'Day' and 'period' are the same word in Hebrew.
This is the problem with any language translation. The words may translate, but the idioms do not.
A great example of this was with translating software between English and Japanese. Taking the phrase "Out of sight, out of mind", and translating it to Japanese and back again, you get the result "invisible idiot". It is correct, but also not the expected meaning.
When King James ordered the various books of what became the Bible translated, the translators did as they were told, but of course the usual meaning in Hebrew for 'day' is the 24 hour day. No one knew then how long it took to create the Earth. Further, there is NO information for how long Adam and Eve spent in the Garden of Eden.
So various fundamentalist types use the 24 hour day for this translation, and consider that in and of itself a proof (incorrectly of course).
As the Bible was translated and re-translated many times, further distortions crept in. Some by accident, some intentionally.
Personally, I consider the King James version to be the most reasonably accurate. You can't treat it like a detailed contract or lawbook, but you can treat the message and histories it describes as a whole.
I consider God to be a real person, not some shapeless form. I consider Jesus Christ to be His Son (just as we all are, but Christ lived without sin and could pay for our sins for us. Christ sacrificed Himself to save us from the penalty we would otherwise have to reconcile before God ourselves (we can't).
I consider Satan to be a real person. There was no talking snake. He is simply described as one for what he did. He has an office and purpose designated by God. Satan's purpose is to tempt us. Only through that do we have the freedom to choose for ourselves. We would not know hot if there were no cold. We would not know kindness if there were no misery. We can't even appreciate the value of life without death in the world.
Remember that one must look past the confines of this world to see the path of God, and why He does what He does.
The Bible is evidence only. It is not a proof of any kind (other than that it exists, known as the Proof of Identity). Nothing in the Bible proves whether God or even Christ even existed at all. It MUST be taken on faith. That is the circular argument that is the basis of any religion.