CHAPTER 1

Autumn looked through the doorway into the foyer of the massive house. As she felt overwhelmed, she inhaled a large breathe as her stepfather pushed the wheelchair into the house slowly. He stopped at the right side of the grand stairway; Autumn slowly stood up, she gained her balance as she clutched the banister tightly. She walked up the maple-stained stairs while both her stepfather and her mother watched closely. She stood in front of the door of the last bedroom in the long hallway.She gradually opened the door to her room and quickly inhaled the scent of safeness through her nostrils. She closed her hazel eyes and let out a large breathe of relief. She opened her eyes and they flew to her inviting queen sized bed. She eagerly let her body fall onto her bed, it had been six long months since she last slept in her own bed. She slipped between the covers with ease and slowly drifted off to sleep because of the overwhelming feeling of being safe between her covers.

Autumn's mother sat on the edge of the bed and starred at her sleeping daughter. Her eyes searched her face for something, but she was not quite sure what. Her husband walked up behind her, and layed his large hands on her shoulder. She turned around to look at him, she looked into his blue eyes and shook her head.

"What did I do wrong? Maybe I didn't love her enough. I wasn't there enough for her was I?" She whispered, as she looked back at her daughter.

"It isn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong, you loved her more than anything in the world, and you were always there for her." He said, his voice soft but still deep.

"I wish I could just take away all the pain, the hurt, everything."

"I know, but you can't. She has to work though this."

The morning sun danced on Autumn's face, and woke her from her peaceful sleep. The first thing she saw as she opened her eyes was the writing on her ceiling. It brought back memories of when she was obsessed with music and she wrote the lyrics of all of the most meaningful songs. Each song had a memory of its own. Her ceiling was practically full except for one spot near the center. This morning her eyes went straight to "all my friends think I'm gone but I swear I'm not" and that was exactly how felt.

The smell of bacon beckoned her to the kitchen, but she was flustered by the scene of a group of people. Autumn looked at some of the faces, she noticed she didn't know at least half of the people who crowded her kitchen. She didn't bother to acknowledge anyone, she went to the pile of bacon, and put five pieces on a napkin. She continued to ignore any presence in the room, she opened the refrigerator and looked for her cranberry juice and poured herself a glass. As she was about to leave to go back up to her room, her mother addressed her.

"Darling don't you want to stay and meet new people?"

"No." Autumn said bluntly.

"Oh, but your sister should be here in a minute."

"Good for her." She said plainly.

"Autumn Marie Jones, you haven't seen your sister in a year. She should be here in a couple minutes. Stay." As her mother said this, Autumn rolled her eyes.

She stood there just as her mother had instructed and ate her strips of bacon. Her stepfather came up from behind her and placed a kiss on her forehead. Surprisingly she and her stepfather had a good relationship and they couldn't get any closer if she was his own flesh and blood. She smiled at him and he winked at her, to let her know that her mother meant well.

"Autumn! Oh my god. Autumn!" Her sister yelled from behind her as if she was miles away. Her sister ran up to her and enclosed her into a hug. She hugged tightly as if to save her from something. But unhappy about the contact, Autumn groaned and tried to wiggle out. Her sister let her go and looked at her like a grandparent would look at their growing grandchild.

"Can you believe it, I'm finally getting married!"

"Melody, your selling your soul at the age of twenty-three, yeah it is pretty amazing!" Autumn smirked.

"Autumn, why can't you just be happy for me? I'm going to spend the rest of my life with someone I really care about and love. So please be happy for me."

"I never said I wasn't; you assumed I wasn't. Never assume anything about me." She said with all seriousness.

"Fine then, but I'm glad your okay. It really scared me when..."

"Oh god... Melody, please not now okay." Autumn dropped her eyes when she said this. Not because of embarrassment, but the fact that her sister was about to talk about how it made her feel.

Her sister gave her a kiss on the cheek and went to give her mother and stepfather hugs that too her seemed long over do. This whole situation made Autumn feel a little uncomfortable; she was never a fan of touchy and emotional things. She was just about to leave when she heard her name come from behind her. The voice was familiar.

"Hey Bryan!" She said.

"No congratulations come on where are your manners!?" Bryan complained.

"Lost from reality." Autumn shook her head. "Why man? You have your whole life ahead of you and you wanna sell soul now. There has to be something wrong with your generation. Seriously it is as if we are going back to the Dark ages."

"I've missed you and your humor. But um... I love your sister and I want to know that every morning that when I wake up she is right there, and when I come home she there waiting for me."

"Wow, how long did it take you to memorize that?"

"Your an ass!" Bryan said while smiling widely.

