WORTH SAVING

"How was he exactly?" Autumn asked as they all gathered around. They moved Walter to the couch after everyone hopelessly tried bringing him back. "You all we're in his mind. Didn't you see anything?" Evan asked, glancing back and forth between them and Walter. "He doesn't want to get out of his room. If we try opening it, he shuts us out completely." Autumn answered. "Zia. You saw most of his memory what exactly did you see?" Xavier asked her. Zia scratched her head and tried to remember as hard as she can. "Well, over the past six months after a darker version of you killed all of us. Diner boy lost his way. He was hopeless and miserable. Losing himself as time progressed. Elaine tried to help him, but he shut her out too, did the same with his father. He went to support groups for a few times but gave up. I could see him countless of times standing in front of your house Autumn. Wondering when you will be back for him. Out of everything he was feeling. The one thought that kept buzzing inside his head was you Autumn when you will finally show up and end his misery." They all glanced over to Walter. "It's my fault he's like this. He got too close when the accident happened. I'm not even sure how all of this happened. It's like nothing is the same anymore all over again." Autumn said, turning their heads back to him. "So, what do we do now?" Xavier questioned. "I do not know." Autumn answered. "Okay, I don't want to take a moment away from diner boy, but your sister is upstairs with dead Jacob, who has been alive because she linked his life to yours." Zia brought up. "Wait, she did what!" Autumn immediately rushed upstairs with all of them behind him. "Ashley, why…" Autumn swung open the door finding his sister on top of Jacob. "Oh, my God." Zia covered her eyes, turning around. "I think I'm going to be sick." She added. Ashley jumped off of Jacob, covering herself and him. "Hey, Autumn. I meant to come down as soon as I figured you were awake, but I got a little occupied." Ashley felt the embarrassment all over her. "This is why I don't do family." Xavier commented. "Why is he still alive, Ashley?" Autumn squeezed the doorknob controlling his anger. "I couldn't let him die, Autumn. He means everything to me." Ashley smiled at Jacob, who still had no idea what is happening. "You're a psycho bitchs who can't move on." Zia responded from outside the room. "I want him gone and now!" Autumn demanded. Ashley started crying, weeping about losing the only person she loves. "Remove the spell and let Jacob be dead." Autumn said to his sister. She continued to weep and removed the spell. "You better than this, Ashley. Move on." Autumn said, and left the room. Xavier slowly closed the door behind him. "I don't think there is anything that we can do for Walter, but wait and see if he ever wakes up." Autumn said as they all down the stairs to Walter. "Are there not even a spell we could do or some ritual to bring him back. He can't stay like this forever!" Evan cried out. "Sometimes, the body is more fragile than we know, and our mind is too powerful to understand." Autumn said, kissing Walter on his forehead. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "No, we can't leave him like this. He doesn't deserve this Autumn. I got him messed up in all of this. It should have been me!" Evan stopped himself from bursting out of tears. "I won't accept it." He said and stormed to the door. "Evan, wait." Autumn called out. Evan opened the door and found Atreus standing in it. Everyone went numb, not knowing what to do. "I believe you have someone I'm looking for." He said, stepping inside the house. No one moved or made a sound. Atreus walked across the room and stopped when he saw Walter. "You've blinded him with your ignorant ways. Robbed him from his purity. Took away his sight of the present. I will not rest until your insides are lying at my feet being stomped upon as your bodies burn. This would not have happened if you just gave him to me. Instead, you all thought you all could be more. You all could defeat and outsmart the person who gave you life." Atreus walked over to Autumn. "It's been a pleasure watching you try and try to escape us. You should know by now there is no escaping. I suggest you make the best of the limited lifespan you have left. Don't you dare ever try to come for me again. You'll watch everyone you so care about being skinned in front of you…. You've made an enemy out me Autumn. I advise you to keep your friends close. You don't want to die alone." Atreus' voice was bold and stern. The lights in the room all flickered. For a moment, it was total darkness, and when the light flashed back on, Atreus was gone with Walter.

