A bead of sweat rolled down Autumn's face despite the cool and windy weather. The light wind blew back her brunette hair from her face and cooled her face down. With one arm resting against the open boot lid of the car, Autumn inspected the filled up space- counting the bags inside. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and straightened up. There was one bag missing.

A dragging of feet and movement in her peripheral vision made Autumn look at the open doorway of her two storey house. On the porch steps, he father was standing with a small duffel bag in his hand.

"Looking for this?" There was a teasing glint on his face as he looked at his twenty-four-year-old daughter.

Autumn's face broke out in a smile as she jogged up the path that led to the porch. She took the bag from her father's grip and slung it over her shoulder.

"Any word from Talia?" Arthur asked.

Autumn was about to shake her head when she felt a slight vibration in her jeans pocket. She took her phone out and looked at the brightened screen- showing a wallpaper containing five people of almost the same age making weird faces.

Autumn noticed a message from her adoptive sister who was older by one year. She read the text with a line between her brows and then looked up at her father.

"She said that we should leave without her and she would meet us there." Autumn sighed and ran a hand through her hair before continuing, "She has to fill in full time for her co-worker, but she'll try to make it quick."

Arthur nodded and rested an arm around Autumn's shoulder. He pulled her petite frame to his tall and lean figure and wrapped another arm around her. Autumn returned the embrace and closed her brown eyes- enjoying the comfort her father provided.

"How long will you all be gone for?"

"Roughly two or three weeks," Autumn replied with an uncertain shrug. "We'll try to stay in contact, but we don't know if there'd be any service there. It's in the middle of the forest, after all."

Arthur nodded and opened his mouth to speak when a woman appeared from behind him.

"When are you leaving?" Victoria O'Neil asked her daughter as she came to stand next to her husband. Arthur smiled at her and wrapped an arm around her.

"In about," Autumn paused as she looked down at the screen of the device in her hand; she was reading the recent messages she had received from her friends and their status, "five minutes."

Her mother pulled her in a tight hug just like her father had, and Autumn happily returned it. She knew that her parents adored her and they treated her and Talia the best. They were their miracles. They couldn't handle the thought of even one of them leaving for a while. But their daughters' adventurous personalities made that hard.

Too much pain in the past had led them to feel extremely affectionate.

"Have you taken everything? The backpacks? Snacks? All the sleeping bags? The equipm-"

"Mum," Autumn broke her mother off mid question, "I've packed everything and all the bags are in the car. Don't worry."

The lines of worry lessened from Victoria's face and her and Arthur hugged their daughter again.

After bidding her parents goodbye, Autumn walked over to her car. She put the duffel bag in the boot, closed the lid, and went ahead to sit in the driver's seat. She waved at her parents one last time and drove off.

A day ago, Raymond, her best friend, had suggested that everyone should settle down in Autumn's car. She had wanted to protest because she was being appointed as their driver, when she remembered that she was the one who was dragging them on the trip in the first place. It was a fair deal.

What Autumn hadn't expected was for everyone to pile their packed bags in her house a day before. According to them all, it was just so nothing would be left behind and no one would be forgetting any belonging. Their reasoning had made sense at the time- especially with Raymond being the master of forgetting things- but now all Autumn felt was exhaustion with a bit of annoyance. It was their way of taking revenge on her.

Wisps of cool air crashed against her face as she rolled down the windows of her car. The streets were dotted with people here and there enjoying the weather; some rushing over to some place they were supposed to be at, some maundering around with their pets. The bright leaves of the trees ruffled and fluttered as the wind played around with them. The cloudy sky concealed the sun's brightness under its veil.

Many hundred years ago, a rumour about John Marshall had spread around the town in Bath like a plague. John was a wealthy man who had gotten married at an early age- living in a mansion in the town next door. However, people had claimed that John was a psychopath who had murdered his wife and unborn child. He hadn't known what he was doing at that time, and when realisation came to him, he committed suicide out of grief and guilt.

It was said that John had always been possessive of his possessions. Anyone who ever even stepped one foot near his mansion, never returned. People disappeared after getting trapped by his restless ghost.

Autumn, nonetheless, never believed the rumours. There were many other here and there. Some said that John had forced a young girl into marriage with him before killing her. Some claimed that he was a murderer who had escaped from a prison and had killed people afterward- burying them behind the mansion. All of the tales had ended with his restless ghost lurking around the abandoned place in the town. A town that was now a home to wildness of trees and animals.

When Autumn had brought the subject of going to the haunted mansion in front of her friends, all of them had thought her to have lost her mind. They knew she couldn't live without going on any expedition at least once a month, but the idea of exploring that place had seemed far fetched. She had tried reasoning with them that it would only be some exploration; that the legend of ghost of John Marshall was all wrong and they would be the first ones to prove it.

No one had liked the idea. Her sister had left the room. Her best friend had tried to change her mind. Her girl friend, Kaylee- who was also Raymond's twin sister- had tried to console her own fiancé, Adam, who had just completely freaked out. He was the most emotional and scared one of the group.

It had taken almost a month to convince them all.

The moment Autumn parked her car in front of a single storey house, the front door opened. A young man with messy blond hair came outside with one hand holding a phone to his ear. His lips were pursed and he rolled his brown eyes as he listened to the person on the other line.

Raymond opened the door of the car and settled his athletic self in the passenger seat.

"We talked about this, Kay. I'm coming over with Autie now."

