Autumn Brooks awoke up from the racket of his father's car, pulling away. A cold breeze was gusting through his room of the half-open cracked window. He tosses over to his side, picking up his phone. "Shit", he rambled as he jumps out of his bed, realizing he was late for school. He grabbed the nearest clean clothes he could find in his closet. Everything was normal about his morning, besides absents of homemade breakfast and a parent preparing it for him. Autumn lived alone with his father for years after his mother died on Christmas Eve. His father has blamed him for her passing ever since. Autumn ran to the bathroom, fixed his dark brown hair, and did everything he could to make him not look homeless. He searched around his room for his bag. The over piling of clothes and a messy desk made it hard for him to find anything. He found his backpack under his bed and called Zia as he rushes downstairs. The living room seems clouded and dark as his father left everything closed. "Great, you answered", he said, grabbing some toast that his father made but most probably didn't have time to eat. "You late again?" Zia asked as the noise of her vehicle resounded through Autumn's ears. "I overslept, and he didn't wake me" "As usual", Zia commented. "Yeah", Autumn's voice lowered. "Are you too far away, or can you still pick me up?" he asked, making his way to the front door taking his spare key and locking the door after him. "I'm not that far away, so you gotta wait for a few minutes." Zia explained. "That's great, see you now." he dropped the call and waited for Zia to arrive. He scrolled through his social media page as every normal teenager would do, but his mind was trying to make sense of the dreams he had for the past week. His eyes glanced up as he saw a guy coming out of his house across the road. A bit taller than him, dark hair and wearing a bit too much of dark-colored clothes. He caught himself staring too long at the guy as he made it out of their pathway unto the sidewalk. Autumn realizes that it's not because of his affection for guys that he was staring so long. It was because the guy looked and seemed familiar. Autumn finds himself walking down onto the sidewalk to get a better look at the guy as he disappears down the road. Zia pulled up next to him and yelled at him to get in. "Geez Geez, can you get a grip on yourself", he said getting into the front. "I would if you put your alarm on your damn phone." Zia pulled away as fast as she could with Autumn complaining about her speed. "Last night was the only time I could get sleep in.", Autumn said, holding onto his seat belt. "The dreams again?" Autumn finds himself trying to remember the one thing that has been keeping him up for the past week. The sharp flashing lights. The heavy breathing and the most uncommon thing, dirt. "Yes, every night still the same. I'm starting to think that I'm going mental." he said. "For what it's worth if you are mental, your dad can just book you into one those shitty mental hospitals, and you'll be free of him." Autumn smirked at the thought of the idea of his father doing something for him. Even if it's booking him into a mental hospital. "As if he'll ever let me go." Zia saw the distressed look on his face when he said it. "I don't understand why don't you just move out and stay with one of us. You do know that we all are willing to let you live by us. You don't have to endure his abuse, Autumn." He knew Zia had a point, and he could just leave whenever he wanted to. "She would not want me to. She wouldn't want him to be alone." He could feel himself lying. He stays because a part of him blames himself as well. "That's bullshit, and you know it", Zia stated. "If she knew all the shit you had to endure because of your dad. She would have dragged your ass out of that house herself." It's true. She would've. He thought. "Anyways", he said, changing the conversation. "There is this guy who lives across me -" Autumn got interrupted when Zia hooted at the jocks in the driveway at school. "Don't they know this space is for vehicles, not damn jocks?" They got out of the car, and Zia realized Autumn was om the middle of speaking. "So, what guy were you stalking?" "I wasn't stalking him. He came out of his house, which is across mine for some reason, and I had this weird feeling that I have seen him somewhere. Like we met before." He said, trying to keep up with Zia. "So you are stalking him", She said, raising her eyebrows. "I'm not. It just was some weird feeling I had when I saw him." They walked down the hallway approaching their lockers. "So to clear things up for you, just greet him or talk to him when you see him. Maybe you saw him somewhere or hooked up with him once." Autumn knew he never hooked up with him or anyone on that matter. "So you expect me to walk up to him and talk to him", he said, closing his locker door after taking out his math books. "Maybe you'll remember where you saw him from", Zia said, checking her phone. Autumn got nervous by the idea and started feeling anxious. "Maybe," he said, unsure. "I got to meet up with Xavier and Annalee before class starts. You coming with?" Autumn nodded his head. "You do know you guys have to speak at one point, right?" "I know that. Just not now." he said, leaning against the locker. "Sometimes, I wonder what happened to all of us because I have no clue." Zia said. "You know what, me too." Autumn responded. Zia greeted him and said they'll meet up later and left. Autumn watched her walk away and made his way to class. "You do know it's impolite to stare at people, right?" Autumn's heart halted, and a cold chill ran through his back. He remembered that voice, his voice. He turned around and stood in front of the guy. The guy from earlier. "Just be careful who you look at," he said and walked on. Autumn was frozen in his tracks. He knew him. He seemed familiar but couldn't place his face, just like the constant void inside him.
