Autumn Parks - Part One

.-Chapter One-

                The night started out like any other. Dinner at six followed by ice cream and TV till eight. Then it was off to bed for little Tucker Parks. His older sister, Autumn, tucked him in, gave him a kiss on the forehead, and headed for the door.

Right before exiting she looked back at her little brother. People often mistook him as her son. His short blonde hair was only a shade lighter than hers but his high cheek bones and small button nose were a mirror image of her own.

They had different eyes though. Hers were a light green just like their mother’s while his were a very dark brown, almost black.

  Just looking at him made her smile. He was still so small and innocent. Not yet affected by the cruelty of the world. Autumn hoped to keep him that way for as long as possible. She wanted him to have the childhood he deserved. The childhood she never got to have.

She had been taking care of her little brother practically since he was born. When Tucker was two months old their mother had a nervous breakdown. Swallowed about a dozen sleeping pills and chased them with a bottle of bourbon.

Autumn was fifteen when that happened. She spent the next three years living with her alcoholic step father. He wasn’t home much but when he was home he was either drunk, pissed off, or a dangerous combination of the two.

Autumn worked as much as possible and saved up as much as she could. The day she turned eighteen she packed her and Tucker’s things and left.

She bought a tiny little one room apartment. It wasn’t much but it did the job while she looked for a good career with a decent salary. After a few more years of saving she had enough to buy the little house that they live in now. Things we’re amazing for the two of them. 

Any other fifteen year old would have felt burdened by a new baby to take care of, but not Autumn. She had loved every part of it. And six years later, she couldn’t be happier.

She might not have a boyfriend or many friends but she didn’t care. She actually preferred it this way. No issues to deal with, no dramatic breakups or arguments to cry over. All she had was Tucker. And he was her world.

She hadn’t planned on going to sleep right away, but once her head hit the pillow she was out. Usually she had a hard time getting to sleep, but that night she had no problem. It was staying asleep that proved difficult.

She kept waking up periodically during the night then dozing back off. Usually it was just a bad dream but when three am rolled around she was awakened by a loud crash followed by a scream. At first she thought it was a part of a dream, but then she heard footsteps racing down the hall.

She immediately jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to Tucker’s room. When she got there, he was nowhere to be found and his room was a mess. His bed spread on the floor covering a bunch of broken toys.

 A lamp had been knocked off the night stand and shattered into a million tiny pieces. Autumn started tearing through his room, searching every corner and crevasse for her little brother. But he wasn’t there.

She ran out and rushed down the hall to the living room. And that’s where she found him. Sitting on the couch trembling with a gun pointed directly at his head.

Adrenaline was pumping through her body.

She couldn’t hear anything and her vision was blurring. Her head began spinning and she could barely keep her balance.

The intruder said something but she couldn’t hear anything over the sound of her own heart beat. An evil grin crossed the intruders face and his eyes lit up. Then he did the most terrible thing Autumn could imagine.

He pulled the trigger.

Her world stop for a moment, but then rage took over. She grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on and threw it at him.

Most people in her situation would not try and attack a man with the gun. But she had just lost the only thing that gave her life meaning, the only thing she loved, the only thing she had to live for.

Death was not something that scared her right now, it was actually quite appealing. She lunged at him but missed and landed face down on the floor.

Before she had a chance to get up, he was on top of her. He turned her on her back so he could look at her face. Look at the pain he had just caused.

His face was covered by a ski mask, leaving his eyes to be the only visible part. His eyes drew her in, but not in a good way. When she was looking into his eyes she felt violated, as if he could see into even the darkest corners of her mind.

Conflicting emotions reflected in his eyes. Anger and hatred were there with a malicious joy lurking behind it. She would never forget those eyes. They would be burned into her memory until the moment she died. Which at that point might not be too far away.

He tucked the gun away and closed his hand around her throat. She tried to breathe in but her air ways were entirely blocked.

 She reached around to find something to defend herself with. Her hand brushed under the couch and she found one of Tucker’s toy trucks. She used all of her strength to strike the intruder. He fell back only slightly, but it was enough for her to push him off and get away.

She jumped up, but almost lost her balance immediately. Her head was spinning from the lack of oxygen.

She tried to regain her balance and run away, but before she could an immense force pushed her forward. Her head banged against the corner of the coffee table.

Her vision blurred and by the time she could see clearly the attacker had flipped her over and was on top of her once again. She attempted to get out from under him but it was no use. He was too strong and big to move anywhere.

She thrashed her body back and forth trying to shake him, even the slightest amount. But this only angered him. He pulled a knife from a holster around his belt and slid it across her arm. It didn’t take much pressure to make her bleed.

