What would you choose?

Chapter Thirteen

I actually managed to sleep really well last night and I think it's down to having Jay with me, he makes me feel safe and I love laying on his chest listening to his heartbeat. We've all been up for a few hours. Me, Luka and Aiden gardening, my mum and Tommy cooking and my dad and Jay are out the front fixing the water collector. I spent an hour earlier trying to use my powers: I've managed to use telechensis to life some tissue but nothing heavier, produce a tiny flame but had zero luck making a force field. Jay and Luka keep telling me to not give up and practice makes perfect but I'm ready to give up and forget I even have powers. Of course, Aiden has been nothing but annoying and keeps calling me a freak so nothing new, only difference now is that Jay threatens her.

"That's it! I hate gardening!" A bit of mud flung onto Aiden's face as she tried pulling her trowel out the ground. Me and Luka laughed at her. "This isn't funny. It's disgusting."

"Hold on I'm coming," Luka laughed. He put his shovel down and ran to help her. He keeps placing everything neatly. When he started gardening, he arranged all the tools. "What is it with you and keeping the tools tidy?" I asked.

"I'm slightly OCD. I have to have everything organised and I also keep track of and notice things like steps between places."

"Weirdo." Aiden mocked.

"Yes, I certainly am a weirdo but I like it. We're all weirdos in our own way and that's what makes us special," he replied as he looked at me.

"So, where were you two the night the world ended?" I asked.

"We were at a party with some friends downtown." Aiden said, "suddenly the ground started to shake violently and all the power went. We ran outside and there was fire everywhere and things were flying about. People were screaming and crying. We all tried calling our parents but our phones were dead. It was chaos. And just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, the hardlings showed up and started murdering everyone. We ran and didn't look back."

"What about you Autumn?" Luka asked.

"I was here. I somehow slept through the whole thing."

"What? How? You managed to sleep through it all?" Aiden said not believing me.

"Yeah, I don't know how but I did." They looked at me in dis-belief, I looked back at them and shrugged my shoulders.

Suddenly, my mum came out with sandwiches. Aiden and Luka were hesitant to take the food but eventually did. They keep acting weird around my family and I don't get why. They don't know about the fact they're actually dead. My mum went back inside to give the others their lunch. We all sat down at the garden table. "Thanks mum," I shouted.

"That's it." Aiden said as she jumped up.

"Aiden. Don't!" Luka shouted.

"No. This doesn't make any sense."

"Just leave it!"

"I'm not going to just leave it. Autumn how are your family alive? I know for a fact that they died."

"What? How do you know?" I asked, confused. How did she know? No one at school knew anything about me so they defiantly wouldn't know about my family.

"My dad was the investigator trying to find the driver who crashed into your family. I only know it was you as my dad told me you were moving in with your uncle and going to go to my school, he asked me to be nice to you."

"Clearly you wasn't." I never knew Aiden's dad was a cop especially the cop working on my families case. I remember him, he was kind and had a trusting smile. How did he manage to make such a horrible daughter?

"So, explain."

"I don't know. I woke up the day before the world ended and there they were. My uncle was gone. They have no idea they died."

"So, they just randomly appeared?"

"Yes."

"I find that hard to believe."

"It's the truth. Please don't tell them."

"I promise. We won't tell them, will we Aiden?" Luka said.

"So, you're just never going to tell them?"

"Aiden!" Luka shouted.

"I'll tell them one day."

"They deserve to know."

"Aiden. It's Autumn's decision if and when she tells them."

"Fine. I promise I won't tell them. But they should know." Maybe Aiden's right, maybe they should know. How would I even tell them they're actually dead? It's not exactly an easy thing to bring up. How would they react? Will they hate me?

"Still makes no sense how they're alive," Aiden said.

"Maybe a parallel universe where your family lived has collided with ours and that's why the world has ended and everything's gone to chaos." Luka stated.

"What are you going on about?" Aiden asked confused.

"Imagine the universe as a ball: If two universes crashed into each other then not only would they combine to create a new one but there will be reprucutions of the collision like all the destruction we've seen."

"You're such a nerd," Aiden rudely said.

"Nothing wrong with being a nerd. I quite enjoy listening to a nerd rant," I laughed. Luka smiled at me and I smiled back. Luka's theory does make a lot of sense and would explain a lot. However, it doesn't explain the hardlings or Jay as I made them up.

"So, in another reality, Autumn's family is alive and she has a boyfriend? Because that makes any sense."

"Anything is possible. In another reality, you two might be best friends and Aiden might be the sweetest person ever," Luka said.

"Now that's not possible. Me and Aiden will never be friends," I said.

"I can be nice." Aiden argued. We just looked at her, raised our eyebrows and started laughing. It felt weird to be laughing with Luka but also felt right and nice.

After lunch we got back to gardening and spent the rest of the day gardening. In the evening we had a meal together and Aiden and Luka stopped being as weird around my family. Me and Jay did some more magic practice and I didn't manage to do any better.