Autumn's vision blurred out as he felt the room spinning. Zia grabbed the nearest trash bin and threw up in, Evan ran outside into the raining storm. "What the fuck just happened," Xavier shouted, trying to get Autumn's attention. Everyone was in a panic mode, still experiencing the sudden fear of Atreus in the room. Evan's screaming awoke Autumn from his paralyzing state. "Where's Evan?" he asked in a haze. Xavier pointed outside and rushed to Zia. Autumn felt the rain blustering against him. "You need to come back in." Autumn protected his face with his arm held up.

"He took him. He came in and took him." Evan aggressively proclaimed. Autumn couldn't see correctly, but he knew Evan was crying. "Evan, you need to come back in. We'll figure this out." Autumn knew at the back of his mind; there was no truth in what he said. They are lost and hopeless. Walter is gone, taken by the one person they could never get him back from. "We lost him in Autumn. I lost him!" Lighting erupts from the sky as Evan screamed into the darkness. Autumn knew there was something wrong. Lightning never strikes from their side of town, even if they are miles away from home. The lightning repetitively erupted from the sky. Autumn watched as the trees alight with blue flames as Evan dashed out of the chaos. "How is this even possible?" Xavier asked as he and Zia stepped outside. "It's him." Was all Autumn said. They stood and watch tree by tree light up until the whole forest was burning blue. "We're dead."

Autumn stormed inside but was pulled out by a non-visible force. Evan caught him just in time before he could fall. Autumn balanced himself up, "No." He whispered underneath his breath. Autumn knew what is happening; Atreus cast the house unable for anyone to leave or enter. "Ashley." He realized forcing himself through the force but couldn't breakthrough. The house erupted in flames causing them to stand back. Autumn called out for Ashley, being held back by Zia and Xavier. The fire burned deep red and amber, almost livid purple bursting through the windows and doors. The rain was oblivious to the fire flaming house, not an inch of raindrops could put it out.

Autumn fell onto his knees, feeling the fire dancing in his eyes. Ashley came running from the back, soaking wet. "Autumn." She cried, running into his arms. "I don't know what happened…fire was everywhere…and I couldn't get back inside the house. I thought you were still in there." Ashley sobbed in Autumn's arms. Evan glanced around, seeing Walter in between the burned-out trees. He stopped himself from rushing over to him. 'It's not him.' He kept reminding himself. "We need to leave." Xavier laid his hand down on Autumn's shoulder. They had nothing left there, absolutely nothing. Autumn stood up, kept Ashley by his side, and made his way through the burned-out trees with everyone. No one said anything walking down to the road. Autumn knew they were miles away from home since he can't use his abilities. He couldn't take them. They walked for hours alongside the road. The rain stopped clearing up the sky. It was dawn, sunset close to disappearing behind the mountain. Everybody was soaked, drying pieces of their clothes. Zia wanted to remark but decided not too. Their walk home lasted for a day or two, stopping where they can, hiking, everyone's phone was dead so that they couldn't call a cab. They found a phone booth at one of the gas stations they passed. Xavier called two cabs as they sat on the pavement. Not one of them spoke, not one of them dared to say a word. They arrived at Xavier's house, getting out of the separate cabs. Xavier said they should all stay over get some food and rest. Autumn decided it was a good idea to stick with each other for the time being with Atreus' word haunting him. Zia was the last one inside shutting the door close behind her. They all exchanged worried looks, hopeless looks before they dropped onto the floor of sleep deprivation.

"We have to talk about what happened eventually, " Zia said, breaking the room's unbearable silence. All of them woke up hours later, showered, and got some food to eat and decide to sit in the living room. Autumn sat on the couch with Ashley and Evan. Xavier and Zia sat inside a chair close to the sofa. Everyone still avoided the occurrence at Jacob's place. Autumn looked away when Zia spoke. He still has not figured out what to do yet. How to handle everything. "So that you all can just agree that Walter is beyond saving," Evan remarked, staring over to an unmindful Autumn. "Well, do you have an idea or plan or something to save him from the man who could kill us all in an instant? If not, then yes, his beyond saving. Deal with it."