"Oh Bryan, don't flatter me. You are marring my sister." She loved joking around with Bryan because had a very good sense of humor almost as good as hers.

"Um... Autumn there is someone I really want you to meet." Melody said with a suspicious smile. Autumn looked at her sister with astonishment.

"Autumn this is Michael Caron. Michael this is my little sister, Autumn, that I was telling you about." Melody's eyes glistened as she looked from on to another.

"It is a pleasure to me you." Michael said with as his eyes pierced into the well-being of Autumn.

"Sure." Autumn looked at her sister and glared. "Um... one second. Melody can I talk to you really quick?"

"Yes." She pulled Melody toward the archway of the kitchen.

"What the hell?"

"Well, I knew that you didn't have a date for the wedding, so that is where Michael comes in. He is your date. I know you guys will get along. He's just like, in a non rehab way." Melody just bit her lip as she realized what had just slipped from her unrestricted lips.

"Thanks sis." Autumn turned around and walked out of the kitchen. She headed back to her room and felt anguish linger in her soul.

"Autumn, I'm sorry." Melody yelled after her.

The gathering of friends and relatives in the kitchen was moved to the terrace outside. Michael had wandered back into the house and up to the second floor. He walked to the end of the hallway as if he had been in this dwelling many a time. He knocked on the door of the last room and earned a slight reply of come in. He opened the door of the room and was welcomed with the sight of a beautiful girl lying on her bed, listening to a man with a soft seductive, voice sing words of passion.

He stepped into the room a little and cleared his throat. Autumn jumped up and looked toward where she heard the noise. To her surprise the man who stood in her room was Michael Caron. She looked at him while he stood in front of the doorway with excellence. He was muscularly build without being bulky; his blond hair was swept across his face and concealed part of his piercing blue eyes. She looked fully at him and realized his height, causing her to chew on her lower lip for no apparent reason. As she looked at him, he wondered what she was thinking before he could finish another complete thought, he was interrupted by her voice.

"Why the hell are you in my room?" She questioned, coming back to the real issue.

"Well, I thought that since you are my date, we should get to know each other." A smile crept across his face.

"I didn't agree to this, so no, you need leave."

"Hey you aren't the only one who doesn't want to do this. I mean, you aren't my type." He said, giving her a taste of her own medicine.

"What is that supposed to mean? You don't even know me. You can't judge me like that that is so petty."

"So you care if I like or not?" He smirked, licking his lips.

"Ah, wh-, no what?" Autumn stumbled over her words, shocked at forward and bluntness.

"I'll take that as a yes." He walked over to her bed and sat at the edge, and caused her to move over and sit Indian style. "So why?"

"Why what? I don't read minds you know; my sister may have forgot to mention that to you." For the first time she felt awkward because a man sat on her bed.

"Why did you OD?" He said, as he looked right into her hazel eyes. Why was he making her breathe heavier and feel embarrassed of what she did? "You're blushing." She lost eye contact and began to hold her breath. "Why?"

"That is none of your business and how old are anyway?"

"Fair enough and I'm twenty." She shook her head and bit her lip. "You don't have to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable around I'm an easy-going kind of guy."

"I'm not embarrassed or uncomfortable." She sighed.

"Yeah, sure. That is why you are breathing funny and blushing."

He looked at her and studied her, every inch. He loved the way her eyes glistened when she looked at him. The second thing that caught his eyes was her lips full and pink. Her dark caramel hair was thrown into a bun. His eyes grazed across her light brown, chocolate skin. As Michael looked at her skin, he thought about what the contrast would look like he were to hold her hand in his and a couple of different positions. Again his thoughts were stopped by the sound of her voice.

"You are such a pig... butt!" She yelled at him as she pushed him off her bed, and caused him to tower over her.

"What?" He questioned, furrowing his brow.

"Don't act innocent!" He was a couple feet away now, and she threw her stuffed monkey at him. "Get out!"

Michael did as she requested and closed the door behind him. He knew why she asked him to leave; she knew as well as he did when his thoughts became indecent and vulgar. But he couldn't help it; he was guy non the less. And she wasn't innocent either, looking like a milk-chocolate goddess. He shook his head and exhaled, he knew that he couldn't or wouldn't let himself fall for her.

She stared at the door he had just closed and exhaled a large sigh of relief. However, she could still see his blue eyes staring at her lustfully. She turned to the window and tried to rid her head of his handsomeness and the scent that he left in her room. There was no way that this could happen; she didn't even know him but she was falling for him. Autumn promised herself that it couldn't or wouldn't happen; they were two different people and she didn't need this. Not now, not ever.