The ring in her alarm woke Autumn up. Rubbing her tired eyes, she plopped on her elbows. Peaches yawned, refusing to let Autumn up. "Up, Peach," she coaxed her fur baby, but he refused to get up.
"We both can't keep being this lazy, Peachy. I should get a job before I run out of my savings," she scratched his belly. The dog smiled, "if not, we both will have to eat mud," she pouted.
"Do you think I will?" she continued patting her puppy, but the dog only cuddled more into her body in response. "I am lucky to get a scholarship, and the on-campus job helped me a bit, but I don't know how long those will sustain us," she talked to herself. Sighing, she put her feet on the ground and felt them sticky. Scrunching her brows, she lifted her feet. A white thread connected her feet to the floor. The girl had no idea why her floor was messy. As far as she remembered, she always kept it clean. "What is this?" she hopped into the restroom to wash her feet.
She put a dollop of toothpaste on her brush and turned it on. The dog whined and walked back in, "did you pee on the floor last night?" she knew Peaches peed outside. She potty trained him young. The dog didn't answer. He royally ignored her and walked to his feeding bowl to demand his breakfast.
She grabbed a mop and water and wiped her floor. That is when her gaze caught onto the flower resting on top of her nightstand. Throwing the mop and water bucket on the floor, she picked up the flower in her hands. Her brows creased in confusion, "what kind of flower is this?" she clutched the stalk and brought it to her nose. "Dahlia?" she made an educated guess.
"But why is it black? And more importantly, who left it here?" she didn't think much of it, considering Peaches had a habit of bringing random things inside. Her baby once got a raccoon inside, the girl had a heart attack when she found it in the living room, and Peaches had a proud look on his face. She tried hard to chase that animal out of the house while he sat on the couch like the king he was. She was going to punish him, but he made that cute puppy face, and she couldn't just follow through with that punishment. Instead, he got multiple kisses and many treats for being cute and just existing.
Thinking it was Peaches, she trashed the flower and got ready to head out to the library. She packed her work tote and grabbed her baby. She unlocked the door only to find a bouquet, Black Dahlia's and red roses on her porch. She took the bouquet in her hands, "to my Black Dahlia" was written on a note neatly tucked in between the flowers.
She wasn't sure if it was for her. Why would anyone send flowers to her? She isn't unique; the only man in her life is Nicholas. He is more of an "I will end you if you don't like me" kind of guy. She was sure Nick would never show this romantic gesture toward her.
Her dog whining got her attention, "do you think I have a secret admirer Peachy?" she wiggled her eyebrows, and the god gave her a side eye, "what? You don't think I am worthy of having one?" she put the bouquet inside on her table and locked the door. She was flattered. This was the first time anyone had ever sent something surprising to her house. The girl's naivety was going to be her ruin.
She dropped her dog off at Rowena's house, and they both sauntered toward the library. "What's up?" Rowena chuckled, seeing Autumn's radiant face.
"I got flowers today," Autumn excitedly spoke.
"From?" Rowena tapped her ID on the door.
"I don't know," she followed her friend and tapped her ID on the slot.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Rowena unhooked her backpack from her shoulder and sat in the chair.
"I opened the door, and they were there right before me," Autumn was shocked and flattered. Rowena could tell.
"And you are happy about it. Why?" Rowena raised her eyebrow, taking her laptop out of the bag.
"I don't know because I've never received flowers before." Autumn turned her laptop on and began applying on LinkedIn. She knew her life was plain and straightforward; she had never had a boyfriend before and probably never would. She never considered Nick as her boyfriend. So, these tiny acts were enough to make her feel special.
"Was there an address? A name tag or even an indication of who sent it?" Rowena wasn't as impressed as Autumn was. She was sure there was something odd about this. They wouldn't send nameless, faceless cards unless someone wanted to mess with you.
"Nope," Autumn popped the p. "I mean, it is not every day you receive flowers, Black Dahlia's in particular."
"Black Dahlia's?" Rowena chuckled.
"Yep," Autumn was unsure why Rowena was so stuck on this topic.
"I think you should let the campus police know," Rowena knew an odd case when she saw one.
"Why?" Autumn turned her attention from the screen to her friend.
"Because Atty. Black Dahlia's aren't associated with romantic intentions. They are associated with betrayal, sadness, and murder," she knew her friend would never doubt anyone.
"Murder?" it was Autumn's turn to scoff.
"Yes, there was a case in America in 1947 where the killer left Black Dahlia near a woman's dead body. It was a famous case," she typed Elizabeth Short's name and turned the screen for Autumn to look at.
"Are you saying that somehow this person is after me?" she couldn't believe that her friend would think a serial killer was after her. "You do know that the odds of that happening are next to 0?" Autumn didn't know the ways of the world yet. She thought the world was beneficial and to take care of her.
"No, I am saying that a psychopath might have done this to you," Rowena turned the laptop back to her.
"I don't think so, Ro. It is just a coincidence, or someone might have just made a wrong delivery," she didn't want to think more about it.
"At least tell your parents?" was more of a question than a suggestion.
"No, Ro. They will immediately take me back. I don't want to go back," she didn't want to get into that topic. "Besides, we don't know if your theory is correct," she zoned out. Ever since April disappeared, she had a rough time. Sometimes she tried so hard not to dwell that her family blamed her, but she knew they did. Her mother and father never pointed it out, but she detected a change in their behavior after. She lied to herself, telling her mind that her parents didn't blame her. This was her mind's way of protecting her from unwanted truth.