Zia's harsh words roamed around the room before she and Evan started arguing. Autumn kept his mind away. Away from trying to dig them out of a mess, he created – again. He remembers how, when he saved Zia from the car, he moved between space and time, somehow Walter got in-between it—trying to stop him, causing them to be stuck in an alternate reality. Them appearing at Jacob's place was just him trying his best to protect them, so he took them to wherever his sister was. The only person he actually felt safe around or could feel safe around. Autumn watched Xavier break up their argument before they got into a fight. His abilities were gone or faded, and he knows it. Autumn could feel that he is drained out. Evan said something towards him, but Zia shut him up once again. He could feel Ashley's worried all over him waiting on her to ask what's wrong; instead, she doesn't. "We can't just sit here and decide Walter's life is not worth saving. He's a trap. In his mind and the cult." Evan kept going on. Autumn kept his distance from the decision making; he remained quiet. "What if he's not trapped in the cult? You thought they were hunting you, and we thought they were hunting us, but Atreus was after him the whole time. Why? We have fucked him over so much, but he was still more interested in Walter, who has no connection to him nor the cult. It just doesn't add up?" Xavier said, stating a valid point. Autumn turned his attention to Xavier, listening to what he has to say. "I mean Autumn broke so many rules trying to outsmart and escape the cult. Zia and I did everything Atreus said, and still, he ordered us to kill Evan about the same time Walter came into the picture. We offered up Autumn, but I think he knew Autumn knew Walter. When the car crash happened, it was supposed to take out Autumn, not Walter; he was protected; that's why there was a complication when Autumn healed him. Every single time the cult was after us, they were actually after him. Atreus knew he would eventually end up with us. The only thing is, what would the leader of a cult want with a guy he never met?" Everyone went quiet. Xavier was right. Everything they did was somehow revolved around Walter. Evan gradually stood up from the couch, "I think I know who might have the answers." He said.

John Montgomery rushed to the door as someone kept banging on it. "Yes, yes, I'm coming." He said. "Yes?" He answered the door finding Evan and the rest standing in the hallway. "We need to talk." Evan invited himself in with the rest following him. "Walter is not here if you're looking for him. Although I don't think he would want to see you at all." John said, hanging onto the open door. "Who was his mother?" Evan abruptly asked. John shut the door close first, checking if no one is in the hall. "Walter said his mother left you guys when he was still a child. I know because he had to go to therapy and he told me about it. What I didn't understand is that he would remember it differently every time he spoke about it. Like there was some piece he couldn't remember. So tell me John, who the hell is Walter's mother." John stood head tall facing them. "That is none of your business. I suggest you all leave before I call the cops." He said. "We are not going anywhere until you answer Stone boy here," Zia answered sternly, looking at John. John watched every one of them as if he were studying their faces. He gazed at Autumn for a while before he spoke, "She was a mess, a drunk, and a druggie. Could never commit herself to anything. I met her before she was all that. After she got Walter, she made sure that she would never see him again, so I raised him." Evan nodded his head, "But Walter remembers his mother being there for a while before she ran off. Why is that, John?" Autumn already knew what was going on. He could feel it in his bones. "Walter did that so that he could have something to hold on to her. Some fake memory. He was desperate to know her." John became more serious; he knew he was under attack by them. "More like drawn to her," Autumn spoke. "You never said that you got her pregnant. From the drugs and alcohol, she used she most probably went through something horrifying. After she got knocked up and gave birth, she gave the child to you and ran." John didn't disagree with a word Autumn said. "What are you trying to say, Autumn." Evan turned and faced him. Everyone faced him. "John is not Walter's real father. I think Atreus is." John yelled at them to leave his premises, but they were too caught up, hanging on to Autumn's words. "Guess he's not worth saving now." Zia sighed.