Autumn sat in her
apartment bedroom on the floor. The apartment had been raided. They
fortunately left her golden box. She carefully opened the box and one
by one took out the contents and laid them on the floor. Autumn
picked up the cameo and rubbed her thumb over it. She laid on the
floor on her side just rubbing the cameo with her thumb. She curled
up into the fetal position and went numb.
“Why is it that when
I am numb, everything is exaggerated?” Autumn whispered to no one.
Autumn closed her eyes.
Years went by. Autumn was always hurt. Everything and everyone she
ever loved was destroyed. She hated living for so long. It was a
cycle of happiness taken away and changed into pain. Life was a beach
to her, building on the sand and then the tide coming and washing
everything away, leaving her to re-build again. Autumn was sick of
it. Autumn played her most memorable moments in her head. She smiled,
laughed, cried and screamed.
Autumn was seven years
old and sitting in a tree with her father. They looked out at a
forest of brilliant green trees leading to a mountain. The mountain
had a tip of white. Just above the tip of white was the sun shining
golden heat on Autumn’s face. A breezed picked up and all the
leaves rustled. Autumn’s hair did not move. She wasn’t affected
by nature. Nature rejected her.
Autumn was over one
hundred years old and she had her teeth sunk into a tender neck. On
the other side of the neck was Egan. Autumn and Egan stared at each
other as they drank the young girl’s life away. Autumn pulled away
first. Egan kept drinking to the last drop. He lifted his head and
threw the limp body to the ground. Autumn smiled as she walked over
to him. She kissed him harshly, forcing her tongue into the back of
his mouth. She licked his mouth clean of blood. Egan fell backwards
to the floor with Autumn riding him. They laid amongst a dead family
of fifteen.
Autumn and Egan’s
first daughter walked her first steps. They sat on the floor of an
Egyptian palace. Autumn filled with joy like a cup of water over
filling. Her daughter lost her balance and fell back on her butt.
Egan leaned over and grabbed the child. He brought the baby into his
arms and cradled her till she stopped crying. She smiled up at her
father. Autumn rested her head on Egan’s shoulder and looked down
at one of the loves of her life.
Autumn was forced to
watch Egan and her daughter sink to the bottom of the ocean. Pirates
held her body over the edge of the ship. Her tears fell into the
ocean and were lost. The three men holding Autumn brought her back on
the ship and threw her on the deck. They began deciding amongst
themselves who would be first to have Autumn. Autumn ignored their
laughter and stared at the wooden deck. She remembered this pain from
years ago when she lost her mother and father. There was no one now
to comfort her and wipe away the tears.
Autumn walked on a path
that weaved through thick woods. Autumn sensed she was being followed
but saw no one. She kept her senses on alert incase something jumped
out at her. Autumn instinctively glanced up at a tree and saw a
shadow. She stopped walking and stared at the shadow.
“I know you are
there. Show yourself coward.” Autumn called.
The shadow jumped to
the ground. Autumn looked at the man standing in front of her. He was
beautiful. His hair shone like spun gold and his eyes blazed fiery
green. The man smiled and bowed gracefully.
“I am sorry for
spying. My name is Sean. And what is the name of the beautiful woman
standing before me?”
“Autumn.”
“What a lovely name.”
Autumn stood on her
balcony watching the first ray of light peek out of the horizon. She
felt warm hands on her bare shoulders. She turned around to Sean’s
green eyes. He was smiling. Autumn couldn’t help but smile back.
She wrapped her arms around Sean’s waist and nested her head on his
chest. Sean, in return, put his arms around Autumn’s body. Autumn
pulled away from Sean and walked into the master bedroom. Autumn saw
three little bodies under the covers of her bed. Autumn looked back
at Sean who shrugged his shoulders. Autumn walked over to the bed and
pulled back the covers. Autumn’s three children all slept
peacefully on the bed. She carefully moved her youngest, Michael,
over an inch so she could slip in with them. She wrapped her arm
around Michael’s small body and closed her eyes. Autumn felt Sean
get in the bed from the other side. Sean took the liberty of pulling
up the sheets to keep them warm.
Autumn found herself on
a boat to America. For food she picked off people from the lower
classes. No one really noticed or cared. The entire time on the boat
though she sensed another keeper. She could never find the keeper
though. One day while walking in the lower classes’ cabin she
finally found the other keeper. Autumn walked upon a man feeding on a
young girl in a corner. The man threw the girl to the floor and
turned around. Autumn fell to her knees in shock. Egan instantly
recognized her as well. They both smiled with tears trailing down
their faces and embraced each other.
For the second time,
Autumn watch Egan slip from her life. A vampire hunter stood before
Autumn with a sword through Egan’s heart. The vampire hunter
twisted the sword. He pulled it out of Egan’s body and before the
body fell, cut off Egan’s head. Autumn was in shock. It seemed to
go by too fast. It was as if only moments of the scene processed in
her head. The vampire hunter turned to her. Autumn just stared at
Egan’s body. Autumn suddenly felt the sword pierce her chest. She
looked down at the blood stained sword and then straight into the
eyes of him.
“One chance. You
missed it.” Autumn growled.
The vampire hunter’s
eyes filled with fear. Autumn wrapped her hands around his neck and
snapped it. It all happened before the human could pull his hand away
from the sword. The body dropped and the sword was left in Autumn’s
body. Autumn pulled the sword out of her body. She picked up the
hunter’s body and drove her teeth into his neck. The blood would do
until she could find fresh energy.
Autumn woke up from her
memories covered in her own tears and sweat. Autumn stood up from the
floor and just looked around her. She was lost. She had no clear
thoughts. There was nothing but static. Autumn walked out of her
apartment like a zombie.
Autumn was thinking
clearly when she realized she was soaked in gasoline. From where the
gasoline came, Autumn had no recollection. Autumn looked around her.
It was nothing but a road and shrubs. Autumn’s shaking hand held a
lighter. Autumn stared at the lighter. Autumn closed her eyes and
squeezed the lighter in her hand. Her thumb slowly dragged across the
top. Her thumb dragged across the top faster. A third time produced a
spark and Autumn was engulfed in flames. Autumn just stood in the
middle of the road as the flames ate away her flesh. Her tears never
had a chance to leave her eyes. They evaporated the instant they
touched her eye lid. Autumn let out one last scream before her vocal
cords were destroyed.
Autumn’s body burnt
to ashes. The wind slowly picked up and began scattering her ashes.
Her ashes were picked up by the wind and carried a far distance. Her
ashes still lived. There was no destruction of a keeper. It was
impossible. Every single molecule lived on. Autumn was accepted by
nature finally. Nature allowed her to rest peacefully. Nature
appreciates all its creations.