Doomsday

chapter two

The following weekend, Reece's mother invited Amelia over for a play date. The two had formed a close bond very quickly; Reece would talk about her as if he'd known her for years, and clearly, Amelia thought very highly of Reece, too.

Reece had spent all morning tidying up his playroom. Autumn helped. If by help, that meant sitting on the floor and taking more toys out of the box and putting them on the floor, she definitely helped. Reece managed to ignore his sister and get the room tidy enough so that he and Amelia could build a fort later.

It was just him, Autumn, and his mother at home. He didn't quite know where his father was; he hadn't been listening at dinner the other day when he told them about the trip he was going on. Reece just listened to when he was leaving and when he was returning. Autumn, being only three, had sat there refusing to eat her broccoli whilst their mother tried to coax her into eating just a tiny bit of it.

The doorbell rang at exactly 12:30; the time that his mother had arranged with Amelia's father for them to meet. Reece bolted to the door and swung it open, where he was immediately greeted by Amelia and her dad. "Reecey!" she cried, lunging herself towards him and wrapping her arms around his. Reece giggled with laughter as Amelia buried her face in his shoulder.

"Hey!" Reece exclaimed, and when Amelia pulled away he instantly grabbed her hand. "Come see my playroom! I tidied it for you. Aut helped. A little. She's my little sister. Her full name is actually Autumn, like the season, y'know?"

He didn't realise how quickly he was speaking until his mother patted his shoulder and stopped them from running inside the house. "Slow down, Reece. Amelia won't be able to understand you," she chuckled, greeting Amelia's dad who was in the middle of taking his shoes off. Reece smiled sheepishly and continued to drag Amelia through the endless corridors until they finally reached their playroom.

Autumn was sat on the floor, colouring in. She looked up when Reece swung the door open. "Hi Aut," he greeted absent-mindedly, not paying much of a thought to her as he opened the box of blankets he'd left in the corner of the room. They were there so they could build a fort, just like they'd discussed the other day at school.

"Who's this?" Autumn's little voice piped up, her eyes focused on Amelia. Amelia waved at her.

"I'm Amelia," she smiled, kneeling down next to Autumn, whilst Reece pulled out more blankets and cushions for their fort. Autumn looked up at her with wide eyes, tilting her head to the side.

"Ahh–mee-lah," she said, trying her best to pronounce her name but evidentially struggling. Amelia chuckled and Reece laughed, shaking his head as he glanced over at his little sister.

"No, Aut, it's Ah–me–lee-ah."

He dropped the cushions and blankets on the floor, in front of the sofa. Autumn just babbled over the word again, and Reece and Amelia laughed. "No, Aut..."

"Mee-lah," Autumn tried again, and Reece frowned softly as he leaned forward and stroked her hair. Amelia remained silent for a moment as she frowned, looking at Reece's little sister carefully. Reece took the moment to unfold the blankets, wondering what was going through her mind until he jumped back in fright when Amelia let out a sudden gasp. This startled Autumn too, who let out a little whimper at the sudden noise. Reece and Amelia quickly soothed her, Amelia apologising profusely and begging her not to cry.

"No I'm sorry," she panicked, flinging her hands around as Reece gave her a slightly irate expression for making Autumn scared. "It's okay! Uh...I just had an idea of what you could call me."

Reece rubbed Autumn's back slowly, looking at Amelia with a quizzical expression. Amelia grinned, and whilst she grabbed a chair from the other side of the room and dragged it across, she said, "She can call me Mia."