The tabloids couldn’t know.
They just couldn’t.
Autumn had failed to follow the man and was miserable when she realised she only knew what he wore, and what the back of him looked like.
But one thing marked him different; a tattoo on the nape of his neck in the shape of a cobra – or at least some sort of snake. Despite the fact that Autumn had been watching him from afar when she chased after him, her eyesight was unusually sharp and the tattoo was easily spotted as his hair was short.
By the time Autumn had returned, nobody had taken much notice of her absence except for Will who knew better than to add to the panic of the situation.
“Autumn!” Will cried out, scrambling up to the bedraggled actress whose face was red beyond belief. “What happened?! Where the hell did you go?”
Autumn stared up into those crystal blue eyes of his and let out a breathless sigh. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”
Will frowned at the brief answer but nonetheless took it as a hint that Autumn didn’t want to talk about it. He also noticed she didn’t have her dress on. “Where’s your dress . . . ?”
“I ditched it,” Autumn said plainly. “Can you come with me to get it?”
Will shook his head disbelievingly. “Come on – where is it?”
“Back of the school,” she whispered fearfully. Taking his hand, she ran on wobbly legs until they were alone in the corridors at the back of the school.
The violet dress was in a messy heap but still intact when she picked it up.
“Well, ask me what you want to know,” she said timidly, seriously acting like her shy character of Hailey.
“Where did you go?” he demanded. “Why?” He blanched, remembering Autumn’s uncanny prediction before the gunshot rang out. “How?” Autumn’s jaw trembled and soon she had broken down with Will desperately trying to calm her down. “Autumn . . .”
“I don’t know,” she blubbered. “I felt light-headed and I felt nervous. Then the gunshot and then Jenna and then I saw someone so I had to go after them! I think it was him but I’m not so sure and now – and now Jenna’s dead!”
“You don’t know that,” Will said in a trembling voice. “Autumn –”
“And she gave me . . . this,” Autumn choked out, uncurling her tight fist. The paper crumpled in her hand lay there motionlessly. “And her last words . . .” She shook her head miserably. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“In this twisted world, nothing ever does,” he said soothingly and rubbed her back. “Come on, let’s get you back and eat something – Opal’s going through Hell without you.”
Autumn squeezed her eyes shut and clung onto Will desperately. Never in her life had she ever needed to face such drama!
Such real, pure, heart-wrenching drama . . .
Will tightened his arms around the small frame of the actress and rested his chin atop of her head. He too, cared for Jenna deeply as a friend and it was devastating to find that she had been shot.
But the message she had given Autumn . . . perhaps they could give it to the police and see if they can do anything about it? Will still didn’t know what it said but was afraid to push Autumn’s limits.
After a few more minutes, the sirens had ceased yet the tension had started to build and reached the pair in the abandoned, empty corridor.
Autumn sniffled and pulled away with a bleary smile. “Thanks Will.” She reluctantly picked herself up and bunched the dress under one arm. She crumpled the letter up in her hand, unwilling to read it just yet.
They made it back to the set to find the chaos had died down. Opal was weeping her eyes out in the corner, Solomon was on his phone with his agent and numerous cast members had started to grieve over the loss of a beautiful, talented actress – not to mention their female lead.
Kendall . . . Kendall, Autumn guessed, had gone after Jenna; Kendall always did have a persuasive charm that not many could resist so now wonder they let him on without being family.
Several stage hands were trying to calm the distraught actress down but she screamed at them, unable to help herself.
“Come on,” Will said, grabbing Autumn’s hand as though he was her older brother, trying to soothe his little sister. “Opal is seriously going through Hell.”
Autumn had no guts or energy to even smile at the joke. She stumbled across set, avoiding the rush of the crew darting about, trying to calm things down.
“Opal?” Autumn rasped out, crumpling the piece of paper further into her hands. “Opal –”
Opal burst into another round of tears, running into Autumn with full force and knocked her back a few steps. Her thick light-brown hair dug under Autumn’s chin, tickling it briefly. “Sh-Sh-She’s –”
“Going to be fine,” Autumn reassured her unconvincingly and wrapped the poor actress into a hug. “They’re doing what they can.”
Of course Autumn was lying; she couldn’t tell Opal, who was very close to Jenna, that she had died in her arms and left her a note . . .
Autumn’s fist tightened around it protectively while she rubbed at Opal’s back furiously. “It’s gonna be fine.”
The entire filming had been delayed for a month; Autumn couldn’t believe it.
She had gotten a text and letter from Jamie and was mortified; a month wasn’t long enough!
A month was definitely not long enough to get over Jenna’s death, the chaos and the mystery. Already word had gotten out that someone was shot but nobody knows who. It wouldn’t be long before the tabloids leak out and that Jenna’s death would go viral.
The whole world would probably spaz out and that would turn everything even more hectic than the moment that gunshot rang out!
Autumn frowned, sniffling as another stray tear rolled down her cheek. Her fingers were trembling, resting shakily above the little square plastic keys as the glow of the laptop shone in her face.
Will had comforted Autumn and Opal during the entire day at the set as they didn’t want to cause any alarm for the bystanders who happened to see the commotion of emergency services. All the crew had been sent home and the set and entire filming had been delayed and shut down in order to regain their composure.
A month.
Autumn stared longingly at the small ball of paper crumpled up atop of her desk. It hadn’t been touched since yesterday when she had first received it and now it was early in the morning, still untouched. She knew that Will was desperate to know what would be in the note and what it would do for Autumn. And more importantly; why had Jenna given it to her? Why not Kendall? Will? Jamie? Opal even?
