Soullake -By N

Chapter 1 - Autumn

"Autumn" She declared, cradling her small baby to her chest, her voice wavering with pride.  "It's Autumn", she said again, more determinedly. She thought of the golden path, sunsets of leaves coating the forest floor. She thought of the way the trees arched over the walkway, like protective arms. She thought of the image that had appeared so frequently in her mind, yet she had never been there.

"I knew you would pick something beautiful, Marianne" He said, smiling down at his wife, and their new child, with her new name.

She kissed her daughter's forehead gently, as she spoke softly,

"I love you Autumn, and I will do anything in my power to protect you, my precious child.  Even when my time is up, I will protect you...Autumn...Autumn...Autumn"

"Autumn! Are you listening?" The teacher snapped, jerking Autumn out of her daydream. Sheepishly, she raised her head, and was returned with the curious stares of around a dozen of her classmates, peering at her, their bodies twisted in their chairs to get a better look, hoping for a dramatic telling off.

"I'm sorry Miss Jenkings.. It's just this is the same old, there isn't anything I don't know already.." She mumbled, the last part quieter, as if it wasn't something she liked to accept. What she had said, was truthful, she wasn't one to lie, nevertheless, her cheek wasn't well received.

Turning back to her textbook, discarded on her desk, she rolled her eyes. It wasn't because she didn't find history interesting, because she did, but it was the fact that this particular lesson was about the history of their hometown, Shadebridge.  The whole town seemed obsessed with her family's strange history...and Autumn was getting to the point where she wished they would leave it be, it was painful enough to remember her every time she went home, let alone be told about her own mother by her history teacher.

"Well,  Autumn, if you think you know more than what's written down in this book, then go ahead. Teach my class for me!" Miss Jenkings said slyly. Autumn felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, turning them as red as ripe tomatoes in summer. For what seemed like hours, she glared into Miss Jenkings' cruel eyes, a smirk forming at her lips as she relished in Autumn's clear discomfort. It wasn't until the sharp silence was interrupted, by a classmate she wasn't too familiar with, his voice slicing the thick quiet, as if it were a dense cloud.

"Excuse me Miss, but I'm pretty sure Autumn knows more about the mystery of the dead Ravenroses, as they are her own relatives.." He chimed in. Murmurs of agreement rose from the rest of the class, much to Autumn's satisfaction.

"Mason, this isn't a discussion that you are apart of, and unless you want to gift the class with an extra essay for homework, then I would keep your mouth shut if I were you" Miss Jenkings retorted. Flinging his arms up in defence, he leaned back on his chair, muttering something under his breath along the lines of 'I was just saying'.  A few giggles from the admiring girls erupted, but apart from that, the class carried on analysing the quotes in the textbook, with sources on how members of the Ravenrose family just disappeared one night.

Swiftly interrupted by Eloise Mitchells, the girl who sat to the left of her, were Autumn's troubled thoughts.  She had passed a scrunched up piece of paper, torn from her book and scribbled on it was a little note, in Eloise's sloppy handwriting.

'Sorry about your mum, if you ever want to talk about what really happened I'm here :)'

She read the note slowly, a frown forming on her freckled forehead. She looked up calmly, turned to the eager Eloise and pulled a fixed smile and mouthed 'thank you', before rolling her eyes once more and scanning her eyes over the textbook. An old photo of her mother was smiling up at her through the pages, as if everything was alright again, as if the case of Marianne Ravenrose was all an old wives tale, and that the cases of the relatives she never met were just those too. Losing a parent was the hardest thing Autumn had had to tackle in her life so far, and especially losing someone so close to her, at age 5, it was simply too painful to bear. Something so precious and personal to her, so close to her heart, was not something she planned to share with Eloise, less formally known as the school gossip, let alone the rest of Shadebridge High. The harsh reality was, Autumn knew no more about her mother's disappearance and death than her fellow classmates did...and everyone was eager to find out the truth.