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A young girl frantically ran down an alleyway bumping into trash cans and dumpsters as she went. 6 teenage boys followed close behind her throwing rocks as they ran.
“Come on Autumn, you can't run forever!” one of the boys yelled after her. But she couldn't hear him over the blood pounding in her ears. Eventually she took a glance behind her and only saw 3 of them.
‘where were the others?’ Just as she finished the thought 3 tall figures cut in front of her from a side alley, she tried to dodge them but the biggest and oldest looking of the 3 stuck out his arm caching her in the throat, her momentum slamming into his arm through her to the ground with a thud. with the wind knocked out of her she laid there gasping for air. All 6 of them stood around her making snide remarks. Once she had gotten some air back into her lungs she tried to make a run for it again but was stopped by 2 of the boys that seemed to be identical, they slammed her back to the ground. They threw a few more colorful words at her before one of them grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, pulling her ruffly to her feet.
“Hey, you wouldn't want to hurt her would you Michael?” The oldest called to the one who had grabbed her, all 6 started to laugh, of course they wanted to hurt her, it was their favorite pastime. She glanced at the boy who had spoken, and immediately regretted it.
“What are you looking at?” he yelled, walking over to her, raising his hand, she braced for the impact. *smack* her check stung from the pain.
“Oliver, don't you think you're being a little hard on her?” one of the identical boys asked mockingly.
“Oh no, maybe I am. . .” Oliver said in a sarcastic voice. The one holding her threw her against the alley wall.
“Hey, Miles, Niall, grab her arms!” Michael shouted to the twins, they did as they were told. With her arms pinned to the wall she was completely vulnerable and the boys took advantage of the opportunity, beating her to a pulp. After several minutes of this she blacked out.
“Autumn… Autumn… wake up!” her eyes shoot open to see her best friend’s concerned face a few inches away from her own.
“Anthony!” she yelled, jumping up and hugging him.
“Hey, Sprays!” he said, hugging her back. They broke apart and he got a better look at her.
“you look horrible!” he said
“yeah, my brothers got to me again…” she looked done.
“One day I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind!” he said angrily, cracking his knuckles.
“No!” she shouted, Anthony flinched at the loud voice.
“I’m sorry. . .” she said walking over to him.
“It’s fine.” as he said this she noticed how dark it was
“wait, what time is it?” she questioned looking at him.
“Umm, 7:43. Why?” she gasped.
“i have to be home in 17 minutes!” she yelled, sprinting in the same direction she had come from several hours prior. Anthony caught up to her, she slowed to a walk as he started to speck.
“You still have never let me see your house. Can I please come just this once?”
“that’s not a good idea.” she said with a nervous laugh.
“especially when I'm going to be late. My parents aren’t home so my brothers are more aggressive. Not that my parents ever try to stop them anyway.” she shivered at the thought.
“All the more reason for me to come, I can protect you.” he gave her a reassuring smile.
“Yeah, so they can beat you up too? No thanks.” she turned her head, noticing he looked a little hurt
“come on, don't be like that.” she pleaded, looking at him again. He wasn't ugly, he had brown hair with matching eyes. He was also tall for a 13 year old, probably around 5’9.
“I just don't like seeing you all bloodied and bruised.” He looked at all the cuts and bruises that cover her limbs and face.
“I’m fine.” she smiled.
“I deserve it anyway.” she said looking at her feet.
“No you don’t!” he shouted.
“I’m weak, they do it to make me tougher… or something like that.”
“'see! You don’t even know!” he yelled, she winced at his angry tone of voice. He took a deep breath and started to speak again, his voice softer this time.
“you can’t listen to what they tell you.” she didn't say anything.
They eventually came to a crossroad she turned left onto the road that led out of the city. He went right, which would take him to the poor side of town. He turned to look at her.
“remember, don’t listen to them, ok?” she looked at him as well.
“yep!” she yelled to him as they both went their separate ways.
After she got out of the city she walked along a dirt road for a while slowly watching her house grow in the distance dreading walking through the door.
Several minutes later she was standing at the entrance of a very large house. Just as she was about to turn the nomd the door flew open and a hand firmly grabbed her wrist pulling her in then throwing her to the ground.
“Where were you!” the familiar voice of one of her brothers shouted.
“Do you know what time it is?” Kace, her 2nd oldest brother yelled.
“I’m sorry…” she mumbled, not looking at him.
