FAMILIAR FACES

Autumn stepped out of his car which was parked in front of Xavier's house. The invariant equatorial sunset gloomed over the town as the night sky approached. The house was still and quiet. Only a few lights on in the living room and in Xavier's room. Autumn saw a shadow move in Xavier's room and a few seconds later Zia came outside with Xavier following after her. Autumn stood his ground not being able to move at all. Zia spoke to Xavier and went back inside. Xavier made his way to Autumn walking at his own pace. "So are you going to come inside or not?" He asked. Autumn looked up and saw Zia standing in the window looking down at them. "Is this a trap? Is this just some way to give me up?" Autumn asked when he saw other movements in the room. "I gave you a choice and I won't fuck you over." Xavier looked up to his room and asked Autumn once again if he wants to come inside. "Fuck me over and I swear we'll all die in that fucking room," Autumn warned Xavier. "I don't think you would do anything to hurt Stone," Xavier said and made his way outside. Autumn's mind ran around with what Xavier said. Could it be that Evan was here? Did Xavier really find him? Autumn rushed to catch up with Xavier. The walked upstairs to Xavier's room and Autumn's body got colder and colder as they got closer to the door. Xavier held the doorknob to open the door but Autumn stopped him. "Did you really find him?" he asked. Xavier didn't answer him. He didn't have any expression on his face to give an indication of Autumn's answer. Xavier pushed the door open and Autumn held his breath. He didn't know how to face Evan. He didn't know if he could handle it. Seeing him again.

"About fucking time," Zia said and stepped away from the window. "Hey Autumn." A voice said. Autumn's head jerked to the person who spoke. "You got to be kidding me." He said as he saw Ashley Spear standing tall as ever next to Zia. "You kidding right," Autumn asked more seriously. "Don't be angry at them Autumn. I came here out of my own." Ashley said her voice still so sincere. "You promised me," Autumn said nodding his head. "I'm here for you," Ashley replied. "Okay. You guys can catch up on your reunion soon but for now, we need Ashley to find Evan for us." Zia interrupted. "No! She is not going to do that and all of you are not going to drag her into this bullshit." Autumn shouted. "Autumn you do know this is all your bullshit that we are caught up in," Xavier stated. "Yes, it's mine. Not hers." Ashley sighed and sat down on Xavier's bed. "Autumn. You told me to leave this all behind and never come back. You forced me to leave. You made sure that I was as far away as possible from all of you and the cult." "That is because I was trying to protect you. I was trying to keep you away from all the pain and suffering that you already went through." Autumn interrupted. "Mom died. Jacob died. I lost most of my friends because I wanted to be a part of this. I made that choice way before you did. So stop judging Autumn because you are not a savior. Yes, you gave me a second chance at life but you fucked up your second chance. You went and got yourself fucking stuck over a guy." Autumn knew she was right. Ashley was always right. The only sibling he ever had. "So let me return the favor and I promise you I will be out of your hair." The room was silent. Everyone waiting for Autumn to make a decision. "Do you actually really know where he is Xavier?" he finally asked. "What is he talking about?" Zia asked as Xavier got uncomfortable. "We're you just lying?" Autumn said. "Xavier can you please just let me in on whatever is going on between the two of you. What the fuck are you hiding?" Zia stood with her arms crossed waiting on Xavier to clear up the air. "I don't know where he is." He confessed. "I fucking knew it," Autumn said keeping himself from attacking Xavier. "Is the whole point of me being here not to find this Evan guy?" Ashley asked. "Seems like Xavier fooled Autumn by telling him he has Evan," Zia said. "Guys are fucking stupid" She added rolling her eyes. "I'm fucking leaving." Autumn got stopped by Xavier before he could exit. "I don't think you should be doing that," Autumn warned him. "Did you make your choice or not?" Xavier asked. Autumn slightly laughed. Amused at Xavier's question. "You don't know where Evan is so why the fuck should I help you?" he said. Xavier looked over to Zia and Ashley who waited on them. "We let Ashley find him and then you'll have time to make your decision." Xavier bargained. Autumn looked over to Ashley as she shrugged her shoulders. "I have already made my decision." He said and stepped away from the door. "You can take me. Leave him out of it." Autumn said. Ashley jumped up from the bed. "Wait I thought Evan was the one the cult wanted." Zia looked at Xavier and rolled her eyes again. "When did they become interested in you?" Autumn stared back and forth at Zia and Xavier who looked away from him. "I offered myself up for him to be free." Autumn lied. He didn't know why he covered up for them at all. "No. You not going to do that Autumn." Ashley argued. "You don't really have a say pretty girl." Zia laughed. "It's his decision," Xavier added. Ashley walked over to Autumn and held him by his arms. "If you do this there is no coming back. You'll be locked away forever Autumn. I can't let you do this." Her eyes teared up. Autumn could see how grown she got. The pain and fear don't hide behind her eyes anymore. "I'm sorry." Was all he said. Ashley grabbed and hugged him sobbing on his shoulder.