Raymond sighed as he hung up before turning to Autumn. "That was Kaylee. Adam is still making a scene and wants to stay back."

Autumn frowned. "Maybe we shouldn't go." She glanced at Raymond for a brief second before continuing, "I feel like I forced all of you and-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Raymond cut her off. It hadn't been the first time she had tried to make that statement. Yes, she had begged her friends and had convinced them to go with her, but they had been the ones who accepted.

"Autie, it's fine. You didn't force anyone into anything and we've spent a whole week planning this. No one's backing out now. I know I'm not."

Autumn blew out a puff of air and gave him a small smile before driving again. Both best friends kept up a light conversation between them until Autumn parked in front of an apartment complex. Raymond had already sent his sister and friend a text, so the moment the car stopped, they both appeared.

"Where's Talia?" Kaylee asked upon settling in the backseat when she noticed only two people inside at the front.

"She will join us later. Her co-worker took an emergency day off and she had to fill in," Raymond told the affianced couple as Autumn drove the car.

The ride was silent for a while with only music playing in the background when Adam narrowed his green eyes and looked at Autumn through the rear-view mirror.

"Autie..." he dragged the nickname.

"What?" Autumn quickly looked away from the mirror and ahead on the road.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" she asked- no more giving her friend wary glances.

"Like I would start crying and get out of this car, running for the hills."

Raymond chuckled while Kaylee rolled her eyes with a smile.

Autumn sighed. "I just don't want you to regr-"

"Nope. You're not going to say that word or I might do just that to annoy you."

After driving for almost an hour- having to stop in the middle of the road because Adam had to relieve himself- they had reached the abandoned town that was now just a forest. Looking around, all of them saw trees and trees in the wildness of the woods. There was nothing else in sight other than the dried up trees with leaves that seemed more and more wilted the further they went. The scenery had completely changed and it seemed like they had travelled somewhere else.

A shiver ran down Autumn's spine and she fidgeted in her seat- feeling immensely cold. She rolled her window up, and when the coldness didn't lessen, she looked at her friends, tense.

"Can you guys close the windows? It's getting cold in here."

Kaylee frowned. "It's not cold."

Both men agreed and Autumn felt a weird feeling creeping over her. "Oh, it must be only me then."

"You want any jacket or something?"

Autumn declined Raymond's offer and asked him to take the map out so he could direct her to the mansion.

"It's in the glove compartment," she commented.

Talia had had two maps printed out from reliable sources prior to their trip. One side of the sheet had the map of the town, while the other had the map of the mansion. She had given one to her sister, while taking the other one with herself that morning.

With the map in his hands Raymond directed Autumn to their destination. The place around them gave off sinister feelings and no one spoke a single word except for Raymond on occasion. There seemed to be no wind even when the sky was filled with gray clouds that promised a thunderstorm. The trees had bold, pointed and crooked fingers and arms going around in every twisted direction. There was no chirping of birds or crickets.

"Take the next right from here and then just keep going straight for some time," Raymond instructed and Autumn did as told.

After driving straight for a while, Raymond's next words directed Autumn to take a left which was the beginning of an uneven and bumpy track, forest on both sides. The naked trees looked eerie in between the swarm of dried and wilted leaves on the land.

Suddenly, a weird flapping sound was heard in the car.

"What's that noise?" Raymond asked the question that was already on everyone's mind. His heart took a small leap due to the suddenness.

Autumn felt a downward shift in the car and turned off the ignition before. She got out and saw a pointed rock sticking out of the deflated tyre. Her face fell and she cursed, running a hand through her hair.

"What happened?" Adam asked while getting out of the car, followed by the others.

Autumn placed her hands on her hips and replied with her lips turned down in a frown, "We've got a flat tyre."

Everyone's expression fell.

"Do you have an extra?" Kaylee asked.

"Talia does. I'll call her to ask her how long she still has," Autumn declared.

She sat down on a rock and dialed her sister's number, waiting for her to answer it, but unluckily she was left with disappointment.

"No service." A sigh escaped her mouth as she sulked even more. Raymond sat beside Autumn on a large rock by the roadside as Kaylee stood next to the car.

"Why don't we explore the area a little bit until Talia comes? We might be able to find something," Adam suggested.

In agreement, the best friends stood up. They decided that they would go into the forest while Adam and Kaylee settled on waiting for Talia and looking around from there.

"This place is creepy," Autumn commented as she looked around at the dark towering trees.

"Couldn't have said it any better," Raymond mumbled.

The fog enveloped them into its haze and they both struggled to see far in front of them; only blurry silhouettes of trees were visible. Both companions slowly walked ahead and the farther they went, the thicker the fog got. The damp wilted leaves crushed and broke under their feet. 

"I think we should just go back."

Autumn looked at Raymond who's brows were furrowed. She looked around for another second and nodded. As they both turned back around, something caught Autumn's eye. Far in a distance, among the silhouettes of the trees, a shadow of a broad figure was standing still.

Autumn's steps faltered and her heart took a sudden leap. 

"Ray?" she whispered.

"What?"

Without saying a word, she pointed in the direction, but before Raymond could even take a glimpse, they both heard a loud squeal of tyres, followed by a scream.

*****

Hey, Clumsies!

The first chapter is here! I hope you enjoyed it and would give the rest of the story a try. This is my first time writing a horror story and I hope it goes well! 

Let me know all your thoughts.

The characters?

The rumours?

The place?

Don't forget to vote and comment if you liked this.

Love you!

❤