“What was that?” he screamed, kicking her. She curled into a ball trying to protect her stomach and head.
After a while she felt herself being drugged to her feet.
“Come on, you…” she turned him out, it was the same worn out insults every day for almost 12 years.
“You were 14 minutes late!” he yelled, half pushing half throwing her up the stars.
It was a grand house with high ceilings and giant windows,sweeping lawns and more than enough room for a family of 9. However she still always ended up being shoved in a small closet.
“Get in!” Kace shouted at her as he stuffed her in, slamming the door behind her. ‘That was better than usual’ she thought, pulling up a floorboard, she grabbed the pencil and a few pieces of paper she hid there. She started to sketch a large phoenix.
She finished, she didn’t know how long she had been in there but she estimated around 2 hours. She could hear footsteps in the hallway outside the door to her closet, she shoved her drawing and pencil back in the floor, placing the bored back in the floor, scouting herself into a corner.
‘What do they want? They usually just leave me here all night’ she stared at the door praying it wouldn’t open. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, she felt like her heart was going to beat through her chest. She held her breath not daring to make a noise. The steps got louder and louder she could tell they were right outside the door, she heard the twins voices. She pressed herself further into the corner. She could hear more footsteps coming down the hallway.
“hey Niall, Miles!” the familiar voice of one of her brother's friends called out.
“Jude, Giovanni, Vaughn! Whats up?” Miles asked.
“they’re staying the night.” Oliver said as all 7 reached the 2 in front of her door.
“Cool! Do you guys want to go down to the game room?”
“yeah!”
“sure.”
“Can I use the bathroom really quick?” one of the friends asks.
“yeah, you know where it is?” Kace questioned
“yeah.”. he replied.
“Cool, just meet us down there when you're done.” Kace said, walking away with the rest of the group. The boy stood there for a while, Autumn was still in the corner waiting for his footsteps to start down the hall but instead she heard the lock click and saw the knob turn. Her mind started racing.
‘why was he coming in here?’ the door swung open and she saw Giovanni standing there, staring at her.
“Wh- why are you in here?” she sunk deeper into the corner. She didn’t have fond memories of Giovanni.
“th- they are going to far… locking you in a closet.” he said, not looking at her.
“since when do you care?” she looked at him, trying to see if he was planning anything.
“because, it’s cruel.” he still wouldn’t look her in the eye.
“so, why are you in here?”
“your friend, Anthony, he’s waiting for you” he gestured toward the back of the house. “he- what?” she said.
“he’ll explain later but you need to go now.” his voice was getting urgent. She stood up.
‘Should I trust him?’ Both of their heads tilted…
“they’re coming! You have to go!” she nodded.
“thank you.” she said as she ran down the hallway. He closed the door and started walking toward the voices.
“hey, you good?” Miles asked as Giovanni walked up to him and Niall.
“yeah.” he smiled.
“ok, then let's go back to the others.” they walked back the way they came.
“What Were you thinking?” Autumn yelled once she was safely out of the back door of the house. Anthony gave her a sad look.
“I just didn’t want you in there, where they can hurt you.”
“I would have been fine!” He raised his eyebrows.
“I would have!” she insisted.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter now but we need to go before they see you’re gone.” he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her into the forest that surrounds her house.
They walked for a while.
“where are we going?” Autumn asked, looking around.
“we’re taking the long way around so if your brothers look out a window they won’t see us going into the city.” he smiled at her like he was looking for her approval. she didn’t smile back, she was still mad at him for what he pulled. He dropped his head.
“look, I’m sorry but I can't just sit back and let them do this to you.” he gestured to cuts, bruises and scars that cover her body. She let her hand fall out of his.
“I only did it to protect you Autumn.”
“I- I know.” she looked down at her feet.
“i just don’t want you being dragged into this. They already hate you.”
“yeah, so there's no downside because they already hate me.” he smiled.
“no that means they’ll have no problem hurting you too.”
“look it’s too late now you’re already out of the house so it would be more dangerous to go back.” she nodded
When they got back into the city he grabbed her hand again, it’s not safe to walk around the city at night especially as a young girl.
“where are we going?” she asked.
“my place. My parents already have food worm for us.”
A While later they were there.
“while if it isn’t little miss Autumn west.” Anthony's mom said as Autumn walked through the door.
“HI mrs. Jones.” Autumn ran over to hug her. Misses Jones was a short woman, maybe a couple inches shorter than Autumn. After hugging her misses Jones looked her up and down.