They were distant and kept it to themselves, they gave her what she wanted, but she sensed something was lacking. They were the sweetest couple to exist, but she sometimes wondered if they thought the same as their relatives thought of her. Her extended family was the worst. Her cousins made it a point to let her know that it was her they wanted to disappear instead of April.
Autumn had developmental issues as a child, which she was sure were carried into her adult life. She worked twice as hard as naturally gifted individuals, but still, she lacked the perception to understand certain things.
The topics that someone grasped in an hour would take her extra two to three hours. She wasn't pretty as her sister, nor was she brilliant or brightest in the bunch. She was weak in Math and English, which made her the least favorite among the elders in her family. She was slow in information uptake. Her friends would make fun of her for being unable to understand simple things. She would fall behind at school and had trouble memorizing information, which was unforgivable according to her family. In a family of doctors, engineers, and other high-earning individuals, Autumn was a black sheep, a disappointment.
Holidays were her least favorite time of the year. Her aunts, grandparents, and uncles would purchase presents according to the kids' grades in a school year. Autumn never received any gifts from them, which is their way of telling her she didn't deserve them. While all the kids flaunted their presents, she spent her time doing math or English in her room. Her tiny mind couldn't understand that her parents subconsciously blamed her and themselves.
While Autumn had a hard time, April was the complete opposite. She was the Belle of the ball, charming, chirpy, and would turn heads everywhere she went. She was well-loved by her family and never vilified for not doing her best. She was in the top 3 percent of her class, with extra circulars and seminars under her belt. You name it, and she was everywhere, which was why it was hard for her to exist after her sister went missing. Many people accused her of being jealous of her elder sister. Those things did not make sense to her as a child, but as she grew up, she understood what they meant.
She remembered the first holiday after April went missing. Everyone gathered in the living room while she was in her room all by herself. She tip-toed into the kitchen to get some water when she heard her grandfather telling her mother that they should get rid of Autumn and try for another child.
She remembered his exact words, "I do know our bloodline was corrupted somewhere. That is why Autumn has issues. You should get rid of her and try for another child. Maybe this time, we will have a perfect gene pool," were his exact words. Her mother denied it, but the woman was more complicated than Autumn admitted. There were phases where she would shut herself and Autumn out too. Treat Autumn like she didn't exist. And there were phases where she would show undeniable affection to Autumn. The girl began to mold herself per her mother's behavior and acted accordingly.
She doubted every time her mother told her I love you, making her wonder if it was a phase too. Nevertheless, she responded to their every I love you, not wanting to hurt them. She never dwelled on it but knew her relationship with her parents was complicated. She never blamed them. She put herself in their shoes and understood they might be sad inside as their precious daughter went missing. She was willing to talk to them and make them know that it was okay if they blamed her because she blamed herself too.
"Atty," Rowena's words snapped her out of her trance. "Are you okay?" Rowena was concerned for her friend.
"Yeah," her voice croaked, and she cleared her throat.
"As I was saying, you should be careful, Atty. I think you should watch your back. I know this might sound paranoid on my part, but better safe than sorry." Rowena had a concerned look. Autumn nodded, not wanting to continue this conversation further.
...............
Quantico, FBI office......
Dressed in his finest suit, Eric stepped inside his supervisor's office. The excitement that he got evidence against his nemesis was evident on his face. He threw the file on his boss's desk, "what is the meaning of this?" his director didn't even lift his head to look at what it was.
"I think you should look at it," Eric pushed the phone toward the older man. "The evidence we need to arrest Zyler Stone" this made the director clutch his head.
"Eric," he shook his head.
"Look at it, Mr. Haupt," he persuaded his director.
There were pictures of burnt bodies. One of them had the name tag of Ingram Bolt under it. "This proves nothing," the director dismissed the evidence.
"It is his M.O., sir. This is how he acts. We have seen it before. We knew from our previous investigation that this is how he kills people." he had placed some of his men in Zyler's team, and they saw Zyler taking Ingram somewhere.
The director inhaled deeply. Eric had been on Zyler's tail for many years. He had family and kids. He told his assistant many times to forget it and live his life.
"Eric, I told you to forget it. You have family, Eric. You don't want to stir the hornet's nest," the director was irritated now.
"So, you are telling me to forget that he killed 4 FBI agents in the past and keeps killing people as he pleases?" Eric slammed his fist on the table. This riled the director up.
"You are dumb, Eric. So, fucking dumb," his face was red with anger. "This is not black and white. If you want to live, you need to look over some things. I want you to forget this. Ingram called it when he decided to tap into Zyler's business. We might have evidence, but I am telling you, the second you arrest him. There will be people at your house. They will drag your family outside and chop them into pieces. Are you willing to sacrifice it?" he kicked his chair back and yelled at Eric. This man was asking for death.
Composing himself, the director advised, "take it from someone who has been in this field for 30 years, unless you have video evidence from Zyler himself, you can do nothing. I repeat nothing," he tore the file to pieces and threw it in the trash. This pissed Eric off so much.
"You know, Sir. As long as people like you exist, there will be no justice for people like my colleagues. The pictures on the wall won't give them the justice they deserve. That is not acknowledging their service," he pointed to the pictures of his colleagues who died in Zyler's hands.
"The day we avenge them is when they get justice. I hope this weighs on your soul, sir. I hope this destroys you," slamming his fist on his table, he kicked the door open and walked out of the office angrily and disappointed.
I want to clarify a few things. Autumn's relationship with her parents is complicated. This is expected after you have disturbances in the family. In the first chapter, it appears as if they loved her, but it is per their terms. Do they love her? Even they aren't sure.
She is not smart, but the girl is very kind and understanding. She might appear bright, but she is very slow to understand the way of the world.
Well, what do you think of this chapter? More likes for more updates...