The blood seemed to excite him and behind the mask she could see the outline of a wicked smile forming.

The more she moved, the more she bled. But she wouldn’t stop until she was free. She wasn’t going to give in that easily.

She managed to strike his face with her elbow. As his head flew back, Autumn saw her chance and took it. She thrust her knee into his stomach and pushed against him with all her strength

Once she was free, she took off down the hall and turned into her room. She grabbed the phone off the nightstand and locked herself in her bathroom. Her hands were trembling. She wasn’t sure if it was more from fear or anger.

 She somehow managed to dial 911, but once the operator picked up the phone line went dead. He must have cut the phone line. She checked her pockets for her cell, even though she already knew she wouldn’t find it.

She was pacing around the bathroom trying to think of what she was going to do. She stopped before the sink. The reflection she saw in the mirror sent shivers down her spine.

If she had been standing there a couple hours ago the reflection seen would not even resemble the one she was looking at now.

Her hair was going in every direction. Her clothes were ripped and torn with blood sporadically splattered all over.

She had multiple cuts and bruises on her arms and face, and she could feel ones hidden under her clothes. But the most striking bruise was the dark purple one forming around her neck.

She traced the mark with her finger and lightly moved upward to her face, following a cut that covered a large portion of her right cheek. That must have been where her face had hit the coffee table.

She saw her eyes and that’s when reality sunk in.

 She had just witnessed her little brother get murdered and then almost died herself. Her eyes began to water and her hands began to shake. She had been too terrified to feel the overwhelming pain that swept over her now.

She put her hands on the sides of the sink to brace herself and slowly lowered her head.

When she lifted her head again, she saw the silhouette of a man standing outside her window.

How long had he been standing there?

Had she really been too distracted by her own horrible reflection to notice him?

And why hadn’t he tried to get inside yet?

Millions of questions went racing through her mind. But before she could find an answer to a single one she ran out of the bathroom and headed for the front door.

She got there and locked it immediately. Leaning her back against the door, she slid down to the floor. Her body was shaking from a dangerous mixture of pain, fear, and anger. She knew she should try to find a way to contact the police but she couldn’t find the strength to get up and move. She brought her knees to her chest and rested her head down on her knees.

She heard a faint tapping from somewhere in her house and lifted her head. She listened carefully and placed her hands at her sides preparing to get up if necessary.

She heard it again followed by a loud crashing noise. It was the sound of glass breaking. She forced herself up and ran to the kitchen to get a weapon.

She grabbed a knife from the drawer and crouched behind the table. She listened for footsteps or any sign that the intruder was coming closer but she heard nothing. She crawled across the floor and peaked out the door way. She saw nothing and heard nothing, so she decided to make a break for it. She got up and ran to the front door but when she opened it, he was standing there waiting for her.

He grabbed her by her hair and threw her onto the floor, shutting the door behind him. The knife she had grabbed slid under the couch out of reach. She tried to crawl backwards to escape but before she could get far he lifted her up by the neck and threw her on the couch. He pushed her down and sat on her lap to keep her from escaping.

She was hit by a wave of sadness when she saw her brother’s lifeless body right next to her. But this was not the time to grieve him. 

She tried to break free again but then he grabbed the knife again and pressed it to her throat. She stopped moving immediately and looked into his eyes.

“What do you want from me?” she said trembling. But he didn’t respond, he just sat there with his knife at her throat and his full weight crushing her legs. He brushed a tiny piece of hair off her face. She quivered at his touch.

He moved the knife from her neck to her shoulder and sliced. Moving the knife down her arm slowly he left cuts, each one deeper than the previous. When he was finished with that arm he moved to the next and repeated the process. Blood slid down arms and dripped onto the couch.

                Then he brought the knife back to her throat. He pressed slightly, but before it could draw blood he was stopped by something. Autumn was confused as to what could have made him stop so suddenly when only seconds ago he was completely absorbed in the pain he was inflicting.

                At first she couldn’t hear it but then the faint sound of sirens became clear. She could barely sit up straight from the blood loss but she felt the sudden need to see his face. Seeing that he was giving all his attention to the nearing sirens, she lifted her arm up and pulled off the ski mask.

                He looked slightly familiar but she couldn’t place where she had seen him before. His dark blue eyes and shoulder length hair. His features were rugged and a tiny scar marked the left side of his chin, leaving a patch where there was no stubble.

                He jumped off the couch and stood directly in front of her. She could see the anger take over him. He pulled out the gun from where he had placed it before. The sirens were getting closer by the second and they both knew it.

                He pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger twice.

                The last thing she heard was the front door slam shut and everything went black.