"Ray?" Autumn called out. There was no answer.

She entered the room slowly and looked around, picking the bags up from the floor. A moment later, she turned around and exited the room.

"Raymond?" She called out louder than before. Still, there was no answer.

Leaving the bags on the edge of the stairs, Autumn surveyed the whole floor and, upon not finding any sign on her best friend, she looked for him on the upper floor. Her heart clenched everytime she opened an empty room.

She couldn't find him anywhere. It was like he had disappeared from the face of earth.

On her way downstairs, Autumn grabbed the bags and made her way towards the main entrance. The double doors were wide open and Adam was standing outside with his arms crossed and a frown marring his features.

"What happened?" Adam asked.

Autumn let out a weary sigh and answered as she speed-walked to the door, "I-I don't know. Raymond's not here."

If it was possible, Adam's frown deepened, "What do you mean he's ‘not here’?"

"I mean exactly what I said. Raymond's gon-"

The rest of the sentence got caught in Autumn's throat as the double mahogany door in front of her swung shut with so much force that it made the whole house shake. The wood creaked and the walls cracked. Both Autumn and Adam stumbled back with the barrier between them.

The bag was dropped unceremoniously on the floor as Autumn ran to the door and twisted the handle. Panic seized her when the door remained jammed. Hysterically, as she tried the handle again, only to fail once more.

"Adam!?"

"Autie? Autumn, what's going on?" Adam asked as he tried the handle himself. His voice was muffled to his friend locked inside.

Autumn was about to give a reply to her friend when she saw a flash of something white from her peripheral vision. She whirled around, her eyes searching.

"Autumn!?" Adam's volume rose with his worry but Autumn still didn't reply. His fists banged on the door but Autumn didn't register any of it. Her focus was completely on the indiscernible phantom.

Not finding anything, Autumn turned her attention back to the rattling door. She was about to assure her friend of her safety when a hand grabbed her from behind.

Autumn froze. The hand was resting in the same spot it had every time before. The same spot her bruise was in. She whimpered as she felt the area burn, but it was gone in a second. It was like nothing happened and the hand disappeared.

Her shoulders sagged in relief for a brief moment, when suddenly she was whisked back and thrown in the air. She flew back and crashed in the stairs. A cry of agony was pulled out of her as the collision took place and she left the land of consciousness; unknown to the ramming of Adam’s shoulder against the doors.

A few minutes passed when Autumn gained consciousness. She groaned and rubbed her head as her eyes fluttered open to complete and utter darkness. Her brows furrowed as she got up in a sitting position and looked around herself. There was nothing visible in the dark place except for a faint red-orange halo in a distance.

Ignoring her throbbing head, Autumn got up and walked over to the dim lighting. As she got closer, she noticed that it was a candle on a small bedside table. She picked it up and looked around the place for the first time with some light. It was a bedroom in the mansion similar to hers. The only different thing was its size and the king-sized bed.

Autumn looked around confused. She didn’t remember being there before. Was it one of the locked rooms? How did she get there? What was happening? The questions surfaced in her mind.

"Hello?" Autumn's voice echoed in the place that seemed to be getting bigger around her. There was no response. She gulped and let out a shaky breath. The room was cold.

A chill ran down her spine as a door creaked open with a screech behind her. Autumn froze and slowly turned around to face the open wardrobe.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she anticipated what was to come next. When nothing happened, she took small hesitant steps toward the wardrobe. Once she got close enough, the door slammed shut and she jumped in surprise. Autumn bit back a whimper as the aforementioned object started to rock back and forth slowly. Its doors rattled as the shaking turned violent and violent. The broken window of the room immediately opened on its own and a strong wind started howling, making the glass shake. All the furniture also started vibrating rapidly in its place.

Autumn dropped the candle and covered her ears with her hands but the noise only got louder and the motion only got vicious. Overwhelmed by fright, she started hyperventilating. Her breathing laboured and she squeezed her eyes shut.

Not being able to bear it anymore, Autumn screamed.

At once, all the ruckus stopped. Slowly, Autumn opened her eyes and uncovered her ears, looking around in the pitch black darkness. For a while, nothing happened. There was a deafening silence draped over the room. Autumn stayed rooted to her spot.

Then, with an agonizing slow speed, the door of the wardrobe in front of her opened. A barely audible happy squeal came from somewhere within the wardrobe. Autumn’s eyes widened at the suddenness of it. The voice slowly got louder and louder- coming closer to her until Autumn felt as if everything was everywhere around her. At first, there were incoherent sentences along with some other voices but then everything slowly got clear. Every word. Every sound. Every emotion. Everything.

Slightly dazed, Autumn tilted her head to the side and took a small step towards the opened door. As she looked in the darkness, she saw nothing and everything.

-

"John!" a young girl squealed. She had an angelic voice that could easily turn heads. She laughed and ran away from the boy of her age. John followed her.

Another squeal escaped the girl's mouth as John wrapped his arm around her and pulled her off the ground. He spun around in circles making the girl in his arms giggle.

"John! Stop it or I won't talk to you! I'm serious!"

Suddenly, John stopped, released her, and dramatically fell on the ground, clutching his heart. "You wound me, my Grace. My heart is bleeding!"