Autumn flashed through the very last moments of Jenna’s precious life, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Pushing through the crowd carelessly; crying at the fallen and dying form of Jenna; clutching at her hand that was slowly losing warmth . . . had it been a coincidence that Jenna gave the note to her?
Or was it deliberate?
Shaking her head, she wiped away the tears and pushed the laptop off her lap and onto the warm covers.
It was nearing the end of March and Autumn had come; ironic how the season matched her name.
Autumn never found out why her parents named her – well it wasn’t like they had any time to spend with her.
“Autumn?”
Her dark head snapped up, eyes wide and alert. “Noelle?”
Noelle it was, poking her head around the door with a frown on her face. “What are you doing up so early?”
Autumn’s lower lip quivered uncontrollably, tears blurring her vision. “N-N-Nothing. I j-just have a weird internal alarm clock.” She paused, eyeing the saddened look on her nanny’s face. “Did they tell you?”
Noelle nodded slowly, creeping into the room and curled up next to Autumn, wrapping her into a hug. “Oh Autumn . . . what happened to Jenna was just something unbelievable; I’m surprised anybody had the guts to do that.”
Autumn stiffened, salty droplets rolling down her cheeks continuously once more. Noelle didn’t know about the note and that Autumn had pursued whom she suspected was the murderer; only Will knew about the pursuit and the note.
“Noelle,” Autumn said slowly, avoiding eye contact and stared at the sleek silver company name engraved into the lid of her laptop. “Can we watch some of those cop and detective movies?”
Noelle raised an eyebrow. “You never liked them; you even starred in one episode of some series and you said that everything is fake.”
Autumn’s cheeks reddened involuntarily. “I just . . . something stupid will get my mind off things.”
Noelle’s eyes softened. “Sure thing, kiddo. Let’s have a movie-fest all day – just you and me.”
When Noelle left the room, Autumn opened up her laptop, the soft glow illuminating her face. She typed in Google’s URL and searched ‘Mysteries’ in the engine.
This was going to be a long day.
Autumn was surprised when the first half of the day, she and Noelle had spent all their time watching black and white old movies with bad quality and crap acting . . . well some of them were.
But the plots were so twisted and interesting, Autumn couldn’t help but be anticipating the detective’s next move.
Old movies weren’t really Autumn’s interest; they took place in the past and were a part of fictional history. History wasn’t part of Autumn’s passion.
The man in the suit walked through the streets hurriedly on the screen of the TV and Autumn immediately guessed he was the criminal.
What really captured Autumn’s interest was never knowing who the criminal or thief would be in the end; it always had Autumn guessing.
Half an hour later, they had finished three and a half bags of popcorn and it was almost two in the afternoon. The movie had ended with a terrific finish and Noelle caught Autumn smiling.
“So? You all right now?” Noelle questioned softly, scrunching up the empty bags of popcorn into a big fist.
A lump rose in her throat and yet she forced a smile and nodded slowly. “Yeah. Turn on the next lot.”
Noelle rose and stretched with a big yawn. “They’re up in the attic so if you hear a crash, it’s the bats.” She winked. “I’ll be back soon.”
And with that, she just left, her feet slowly dragging her up the stairs.
Autumn let out a sigh, resting her head in one hand and lay sideways on the couch. The TV had been turned to a random channel and advertisements were constantly piling in endlessly, annoying the hell out of her. Autumn was secretly glad that Noelle had agreed to watch all these movies with her; they would somehow help Autumn into clearing out what happened to Jenna.
Not that Noelle needed to know that.
Another sigh escaped her lips, the lump slowly dying down in her throat. She needed to go see Will or Opal some time so that she could make sure neither of them did anything stupid – more like make sure Opal didn’t go crazy and say something stupid to the tabloids.
Autumn sat up tiredly and staggered onto her feet, pushing aside several curtains. Light poured in, hurting her eyes until she blinked and managed to adjust. It was raining heavily, much to her dismay, and the grey clouds rolling in only added to the depressing atmosphere in the house.
Maybe after the rest of the day spending time watching movies, Autumn could do something with the untouched note and possibly do something for Jenna. Her death wasn’t coincidental –
A large beeping noise shocked Autumn out of her dazed trance, heart firing up nervously. When she realised it was just her ringtone, she let out a breathless sigh and reached for the sleek Blackberry.
“Hello?” she answered softly, feeling timid and uncertain.
“Autumn? This is you right?” Will mused with a frown in his voice. “You okay?”
She nodded to herself though felt stupid seeing as he couldn’t hear her. “Yes, I’m fine. I . . . I’ve just been distracted –”
A loud clang burst from above Autumn, scaring her out of her skin.
“Don’t worry!” Noelle yelled, her voice muffled by a thick layer of dust. “I’m fine!”
Autumn smiled dryly, shaking her head. “Yeah I’m fine actually. You?”
“Good,” Will replied hastily. “Look, you didn’t exactly talk to me properly yesterday when you can stumbling back without your dress and I should really get an explanation; what happened to you?”
Autumn’s blood ran cold, her hands starting to shake. Right, Will never found out why she had run off and what the note in her hand was all about. She shook her head. She was just getting all worked up for nothing!
“Uh yeah sure,” she stammered nervously. “When?”
Will paused before replying warmly. “At the local café a few blocks from your house and mine; ten in the morning?” Her mind immediately reverted to the warm café where it stunk of coffee.
“Sounds good,” she whispered, her throat dry.
Well . . . it wasn’t a big deal right? Just a note and an explanation as to why she ran away; that’s it.
Right?