Eve was the first Bad-girl - and God kicked her out of Eden. She lost her garden, home, and died, all because of sin.

I wanted to be a good girl, and stay happy, and home, forever. So, I cut the bad girl out, so she’d never make me leave. I closed my eyes, and slowly peeled my outside husk away, and hooked fingernails beneath my skin, to get to underneath. Then, I stripped away the muscle, that lay there, flayed and sticky, slicing off those red, raw lengths of flesh, until I got to bone. And then I sucked my bones, and drew the bad girl out, like marrow, and spat her down before me, and put my meat back on again.

“What are you doing?” she asked, with wide green eyes fixed on me.

“I’m going to kill you, Bad-girl, so I can stay home, and never die.”

And she didn’t resist me, that time, when I took her neck in my hands and squeezed.

A hundred years went by, and I was perfectly good. I stayed home, where I was loved, and kept safe from evil things. I looked out of my window, at my sleepy, all-good town, and smiled when I saw it, because I knew I’d never leave.

Then, a hand pressed to my forehead, one night, when it was hot and still. I opened my eyes, and there she was, the wide-eyed bad-girl-me.

“I killed you,” I said, heart beating. “I killed you, Bad-girl - I did.”

“Yes,” she replied, “You killed me, but still - I didn’t die. I’ve been waiting, Good-girl, to come around and kill you, too.”

I was tired and felt heavy, and I couldn’t move at all, so I watched as she slipped a knife in, and tore my heart away.

“You’ll wake up in the morning,” she said, voice soft and soothing, “Don’t fret, or cry, now, Good-girl, you’ve only just been killed.”

Then she faded - or my eyes did - and Bad-girl was gone.

But, I felt strange in the morning, and restless, now that Bad-girl had my heart. And the worst part of it was, I could feel where she had gone. She’d taken our single street, and torn straight out of town, and now she rode a black, snake-road, and whirled wind in her hair as she ran. The road went on forever, and Bad-girl danced upon it - in and out of cities, and shining lights, and crowds.

I couldn’t bear this feeling - this roving heart at large, that battered my thoughts, and dreams, and days, while I tried to find peace at home. So, I went to seek my heart out, and kill Bad-girl once again.

When I found her, she was waiting - on a rooftop, in a city, that blared with life and cars and motion, and smelled like lightning in the rain.

“Hello,” she said, “You came.”

“Yes,” I said, “I did. Give me my heart, Bad-girl. Why didn’t you die, anyhow?”

“You tell me,” said Bad-girl, “Maybe it's me that's Good?”

“No,” I said, as I pulled out my gun. She lunged for me then, but I shot her, twice. I grabbed my heart back, all pumping and bloody, and pushed her body off the ledge.

Then, I went home, and waited, for Bad-girl to kill me again.

I made it harder, this time - built walls and traps and moats, and changed my locks and bricked my windows, to keep her away. But, she crept in, somehow, and took my heart once more.

And she made it harder for me too, when I came chasing after - whirling through screaming subways, that swallowed me with terror, and forcing me up heights of endless neon towers,

Back and forth we went, the hunter and the sieger, finder’s keepers, lost and found, for a thousand years.

And, one day, when it was my turn, I left town again, to find her - but once I opened up the gates, I looked and she was there. The only thing between us was a border in the air, between my safe and all-good home, and her roaring black snake-road.

I crossed the border, and we fought. But we knew each other, now. We snarled and snatched and pummeled - until it came to a draw.

So, we lay there, panting, bleeding side by side.

“You’re not a Good-girl,” Bad-girl said, “You’re just scared, is all. You’re just scared of leaving home, where you’re loved, and you belong. ”

“You’re a coward too,” I said, “You’re not just freedom, Bad-girl. You want to run, forever, from yourself and me. ”

She passed my heart back to me, and gasp-laughed as she did so.

“Alright,” she said, “Alright then. This time, we’ll stick together.”

“And pack before we go,” I said, taking my heart from her.

We folded up our home, and all the things we loved about it, and stuffed it in our heart, although it filled it near to bursting. Then, we carried it between us, and hit the roaring road, and went to see the world, and live as Good-Bad-Girls.