“those boys have been hitting you again. Thank you Anthony for getting her out of there.” he turned to his parents bedroom.
“Dad Autumn’s here!” Anthony's dad was short as well, she always wondered how two very short people could have such a tall son.
“Autumn!” his dad said walking over to her with his arms out.
“Hi.” She hugged him as well.
“What has been going on in the West home?” he asked, also noticing her wounds.
“the boys are having a sluMbER paRtY.” Anthony said sarcastically, answering for her. “Oh, yes, that young man Giovanni, right?” his mom asked.
“Yeah, he helped me get Autumn out.” he answered.
“How did you get him to help you?” Autumn looked at him, waiting for an answer.
“It was actually his idea” “it was?” she looked surprised
“yeah, he ran into me just after we split up and he knows we’re good friends so he asked if I wanted to try to break you out. At first i thought he was just playing around but he keeps going on about how horrible it was that they locked you in a closet and he seemed so sincere, so i decided to trust him, and well, it seems i made the right decision.” she looked at him again ‘maybe Giovanni isn’t so bad.’ Mrs. Jones interrupted her thoughts.
“well, your diner is in the pot.” she pointed
“It's soup and there’s plenty so help yourselves.” she directed the last few words towards Autumn.
“You aren’t going to starve here.” Mr. Jones interjected. She smiled at the 3.
“Thank you so much.” they all smiled back.
“Of course sweetheart.” Mrs. Jones said, handing her a bowl of soup. She sat at the table and at it. Mrs. Jones refiled it several times before Autumn said she was full. Mr. Jones went and got some of Anthony's old clothes.
“You go take a shower and get warm.” Anthony's mom said, leading her to the bathroom. When she was in she turned the water on and got undressed. She got in the shower and scrubbed herself clean. She got out, while drying off she inspected the clothes. Polling on a pair of gray sweatpants and a plain over-sized black t-shirt, as she walked out of the bathroom she noticed Anthony sitting in the hallway.
“Oh, sorry, did you need the bathroom?” she offered him a hand up.
“No, I was just waiting for you cause my parents are asleep and the heater in the house is broken and there’s only two area heaters so you have to sleep in my room.” he said, taking her hand.
“Oh ok.” They walked down the hall to Anthony's room. There was a bed setup on the floor that she presumed was hers but Anthony crawled into it.
“What are you doing?” she asked standing in the doorway. He looked at her confused for a second.
“Oh, sprays, you’re sleeping there.” he pointed to the bed.
“Bu-” she persisted.
“No buts, you’re not sleeping on the floor.”
“but i always sleep on the floor at home.”
“well you’re not home so you’re sleeping in the bed.” he rolled over, signaling the end of the discussion. She climbed into the bed, it was comfortable but she couldn’t fall asleep. She stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours.
After a while she let out a small sigh.
“You awake?” she haired Anthony's voice whisper from the floor.
“Yeah...” she whispered back.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting up and looking at her.
“I don’t know, I’m just kinda sc- scared...” she didn’t look at him, she felt ashamed, being scared wasn’t allowed in the West family.
“It’s ok.” he said, walking over to the bed and sitting on the edge of it.
“What are you scared of?” he was still looking at her. She didn’t say anything.
“Come on sprays, it’s just me.” she sighed.
“I’m… I’m scared of what they’ll do to me when I get home.” she started to shake.
“Hey, it’s going to be ok.” he held out his arms, she flinched at the unexpected movement. He slowly put his arms back down. She scooted herself into the corner where the bed met two walls.
“I’m sorry...” he said, not moving. She didn’t say anything. He got off the bed and went back to his makeshift one on the floor.
After she calmed down a little, she came out of the corner and got out of bed, sitting on the floor a few feet away from him. He looked at her.
“Do you want a blanket?” his voice was soft.
“Y- yeah...” she said quietly. He grabbed the softest blanket in the pile and threw it over her. He flipped himself over so his head was closer to her. She laid down and curled into a ball. She closed her eyes and fell asleep. He stayed up for a bit making sure she was asleep before sleeping as well.
She woke up to something worm at her front and wrapped around her upper back, it took her a while to figure out it was Anthony. She didn’t want to wake him but he was very warm so she tried to kick off the blanket but ended up lightly kicking his leg, she immediately closed her eyes pretending to still be asleep. He opened his eyes, he had been awake for several hours. He looked down at her.
