upright, but he saw what I was doing, and used the other end of his body to bind my legs together. I felt his face right against my cheek, his hot breath assaulting me. 

“Now,” he said. “Why don’t you give the fruit a try? Once you do, this will all be over, and you’ll be free of me.”

As he tightened his body around me further, I felt myself losing breath. 

“Stop!” I yelled out with what air remained. 

“Why should I stop?” he said, staring into my eyes. 

“I’ll eat it! I’ll eat the fruit!” I cried between gasps. 

The serpent smiled. “That’s a good girl.” 

Without releasing his grip, he picked up the apple in his mouth and brought it to mine. I bit into it. As soon as I did, he let me go, and lay coiled on the grass as I flipped over, choking on air and apple as I tried to find my breath again. 

“Now take that apple, find your husband, and give it to him. Tell him that God gave you permission to eat from the Tree,” he said with a smile, as he crawled into the grass and disappeared from sight. 

Thunderclouds started billowing overhead. I lay there, panting, and felt cold suddenly. I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees, and looked down at my body. I never knew I was like this before. I collapsed down onto the earth again, and crawled through the grass to find something, anything large enough to cover myself. I found a broad enough leaf to hold around my waist. I held my arm against my breasts. The rain started coming down, faster and harder, as I ran through the garden, looking for Adam. I don’t know what he’ll do when he sees me in such a state, and I don’t know how I’m going to lie about what happened. It’s all wrong. I know it’s wrong. I had no excuse. I didn’t want this. But I was trying to survive. How selfish could I be? I felt in the depths of my soul that I didn’t fight enough. I tried very hard but I’m supposed to do better. And despite how hard I fought I wasn’t strong, and I deserve what’s coming. I feel that I will never be forgiven for this. 


MARTINA MARTINEZ is a writer, actress, and poster from the Inland Empire of Southern California. Her first short story, Paco, was published in early 2023 in Terror House Press, and Southern California was published later that year in ExPat Press. She is featured in BRUTALIST COUTURE, a short film that premiered summer 2024. Recently, she has won Passage Prize III in nonfiction. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @illegalth0t, as well as subscribe to her Substack publication "Undocumented Sentiments."


HOME