Evan Stone opened the front door of his house and glanced over his shoulder. He saw Autumn enter his house and closed the door behind him. Evan went inside and sat down by the window, trying to see if he could spot Autumn. "Making new friends?" A voice asked behind him. It was from Austin. "More like catching up with some old ones," he said, closing the curtain's one side. "So what brings you here, brother?" Evan hugged Austin and patted him on his back. "Well, I was in town, and I wondered what you were up to, but I could see you have your hands full stalking your neighbors," Austin said, pointing at the window. "It's not stalking if you know the person", Evan commented sarcastically. "You know what happens if you get too close, right? Dark shit happens Evan.", Evan got frustrated and strolled past his brother. "You know what happened to me." Austin could see the anger in his eyes floating around, just waiting for release. "I know, but you can't blame anyone for that, Evan. It's your mess. That you made." Evan knew Austin had a point, but his emotions are long gone, just like his soul. "They want you to come back, Evan.", Evan looked at Austin with fear in his eyes. "So this is why you came", Austin lowered his head after seeing the disappointment in his brother's eyes. "They heard what you did, and they are requesting you to come back." Evan felt the anger brawling up in him. "You know what they did to us. To mom and dad! They threw us out the moment they found out": The loud door knock startled both of them. "Who the hell is that?" Austin asked, reaching into the pocket of his jacket. "I don't know", Evan said, staring at the door. "Also, it's no need for that." Evan walked up to the door as the knocking got louder. He opened the door with Xavier standing inside of it, looking confused.
"Sorry, I thought this is Autumn's house," Xavier said, locking eyes with both of them. "It's the one across the road." Evan corrected him, pointing to Autumn's house. "Thanks... I'm sorry for the mix-up. I just haven't been in the neighborhood for a long time." Xavier said and turned around after he saw Austin reaching deeper into his jacket pocket. "Tell Autumn I said Hi", Evan said and closed his door. "You need to leave Evan before it's too late. You don't need to continue playing this game. You can get out." Austin sat down in their father's old dusty brown chair. "I'm already too far in this." He said, watching Autumn opening the door for Xavier.
Xavier stepped inside after Autumn welcomed him in. "So what brings you here, Xavier. I mean, we haven't spoken in months, and here you are, at my house." Xavier stood with his hands inside of his pockets, leaning against the wall. "Annalee.", Autumn felt his chest closing up. The last thing he wanted was to get involved in their problems. "What's wrong?" Xavier positioned himself right and started pacing up and down. "She hasn't been herself for weeks. She has been complaining of headaches and seeing a dead body in her dreams. Saying stuff like her mind was erased, and she knows what happened, and when I asked her, she looks at me as if I am mad, and I asked her something insane. Her parents want to send her away, but I'm soft soaping them by telling them she's under a lot of stress. I don't know what to do anymore, Autumn." The air around them thinned out, and Autumn could feel the heaviness pressing against his chest. "How long has she had the dreams?" was the first thing he asked? "About a week ago", Xavier said, sliding his hand through his blond hair. "Same as me," Autumn whispered under his breath. "I don't understand. Why haven't Zia told me anything about this?" Xavier went silent and finally spoke, "Well, Zia hasn't been herself as well." Xavier's words hit hard as Autumn tries to comprehend what he was just told. "She has forgotten things," Autumn said. "Exactly.", Xavier exclaimed.
Autumn sat down, trying to find answers in his pool of problems, trying to make sense of everything he has been missing. "Also", Xavier added with Autumn having his full attention. "I was looking for your house when I came, and I sort of ended up at the house across the road." Autumn raised from the chair and walked to the window. "He said I should say hi. Do you even know him?" Xavier could feel the anxiety off of Autumn. "I don't, but for some weird reason, I remember him. Like I have met him before." Autumn closes the curtains when he saw Evan came out of the house. "I don't know what the fuck is going on with us, but I know there is something wrong with that guy. I can't explain to you how or why." Xavier watched as Autumn walked from one window to the other. "Autumn, I just think that you kind of overreacting at the moment. You are acting the exact way Annalee was." "There is something wrong with all of us, Xavier, and I missed it. Something keeps fucking with us, and it only feels like it is the beginning." Autumn rushed to the door and swung it open.
Evan stood in the driveway as Austin disappeared down the road. Xavier rushed out and stopped in his tracks when he saw Evan. Evan gazed at both of them before turning around and going back inside. Autumn felt the urge to run after him, but he couldn't move. "Autumn", Xavier said heavily breathing. Autumn's eyes were locked on Evans's closed-door until he heard Xavier scream his name. "What!" he shouted. "That's Evan. Evan Stone.", Xavier cried out. "You mean Evan who -", Autumn and Xavier felt their heartbeat slowing down and their brain experiencing a burning sensation. Evan stood in the window as they crumbled onto the ground, unconscious.