“Morning.” He was trying not to laugh.
“Oh, you’re awake… sorry...” she just stared at the blue shirt he was wearing.
“Don't be. How did you sleep?” she sat up and ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair.
“Pretty good, definitely better than at home.” he sat up as while.
“Well that good.” he stood offering his hand to her.
“Lets see what's for breakfast.” they walked to the kitchen, Mrs. Jones wasn't there so Anthony went to check his parents room. He walked out.
“My mom doesn’t feel good so I’m making food.” he went to the refrigerator to see what they had. He grabbed some eggs and started to prepare them. a few minutes later he set a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Autumn.
“Sorry, there wasn’t a lot.” he set down his and sat across from her.
“No, this is plenty.” she smiled at him and started to eat.
“You thrashing all night, did you have nightmares?” she looked down.
“Y- yeah, sorry if i kicked you.” he stopped eating and shook his head.
“You weren't kicking hard, i just wanted to make sure you’re ok.” he said, going back to his food.
“Oh, yeah, I'm fine.” she looked at him.
“Was it about your brothers?” he said looking back at her.
“Y- yeah, it was. How’d you know?”
“I woke up and you were talking in your sleep.” she looked away, slightly embarrassed. “Oh… yeah sorry.” she finished her eggs and cleaned her and put it away, he did the
Same.
“well, wanna go tag something?”
“Umm, is that a question? Of course!”
Anthony went and got two sweatshirts, handing one to Autumn.
“Thanks.” she said, pulling it on.
“Ready?” he asked, all ready wearing his
“Yeah!” she said happily, she hadn't tagged anything in so long.
He went and got the cans of paint he kept safe for her.
“Lets go!” He opened the door holding it for her.
They walked through the city for a while, trying to find a good wall.
“This looks good, there’s a lot of cover so no one will notice us for a while.” she said looking around. She grabbed a can of paint and started the out line for the huge phoenix she had sketched the night before.
Anthony goes several yards away from her and starts painting little creatures he loved to paint.
Some time goes by, Autumn is still working on her phoenix, Anthony finished a while ago but he insisted she finishes the art work.
She was almost done when she heard a horrible sound.
“What’s up Autumn!” she heard 9 vices say in unison. She froze, her shoulders tensing.
‘They found us!’
“Something funny happened this morning.” her oldest brother said walking towards them. “We went to see how you were doing on this fine day but you were gone.” he said fake concerned voice.
“But the funniest thing is that the door only opens from the outside. So, we have suspicions that Anthony Jones broke into the West home and kidnapped our precious baby sister.” he said, tuning his attention to Anthony.
“Now, that’s quite illegal so the cops are about five minutes away.” her heart started racing.
‘Are the cops actually going to take Anthony?’ she didn’t want to find out. All 9 boys were closing in on them. They looked like animals about to attack.
“Didn’t your parents ever teach you to mind your own business?” Kace asked, grabbing him by his shirt.
“H- hey…” Autumn said, trying to look Kace in the eyes.
“What did you say?” he asked, letting go of Anthony and walking toward her.
“d- don’t touch him… he didn’t do anything…”
“Oh, but he did, Giovanni told us, it was actually our plan.” Kace said with a small laugh.
“You didn’t actually think he cares what we do to you, did you?”
“I-”
‘Of course he didn’t care, why did I ever think he might?’ Kace grabbed for her throat. Without thinking she lifted the paint can in her hand and sprayed it into his eyes.
“Run!” she yelled to Anthony as she turned and sprinted.
She didn't know where they were running to but she didn’t really care right now.
They eventually come to a crossroad. Autumn tuned right but Anthony grabbed her forearm pulling her left, she didn’t resist. She looked back, she didn’t see them.
The two arrived at Anthony's house. They ran in.
“Why did you both come back here?” Mrs. Jones asked, her face looked scared.
“The cop already came.” Mr. Jones added
“We didn’t know where to go.” Anthony protested
“You two have to go,now!” Mr. Jones yelled
“They’re going to come back here soon. Get some stuff together and go to the train station.” Mr. Jones handed Anthony a wad of cash.
They all run around gathering everything they could need.
“Stay safe both of you.” Mrs. Jones said hugging both of them
“Keep her safe.” Mr. Jones instructed to Anthony
“Keep him out of trouble.” he said turning to Autumn.
“I will.” she answered.
“We gotta go.” Anthony grabbed Autumn's hand and they ran.