"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.
...
Signalling the end of another long school day, the bell shrilled out, receiving a relived sigh from Autumn, as she exited the dull classroom, casually swinging her faded blue rucksack over her shoulder. She was dreading when she got home, to inform her father and Mrs Oakley all of the ridiculous theories that people have come up with, although.. at least these people had theories, something they could believe as an explanation of all her missing ancestors. With no starting point, it was all a mystery to her. With no starting point, it was hard when people expected answers. With no starting point, she wondered if she shared the same foreboding fate.
Waves of auburn cascaded over her dainty shoulders, the ends resting along her hips. The rich, dark red kissed her porcelain skin, that was showered in little ginger freckles. As she moved her fringe fell across her forehead, casting small shadows over her deep hazel eyes, her jet black eyelashes curled skywards brushing against her skin, the strong darkness intensifying her beauty. Like stars they glowed, like stars they shone, like stars they were captivating.
"Hey Autumn - Wait up!" She heard someone call, their hasty footsteps coming up behind her.
It was Mason. Light-chestnut hair lay askew on his head, peeping out from under a black beanie, and as he flicked his head, his quiff drifted up out of his face, allowing her to take in his entrancing eyes. He stood there looking at her, and as he grinned, his emerald eyes glistened like sunkissed leaves on a summers day. He had a sharp jawline, defined cheekbones, and as he smiled at her, slight dimples formed on his cheeks. Dressed casually, he wore a grey hoodie, the drawstrings hung unevenly, and his hands were buried in his black denim jeans. Honeyed skin, and those bright green eyes, Autumn couldn't help but notice how attractive he was, and she begged herself not to act differently around him like the other girls, to convince herself that she just wasn't that type of person.
"If you're going to ask me about what actually happened to my mum, her dad, his dad, and his mum, then you should book an appointment, I'm quite busy telling people no more than they already know you see" She spoke bluntly, for it was tiring when everyone believed you knew more than you were telling. For a second, Mason was taken aback, but he didn't cease the conversation.
"Hey- you're pretty funny, but that wasn't quite it sunshine, I was going to say-" But before he could continue, she had interrupted him once more.
"Are you after some thank you for what you said in history earlier, so you can be the hero I guess?" She said frankly.
"Not really no, although a thank you would be nice.." He teased, only to receive a slight glare in his general direction, causing him to chuckle.
"I'm not really in the mood for talking right now, and I could have been home by now, what do you want...Mason is it?" She asked plainly, clearly agitated by the conversation.
"Yeah, it's Mason but you can call me Ace. I just wanted you to know that I don't think Miss should be that cruel on you, what with the situation and all.." He said softly, but Autumn could feel anger rising up in her.
"You don't know what its like!" She found herself yelling at him. "You just don't know what it's like! One day, when you're just 5 years old, you wake up and your mother is gone, she's just disappeared with no explanation, can you imagine how hard to deal with that must have been? Can you? "
She was losing control of her emotions, but her anger was met with no reply, Ace just stood there quietly, listening to her rage, blinking every now and then, a far away look in his eyes. However, Autumn took his lack of response negatively, and it fuelled her anger further. She could feel the heat rising in the pit of her stomach, her brain throbbing, and hurting with the memories flooding back to her. Her hands trembled by her sides as she curled them into fists to calm them, but to no success.
"Are you even listening to me? Nobody has ever found her body, she never even said where she was going! And I never even met my grandfather! She was gone when I was 5, and I never saw her again! Do you have no sympathy, and are you so ignorant that you can't offer any comfort when I clearly need it? You're just like all the rest, you are." She said defiantly.
It was a few moments before Ace spoke gently,
"My mother died shortly after I was born, I have little to no memories of her. So will you trust me when I say I feel all the sympathy possible towards you?"
Autumn felt her cheeks burn the colour of her hair, as she realised how insensitive she had been. She had blown up in this poor boy's face, unleashed her tiger of rage, without knowing him, or his story. She felt the guilt heavily in her heart. This boy had hardly even met his own mother, and she felt lucky to have at least spent 5 years with hers.
"I am so sorry" She confessed, uncomfortably, overcome with iniquity. "I didn't realise"
"You didn't realise" He repeated, turning his back on her, pulling up his hood to hide his face, and stalking off down the lane, leaving Autumn stood on the pavement, in her culpability, with the harsh cold wind biting at her bones.