Walter Montgomery sat on his couch as he watched the news. His father was still at the diner closing up. A half-open book laid on the coffee table that he could barely finish. He switched between channels trying to find something watch worthy. He cussed after every channel he switched over. "Screw this." He said and stood up. He made his way to the kitchen and took out a cup. Poured him coffee and headed to his room. A banging knock came from the door. "Seriously." He said and put down the coffee. The banging became louder and louder as he rushed to the door. "Okay. Hang on." He jerked open the door and Evan Stone leaned against the wall barely unable to stand up. "Fuck you!" Walter said and slammed the door close. Evan came inside and locked the door behind him. "Walter." He tried speaking. "Get the fuck out of my place Evan." Walter walked to his room and then back to Evan. "Why are you here? How did you evens find me?" Evan tried to keep himself up. He was covered in dirt and bruises. "I need your help," Evan said as his breathing became heavier. "Still the fucking same. Still, just use people when you need them." Walter said. Evan laughed. "You know I never asked you for anything." Walter fought himself to not help Evan. "Because you took everything from me without asking." Evan fell down onto the ground struggling to get up. "You know I always prepared myself for the day I would see you again. What I would say to you." Evan rolled over on his back holding pressure to his bleeding chest. "And yet I'm at a loss of fucking words." Walter wiped the tear off his cheek and decided to help Evan. He pulled him up and dragged him to the bathroom. Shoved him inside of the shower and opened the tab. Evan was unresponsive still holding pressure to his chest. "You left me. Without fucking saying anything." Walter ripped open Evan's shirt and traced all the bruises on his body. "You made me fucking love you and then you ran away." Walter took off Evan's pants leaving him in his underwear. He stood in front of him waiting for him to wake up. "You took everything from me. You broke me. Tore me apart." Walter kneeled down before Evan. The warm water flowing over them. "So tell me." He said holding Evan's face in his hands. "Tell me." He whispered. "Tell you what?" Evan asked. "Tell me why the fuck you did that to me. Tell me why the fuck you came into my life and ruined me. Tell me!" Walter stared hitting against the wall beside Evan's head. Screaming for an answer. Evan looked at him blankly. Walter lowered his head sobbing. "You broke me." He whispered. "You left and broke me." He looked up and saw Evan crying. "I'm sorry." Was all he could say. Walter sat down beside him and wiped his face. "I'm sorry I loved you too." He said and stood up. "My dad will be home in an hour. Take what you want and get the fuck out of my place and out of my life." Evan held onto the wall to stand up. "I don't ever want to fucking see you again." He said and walked to his room. Evan got a fright when he heard Walter slamming his door close. He closed the tap and walked over to the mirror. He couldn't see himself anymore. He didn't know who he was anymore. He let out a scream and smashed the mirror broken. Blood dripping onto the floor.

"So were you going to ever tell me about your suicide plan?" Ashley asked as she and Autumn drove to his place. "Were you ever going to tell your brother that you here?" Autumn asks keeping his eyes on the road. "Fair enough. Your friends are quite convincing. Told me in how much trouble you are with the cult. I had to come." She said rolling down the window. "I guess he does not know that you are here," Autumn said. Ashley sighed and turned her head to Autumn. "Of cause he doesn't know I'm here. After I left and never came back he never really spoke to me. When I got the call mom died I decided to never come back because I just couldn't. I am a hundred percent sure that he has forgotten about me." Autumn glanced back and forth at her. "I'm sure as well that he has forgotten about me too. He still blames me for mom. He got himself a psychologist girlfriend." Ashley burst out of laughter. "You are kidding right?" she asked trying to control her laughter. "No, I'm not. She is living with us now. She treats me like I'm one of her patients. She does everything he says which pleases him." Ashley stopped laughing and laid her head back against the seat. "I'm actually happy for him." She said. "Well I try to be every day but he never makes it easy for me. It's like he wants to hate me." Autumn said and hang his hand out the window. "He just can't deal with her being gone. We never got over her being gone Autumn." Autumn looked at her and agreed. "I still miss her so much to this day." He said keeping himself from tearing up. "I'm glad that I'm here even though it is on such fucked up terms." She said and messed up Autumn's hair a bit. "Fucked up terms is the glue to reunions. You should know that by now." Autumn said as they arrived home. "You ready to see him?" He asked taking off his seatbelt. "I'll never be ready to ever see him." Ashley got out of the car and waited on Autumn. Autumn looked over to Ashley as she stared at the house. She faced him and smiled. He smiled back at her and closed his car door. Autumn walked in front with her following. He slowly opened the door and walked inside. Elaine and his father sat in the living room watching television. "Dad," Autumn called out. Elaine looked back and asked him what is wrong. His father looked at him and ordered him to speak. Autumn nods his head for Ashley to come in. She stepped inside and their father stood up from his seat. "Hi, Dad." She said tears sitting in her eyes. "Ashley." He whispered. Elaine stood next to him holding onto his arm. "Who is this Arthur?" She asked. "I'm his daughter," Ashley said when she saw Arthur struggling to find the words. Elaine looked up to Arthur who stood speechless next to her. "I would have called but I didn't really have any of your contacts," Ashley explained. Arthur stepped away from Elaine and walked towards Ashley. "I would have let you known. So I'm sorry I'm just dropping by unannounced." Arthur stood before Ashley. "Don't be sorry." He said and hugged her. Autumn has never seen his father like that. He stood there watching them and looked at Elaine who could see what he was feeling. He patted his dad's back and headed upstairs leaving Ashley to catch but their father. He closed his door and leaned against it. He felt jealous in his chest. He took a deep breath and exhaled. Sat down on his bed, waiting until Ashley comes upstairs.