Grace rolled her eyes and looked away with a smile, hiding her flushed cheeks from her love. Without another word, she started walking towards the fountain in the park. Seeing this, John stood up and jogged after her.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to himself once they reached the edge of the fountain. Grace bit back a smile and leaned back in his chest, sighing in relief.

They both stood there for a while before John reluctantly let go of her and turned her around. He brushed Grace's cheek and smiled down at her.

"Marry me, love."

The whispered words froze Grace. Her eyes widened as she looked up at John before smiling a big smile.

"Yes."

-

A pained cry cut through the silence that had engulfed the house. The sound of agony was followed by unstoppable muffled sobs.

A moment later, there was a pause in the person’s crying as they heard a sound. The person got up and walked over to the window before opening it up.

"John? What are you doing here?"

Without a word, John got inside the room through the window and hugged Grace. Grace hugged him back and started crying again.

"I can't take it anymore, John. I can't," she whimpered.

John rubbed her back with a frown. He was worried.

"You don't have to, my love. I've made arrangements with my father’s help. Pack as much of your things as you can and we're leaving."

"Right now?" Grace looked scared.

"Right now. We don't have much time." John replied, tracing a fresh bruise on her cheek with a pained expression.

"Okay."

-

"I do."

-

A lone tear escaped Grace's left eyes as she ran away from the alley. There was close to no one on the streets at this time of the night. She looked over her shoulder and started running faster.

Once Grace reached the mansion, she rushed inside with a tear stained face and disheveled appearance. Almost instantly, John appeared in front of her and hugged her.

"Where have you been? All of us have been looking for you for so long. You scared me. What happened?"

Grace sobbed and looked up at John. She noticed that by now, everyone was looking at her with worried glances.

"I-I was walking home from the market when I got this weird feeling as if someone was following me. I didn't know why. It felt weird but I tried to brush it off. It w-wasn't until someone pulled me in an alley. I had to kick him and was able to run away."

-

"Your room is cleaned every two days. Someone must have broken in yesterday after it got cleaned."

And John knew this. He had no doubt that it was the same man this time.

-

"Congratulations!"

John looked down at Grace, who was already looking up at him. His arms were wrapped around her front and they both got comfortable in their significant other.

"I love you." John smiled.

"I love you, too." Grace smiled back.

-

"She's sick."

-

The sky rumbled with another crack of thunder as all the people departed. Looking up, John let the rain hide his tears from everyone as he complained about life.

He didn't know how he was going to live now with his other half far, far away from him.

He looked down in front of him once again at the two tombstones, and walked away.

-

Screams erupted from within the houses as the fire got wild. Rain poured down but it didn't stop the fire. The fire only got more deadly.

"Help!" everyone screamed, but no one heard.

No one stayed except for the man himself with a little girl.

-

The case was closed. Finally. It was hard, but the police finally agreed with him.

First, the mansion was renovated and a small cabin was built near it. He didn't care about any of the trees that grew around him. After all, he wanted this. He didn't want any contact with the outside world and it seemed as if the world had finally listened to him and had left him alone.

He sought isolation.

-

The rooms were locked. The keys were kept in the attic. There was no way in and there was no way out.

Years had passed, yet he still mourned. His hair grew white but he didn't notice. His legs got weak but he didn't notice. He was slowly losing his mind.

He knew that if it wasn't for the woman with him, he would have died long ago. She took care of him along with her own family. After all, he was like a part of the family. But now, he wanted things to end.

And yet again, the world seemed to listen to him.

-

Someone broke into the mansion. No one knew what had happened and when it had happened. There was no life around him as he had chosen to live in isolation.

It wasn't until her daughter came into the place for her daily check up on him that she found out.

There was someone lying in the basement.

Dead.

Murdered.

Rotting.

-
More doors were locked as she hid away every clue. Every sign. Every memory.

Everyone would be safe as long as things would be hidden away from the wrong people.

-

Slowly and slowly, without even realising it, Autumn walked closer and closer to the open door. One by one, she saw and heard everything.

As another step was taken by her, a voice, small as it was, called out to her.

Autumn blinked and suddenly became aware of her surroundings. She heard the sound of her name again, a bit louder and tried locating it. Her heart trembled and her breathing turned harsh.

"Autumn?"

Autumn rubbed her temples and squeezed her eyes close as she tried to focus on the voice. She opened her eyes and looked around in urgency.

"Autumn?" The voice came louder.

Once again, everything around her started moving and shaking rapidly. It was as if something did not want her to leave.

Autumn tried her best to ignore all of this around her and focused on the voice. It got louder and louder. Her heart beated faster and faster. Her vision blurred more and more.

Autumn clenched her eyes shut and covered her ears.

When she opened her eyes, she gasped. Her throat constricted from lack of air, or something else, as she tried to breathe. Adam suddenly pulled her into a hug along with Kaylee.

He pulled back and was about to say something when Autumn blurted out words. She didn't know why she did it, but she knew that it was needed.

"We can't leave."

*****

Hey, Clumsies!

Boring chapter, I know. Anyway, let me know what you thought!

Where's Raymond?

What was happening around Autumn?

Any theories this soon?

Don't forget to vote and comment!

Love y'all! ❤