A BIT OF TRUTH

Autumn stood in front of Evan's house with his heart raising. He elevated his fist to knock, but Evan opened the door before he could. "I saw you were coming from the house", he said and invited Autumn in. The gloomy house reminded Autumn of theirs, besides the expensive ornaments and decent decorations. "You live here alone?" Autumn asked, looking around. "Only for a few months. My brother and parents are out of town." he said, walking to the kitchen and took out a bottle of expensive wine. He stood still when Autumn became a bit uncomfortable. "Sorry. I forgot," he said and put it back. "So, what is it that you wanted to show me?" Autumn asked, trying to clear the air and tension between them. "Follow me.", he said and walked towards the long hall. They walked past three rooms before Evan opened the 4th one. "This is my mother's therapy room. She comes in here and paints against the wall whenever she has to let go of things." Autumn stood in awe as he tries to follow each painting that connects against the wall. He walked around from one corner to another. "She has done it for years. Whenever she had something going on, we knew she would be locked up in this room. Crying, painting, and cried again. Like it was some sort of release." Autumn could feel the roughness of the wall as he brushed his fingers against it. "It's beautiful." he finally said. "There's more", Evan said and left the room walking down the hall, opening a red-painted door. "This is my all too mighty father's not such a secret room." Evan said as Autumn stepped inside. The room was filled with different sculptors of humans suffering from pain. Writing from one wall to another. "I don't even know what to say." Autumn said as he browsed through the sculptors. "You don't need to say anything because the room says everything for you. The sculptors are all pain. You can't hear them, but you can see. The walls are all filled with poems that speak about the many human emotion. That pain is just a temporary feeling. That our bodies fall apart to be sculpted into something greater. Something stronger, bolder." Autumn felt himself slipping deeper into everything Evan said. "There is one more thing I want to show you." Evan said, and they made their way to the backyard. "So my mom paints and my dad sculpt and write. What I do is way more interesting." He said, running off smiling. "Come' on Brooks", Evan made his way to the far side of the yard. Autumn didn't even notice the extreme length of the yard they had. Autumn caught up to him as he stood at a field of flowers, planted in a square with grass in the middle. "This is mine. I love to plant flowers. Stuff like roses, lilies, tulips, orchids, marigold, dahlia, carnations. Just to name a few." Evan bragged. Autumn looked up at him, amused. "What is the grass in the middle for?" he asked, pointing it out. Evan grabbed his hand and walked with him through the flowers until their feet were on the grass. "Now all you do is lay down and look up.", Evan said and laid down. Autumn looked at him while he stretched out his hand and pulled Autumn down. They laid on the grass next to each other, gazing up into the morning sky. "You may be wondering why I would garden something like this." Evan assumed turning his head to Autumn. "It's because no matter how messed up are inside, as long as you lay down in between these flowers. You'll be surrounded by beauty." The look on his face alone made Autumn feel the happiness he did right at the moment. "Why are you showing me all this?" Autumn asked as they looked up into the cloudless sky. "You opened up about your mother, and I could tell that took everything of you just to say it. So I decided to show you all this today because no matter how broken you are inside, there is always something you can do to express that. To reveal that pain. Undress it and show it off to the world. Make it powerless. Make it your own. Cause if you don't, you'll just get lost within it." Autumn could see him leaning in forward. He felt Evan's hand brush against his own. The understanding feeling. The familiar comfort. All are traveling through to his heart. He came here to find out everything that was wrong with Evan. How did he end up here? In a garden, that's supposed to let you go of the pain. Every inch of his body is telling him to stand up. To walk away. His fingers entwine with Evan's. Feeling the warmth of his hand holding his. "I like you." Evan whispered. Autumn could feel the sweat on his palms. "Why?" he whispered back. "Because you are the only sane thing in between the chaos." Evan replied. Autumn brought his lips closer to his. He looked him into his brown eyes before putting his lips against his. The kiss felt breathtaking. It felt good. It felt real. As Autumn kissed Evan, a storm of memories came flooding through his brain. Memories of Evan. The time of them together. With everyone. All of them. Autumn stopped kissing him, and the memories stopped. Evan looked at him, slightly smiling. "Who are you, Evan?" Autumn uttered. Evan's face changed immediately. He sat up and turned towards Autumn. "Even if I told you, Autumn. There is still no chance that you would remember me." "How do you know that?" Autumn shifted himself up and was face to face with Evan again. "I just know, okay." he said, trying to ignore the question. "All I know is that the moment you came into our lives, everything has been fucked up and weird. We can't make sense of jack-shit.", Autumn ran after Evan after he got up and rushed off. "What is good of remembering shit anyways, Autumn. It only gives you pain and anger and a lot of fucked up feelings." Evan shouted. "Because the not knowing part is fucking us up, Evan. We all deserve to know what the fuck is going on. You're the only one that seems to know what is going on." Autumn followed him through the house and into the living room. "Your friends. They not good people." Evan said after Autumn pulled him aside. "And me? What about me?" Autumn asked, holding tightly unto his arm. "You're like the seasons. Good enough for a while. Broken down in Autumn and darker than the days in Winter." Autumn let go of his arm and stepped back away from him. "You and your entire group of friends are not as innocent as you think Autumn. You all did things. Unspeakable things. Vile, monstrous things." He could see the disgusted look on Evan's face. "So you are doing all this messed-up shit to us just because you decide we all fucked up people. Everyone is fucked up, Evan. You should know that so fucking clearly!" Autumn shouted. "I'm not the one who fucking killed myself. All of you murdered me. EVERY FUCKING ONE OF YOU!" Evan screamed. Autumn lost balance and fell against the fireplace. "You're lying!" he denied. "You'll never know because you'll never have the memory of It.", Evan felt good as he got it off his chest, but at the same time, he regrets not playing it safe. He walked closer to Autumn and held his face in his hands. "You might think this is stupid, but we loved each other before all of this Autumn. Before all the chaos. You were mine. We were with each other. I know the others corrupted you to do what you did. I still love you, and I'm going to get you back to me, and I promise you that." Autumn struggled to get out the lock Evan has on him. "For now, we'll work up to that, okay." Evan said as Autumn closed his eyes with tears running down them. "Everything will make sense eventually." Evan whispered and kissed Autumn. Memories of Evan flood into Autumn's mind before he collapsed onto the floor. Evan caught him before he could fall. "I promise you. I'll fix all of this. I promise you", he cried, holding onto Autumn.

Zia stormed into Autumn's room and dragged him off the bed. Autumn woke up, more confused than ever. "So this is what you have been doing. While I have been babysitting our two friends who have completely lost their shit!" Zia shouted as Autumn tried to get back on the bed. "I don't know why the fuck you are sleeping so much, or what guy knocked you up, but you better get your ass up and come with me because there is some heavy shit going on by Xavier's house," Zia said pulling him off again. "Can't it wait till tomorrow?" Autumn mumbled. "Not it cannot, Autumn! We have school tomorrow", she said as she tries to pick him up from the ground. "What is so important anyways that we need to deal with it today?" Autumn questioned, helping himself up from the ground. "Xavier claims he might know who Evan is.", Zia uttered. "Me and Annalee as well." Autumn was so confused he tried to comprehend everything Zia said but couldn't make sense of it. "Get your ass ready. Cause we about to find this motherfucker out." Zia said and threw Autumn a pair of jeans.