The Deck of Kings Corner

Prologue

"You wanted to know why I am who I am? This is why I am who I am! Who is there left to love me? Who is left to care? No one! There's nobody but ME!"

Missing.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Missing.

"Can I answer it?" Kie yells from next to me.

Missing.

"No!" Kate and Mar yell at her. Kie crosses her arms and pretends to pout, making the whole class laugh as Mr. Scarn makes his way to the door to answer the phone ringing on the wall.

Missing.

"Mr. Scarn's room." I faintly hear.

Missing.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to Kate. Her eyes search mine trying to figure out what's going on. She says something but I can't hear her.

Missing.

Alone.

Gone.

Presumed dead.

Missing.

Missing.

Ow.

I look away from Kate and look to my right at Kie while rubbing my arm that she just punched. She nods her head over to Mr. Scarn while looking concerned.

"It's for you." Mr. Scarn says while handing the wired phone to me. I Slowly move to the door. I take the phone from his hands and step outside into the hallway before putting it up to my ear.

Missing.

"This is Autumn." I mumble into the phone.

"Autumn this is Lincoln Past the lawyer your family hired for you and your sister." I hear.

I take a deep breath before I answer again. "Look," I start as I look around me. "I know what my parents wrote in their will, but they're not dead. So you can't let the court put it in action."

"The thing is," he stops and I hear him taking a breath. "they've been presumed dead, you know this. Meaning the court can put it in action. But I think I found a way around it. But you would have to be able to do it. And there wouldn't be any going back."

"What is it?"

~

"You realize what this will do to you, correct? Your life will never be the same." The judge tells me.

I nod. "Yes, ma'am"

"You've read every word? You know that you can never go back?" She asks again.

"Yes, ma'am" I say again.

Her face twists in pain for me as she says, "Alright then. Jury dismissed."

I let out a breath I had been holding in the entirety of court.

I'm on my own.

"Hey. Ready to go home?"

I sigh and grab my phone sitting on the desk before turning around to Jason. He puts his arm around me, guiding me out of the crowd of people in the room. We get outside and hop in his car for him to take us home.

When we get home Jason goes to the kitchen and opens the freezer pulling out his frozen Oreos and 2 different types of ice creams. I walk through to the living room and stand in the center looking around the place.

I kick my shoes off and sit criss crossed on the couch staring at the TV. Jason comes in handing me my carton of salted caramel ice cream and then tosses the frozen Oreo pack in between us while he sits down next to me. He grabs the remote to turn on a movie as I peel off the lid and dip an Oreo in my ice cream.

After a while I put my ice cream on the floor and lay a pillow next to Jason on the couch and then lay sideways. Eventually I fall asleep and I wake to a movie that's muted and no Jason next to me. I sit up and walk over to the glass slider that leads to our back yard which looks over the rest of our small town.

I'm alone.

What have I done?