The Ghost Face Murders in Fall River

Ch. 34

Autumn had ran until her body couldn't run anymore, but she didn't stop walking. She just kept sauntering forward without even knowing where she was going. It wasn't until she heard a rumble in the distance that she realized she was far from the funeral home and in the sketchy part of town. There were bars on the windows and doors of establishments, street lights flickering, and streets without lights completely. Autumn stopped walking. There was another rumble in the distance followed by a few drops of rain that dripped onto her. Now that she was calm and collected, she realized how stupid it was for her to have run off like that. Autumn then remembered that Benjamin was supposed to have picked her up. She then retrieved her phone from her bag to call him, but... it was dead. Autumn began to get nervous. The only other thing she could do was turn around and head back the way she had came. As she walked in the darkness of night, more raindrops began to fall which only heightened Autumn's anxiety. Her mind began to wander into dark places, like the image of Zach and Emily in the casket, holding their little girl. Then she thought about the murderers who had killed them. There was suddenly a loud crack of thunder that startled Autumn so badly she flinched. Then here came the rain... Autumn couldn't help but to cry, she had brought all these things upon herself, there was no one else to blame.

Autumn suddenly became very aware of how exhausted she was. It was like she couldn't get herself to take another step, but her fear of what might be lurking in the dark encouraged her to push on to safety. The old, rundown buildings around her seemed like big, ominous walls, trapping her in with all the dreadful things. Autumn's chest tightened the more her mind wandered and dwelled on the dead and on murderers. She was so frightened that she began to hallucinate figures out of the corner of her eye. Autumn began to walk faster and faster as she descended into madness. When she saw lights from a car turn down the road she was on and began coming her way, Autumn turned back around and started running as fast as she could away from the car. In her mind it was someone who was coming to hurt her. Her heart began to pound when she heard the car speed up. There was no way she could out run a car. "Hey! Autumn!" they called out to her. Now Autumn was frantic, she took off down an alley.

"Well, this certainly is a wild goose chase..." Benjamin said with a sigh as he whipped his car down the alley. He decided to park and pursue Autumn on foot. "Autumn!" he called down the alley.

Autumn just kept running, but a puddle she stepped in put a stop to that. She slipped and down she went onto the pavement where she broke down and began to sob.

Benjamin hurried over to her and knelt down. He pulled her up from the puddle and looked over her body with concern. "Autumn, what is wrong with you? Why are you running away from me?"

Autumn began to calm when she realized that it wasn't no psycho killer. "B-B-Ben..." she murmured.

"Yeah, that's me," he replied with a faint smile. He brought his hand up and brushed the wet strands of hair from her face. She then sought refuge by burying her face in his chest. Benjamin felt her hands as they clung to him in desperation. He decided to just get her out of the rain instead of asking questions. She probably didn't feel like talking anyway.

Benjamin took her up into his arms and carried her to his car where he sat her in the passenger seat. The whole car ride to his house was silent except for the rain pelting the car. Autumn didn't seem to care that Benjamin had brought her to his place, if she did, she didn't make it known. She didn't even seem bothered when he took her into his room. Benjamin sat her down on the edge of the bed. He crouched down and began removing her shoes. Her poor feet had raw spots from where she had been running in those flats. Benjamin took one of her feet into his hands and gingerly rubbed it.