Finding Winter

Chapter 11

With her eyes still trained on me, Autumn spoke up again. "We all could use a break, so let's go back to doing whatever we were going to do. It would not only relieve a lot of anxiety, but it would also make it seem less suspicious, you know? Anyways, I promised Carter I would see him later today."

My sister was one hell of a human being. As shallow sigh escaping my heavy chest, I ran my fingers through my hair and shook my head. I could not understand how she was doing this right now: trying to make a game plan for finding out who Spring is, suggesting that we act like we nothing ever happened, and, most of all, simply keeping calm.

A gentle hand rested on my shoulder, it's warmth bearing a familiar touch. "Maybe you can go see Sean today? As much as I don't like him, he's the only friend that seems to get you to relax."

Was it that obvious with how tense I was? But it was my sister; she knew everything about me.

"But how do I know if Sean isn't some assassin or something? Mandell said they could be people we already know." I groaned while passing my hands down my face and pulling at my bottom lip. "Doesn't seem safe, as much as I wish it was."

A bright laugh bubbled from my sister. "Sean? An assassin? The guy that has the stealth of a revved airplane engine? No, Matt, I doubt it."

The smile on her face was contagious, and just peeping at it through my hands caused a small smile to crack on my distress ridden face. "True." I laughed while shaking my head and sitting completely up now, "We could never involve him with our pranks. He shitted on us for weeks when he discovered we excluded him."

Autumn's face glowed with reassurance, and with a final pat of confidence on my shoulder she stood on her feet. "Exactly, but, to be on the safe side, don't tell him anything. If he asks, just say you're tired or something."

Then turning around to Sarah, who was still sitting on the floor digging her fingers into the threads of our carpet- lost in thought, Autumn checked on her. "Sarah, you good?"

"Hm?" Sarah replied in a light drone. Her eyes fluttered up from the carpet and immediately widened when the question hit her a second later. "Oh, yeah, I am. Might just go home, unwind, and process all this. Had nothing planned today anyways."

My sister nodded. "Still up to grab lunch?"

Even Sarah seemed slightly shocked and appalled by Autumn's abnormal calm composure, but she threw her shoulders back as if to heck with it and agreed.

The house was empty a few minutes later when the two of them gathered enough of their senses and left to continue the rest of their plans. Meanwhile, I simply sat in the basement alone, waiting for my friend Sean to swing by. He said he would be at my house in thirty minutes, but knowing him he was going to be here in an hour.

Sean was always late. To everything.

Sighing, I clicked the Play Station on and kicked back into the couch with controller in hand, vicariously exploring the wilderness in the virtual reality universe of Outlast 4 through its main character.

It was a relief to come back to this game, although it was so old and had been ages since I played it last. The trees, scenery, and plot always calmed me- to an extent. That was until random bullets, enemies, and walls crash everywhere to kill you. It was like nothing wants you alive.

Similar to my life at the moment.

I scoffed at the irony and shifted into the crease of the couch, sighing while sliding my thumb across the stick of my controller. The character followed suit and jumped from cliff edge to cliff edge. Physically, for a normal human being, this physical feat should be impossible. Yet, as a teenager, who never exercised a day in his life, running four-minute miles without being tired should have been impossible as well.