Zia impatiently walked up and down. "Can you calm down please?" Xavier asked sitting by his study desk. "Why did you let him go?" she asked pacing herself. "What were we supposed to do? Keep him here overnight or something." Xavier spanned himself around on the chair. "I wanted you to think of something to keep him here. Make up a fucking lie? Seduce him or something. You were into that and now you just useless." She disappointedly stated. "He's not the same anymore Zia. I can't just go over to him and try to seduce him." Xavier stopped spinning around and sat up straight in the chair. "Well news flash died out jock, none of us are the same anymore. We are the versions of ourselves that Autumn blurred out. We all just running around trying to fix everything." Zia stopped pacing up and down and rather laid down on the floor. "What are you doing?" Xavier stood up from his chair and stood over her head. "Annalee and I used to do this when shit kept spinning around and we couldn't stop it." Xavier shook his head and laid down next to her. "I still miss her." He said staring up to the ceiling. "She was stupid. She shouldn't have given herself up trying to get us out of the mess. She should have waited as we did." Xavier disagreed. He wanted Annalee to flee. He wanted her to be safe away from everything. "This is all his fault." He said. Zia turned her head to him and then back to the ceiling. "Is it really his fault Xavier? We keep blaming Autumn over and over again because it's easy. It's easy to point the finger to him. He just wanted to get out and all of us have thought about that. I mean look at all the things they have made us do. Told us to kill Autumn's mother. Kill Evan. Before that, we killed a bunch of people. Some of Ashley's friends even Jacob. Jacob was a good guy and she loved him. All they want us to do is kill and kill and kill and it never stops. It just never does. So we keep blaming him because it's easier." Xavier took his finger and wiped the tear from her face. "Do you know the more and more we killed and kill? The less emotion we had. That is why it didn't take us much to get a job done. We always said that Autumn was weak but he had the courage to say no. He had the courage and will to walk away from the abomination that we have become. But yes you right, I miss Annalee too." Xavier sat up and took Zia's hand. "You do know it is not too late for us to have the courage and will to escape from all this." He said. Zia pulled her hand away and laid it down on her stomach. "The only way for us to get out this grave we have made for ourselves is to let Autumn find Evan and go through with his plan. Or for us to make up a new plan which also includes Autumn's help." She said. Xavier laid back down next to her. "Do you think he would help us?" Xavier asked. "What do you think? He's fucking Autumn. Even though there is so much bad blood between us he would still help us." Zia and Xavier laid on the floor staring up at the ceiling. Waiting for everything to stop spinning. Waiting for answers to fall from the sky. "So for how long are we going to lay here?" Xavier asked and Zia burst out of laughter. "I don't know." She sat up and helped Xavier up too. "I miss the old us and the familiar faces. I miss Autumn and our morning drives. I miss high school and I miss the version of us Autumn made before we got our memories back. Life was simpler." Xavier held Zia's hands. "We can get it back. It's not too late. We can get it back." He reassured her. "I'm so tired of the back and forth. I'm just so tired of losing people." Xavier grabbed her and held her in his arms. Zia cried for the first time since everything happen to them. "We'll make it out of this," Xavier said stroking her head and holding her as tight as he possibly could.