Adam’s Other Ribs is a flash fiction by Nora Lisa Harr, the piece is focused on the untold stories of women throughout history.

The piece explores how men are often the focal point of our narratives, while women are pushed to the sidelines or villainized. Using Adam and Eve, an instantly recognizable story, the piece questions what we know about the lens we see the world through.

The first ever woman was made from Adam’s right rib. She was carved out of the bone and placed gently into the Garden of Eden. From there on out, she would betray her provider of life and befriend a snake.

            The Garden of Eden was filled with life from the moment of its creation. Lively green vines wrapped around the bark of newborn trees. Adam would lay on a bed of grass and stare at the sun above him. Long days were spent as carefree as one could wish for. Adam used his excess time to chase down wild animals for recreation, only stopping when he was so tired that he collapsed to the lush ground with sleep. God provided man with food and shelter. Man provided God with a life of gluttony and greed.

Still, his skin was golden and coated with promise. The sun adored Adam, and the trees bent to his will. But his blood was red, forever connecting him to the woman and the snake.

            Underneath the bare skin of his chest, there was only darkness.

Adam’s ridges of bones sitting deep in his chest held the lives of many other women. They stayed there, for God himself had not granted them life either. Their souls lingered in the ivory surface. Crying and weeping for the chance of life. Staying and sulking in the cage of Adam.

            Every piece of bone seemed to hold a potential that would never be realized. The white valleys captured voices that would never be heard. And while the woman ate the red apple, these voices cried in the shadow of skin. Their condemnation would be set in stone, with each bite carving deeper. She was the one to blame for their fate.

            But both man and woman shed red blood. Death was inevitable for them both, and their myth was over.

            However, even after Adam had become nothing but a cadaver, the possibility of these women stayed beneath his skin. Blood dried up and the bone remained.

            When many years later archeologists dug up this skeleton, they preserved the bones further. Each speck of dust was brushed off and any lost bones were reassembled. Not as the captors of women– but as the body of the first man on Earth, Adam. They strengthened the cage of women for the purpose of research. Never to criticize. Always to idolize. And they called it preserving history.

About Nora

She/her

Nora Lisa Harr is a high school student who runs a literature magazine at her school. Her writing is influenced by her experiences growing up as a young girl and learning how to navigate the world as a woman.

Instagram: @noralisawrites