Grand Theft Autumn

Chapter Five

Pete's POV

The leaves under my feet crunched in a satisfying way. It was cliche, but satisfying. I had just stepped into the graveyard. It seemed disconnected from the outside world, and a quiet fell over the area. I approached the bulletin board that held a map on it. I quickly found where the grave was. I noticed a lady approach a grave with flowers in her hands, Should I have brought flowers, or something? All I had with me was the journal. On the bulletin board held other things like when the graveyard was closed, and things like that. I looked around me. The place was mostly deserted, seeing how it was the middle of the day.

I started to make my way towards the grave. It was all of the way in the back of the graveyard, but I still took my time walking. I glanced at names on the graves. Some looked old, some looked new. Some of the graves were small, and others big. I sadly identified the small graves that had lambs on them to be graves for children. Another one caught my eye. It was surrounded by other graves that had flowers, while this one was barren. I knelt down by it, and read the headstone.

'Christina Galie' The name read. '2002-2003' She was only one year old... Or even younger. 'She is with the butterflies now' I had no idea what the statement meant, but it made my heart ache. So young... I looked at the bottom of the grave and noticed something that I hadn't before.

It was a daisy. It was white, and had no imperfections on it. I smiled a little bit.

Okay, Pete. You are on a misson. Stop getting distracted by little kid's gravestones. That is both depressing and soppy. Get it together.

I continued my journey to the back of the graveyard. I thought about what I knew in my mission so far. It wasn't much. That meet up, the one I was thinking about on the plane, it wasn't the only time that something like that had happened.

**Flashback**

It was maybe a month after that weird meetup. Patrick refused to talk about it, and no one else had seen it. I had pushed it to the back of my brain, because Patrick claimed he was fine and it was just a weird fan. Whatever.

    It was the same setup as before. This was a much smaller meetup. We were all standing in a line at the table, starting with me, then Joe, Andy, and then Patrick at the end.  Next up came a fan who was male. He had messy hair, and looked like he just rolled out of bed. He smiled kindly at me, and waved almost shyly.

"Hi," He said. "Can you- uh- please sign this?" He slid a piece of paper across the table. I smiled back.

"Sure. What is your name?"

"T-Toby." Soon, Toby had gotten all of Fall Out Boy to sign his paper. The last person in the line was Patrick, so I glanced down at them. It was then that I saw that Toby was doing that same hand thing that the girl before had done. Patrick didn't seem as bothered by it this time, though. I tried to listen to their words.

"How much do they want?" Patrick said, sounding angry.

"Not money. They want you. I feel like Lukas is proof that you can't run away from them." There was that name again, Lukas. The girl mentioned it, and it seemed to have quite the effect on Patrick.

"I-" Patrick was cut off by Toby walking away. He left his paper on the table. I walked over to Patrick confused.

"What was that about?" I asked. Patrick shook his head.

"Nothing, drop it. Just... Let's continue on with the meetup."

**Flashback over**

Back then, both of the people mentioned Lukas. The name meant nothing to me back then, but now it does.

When I saw it, it wasn't like some instant recognition. Patrick wasn't standing by it. The name on the stone wasn't some long-lost relative.

But it was a name I recognized.

The date was 1984 to 2005. The inscription said 'An Angel Who Walked On Earth'. There were no flowers by it, and it looked like no one had touched it in ages.

The name on it was Lukas Frieghner.

I knelt down, before fully sitting down with my back to the gravestone. I closed my eyes and rubbed my face with my hand, sighing. I had no leads. No fucking leads.

Opening my eyes, I made eye contact with a girl. She looked around 20, and had long brown hair. She was staring at me, with wide eyes. As soon as she realized I saw her, she took a step back. Panic flashed over her face, but she covered it up with a smirk. She gave a seductive smile, and waved, before walking away, swinging her hips.

What the fuck? Why was she watching me? Who was she? I briefly considered calling her, or chasing after her, but decided against it. Even though I had barely done anything today, I felt emotionally exhausted. No. No more. I had to go home, I just had to. There was nothing else.

But this didn't make sense, there were still so many unanswered questions. Who was Lukas? How did he die? He died when he was 21, I could tell that. When he died, Patrick was also 21. What was their relationship? On the second to last filled page of the paper, it repeatedly said, 'Let's be alone together, babe'. What did those words mean? Did someone say them? Hell, were they Lukas' last words? I had no idea. What should I do now? Just go home defeated, and pray that Patrick would come back safe? Looking at it, that seemed to be my only option.

Okay. I would stay one more night, see if I figure anything else out when I am here. Just one more night.

I stood up, and took one last glance at the gravestone.

"Who were you, Lukas?" I said quietly to myself.

I made my way out of the graveyard, going past Christina's gravestone. I kept my head down as I kept walking towards my motel. I had left my phone in my room, not wanting to take a lot. My motel room was okay. The bed was very uncomfortable, and I couldn't sleep on it. There was a vending machine outside of my room, and when I put a dollar in it to get something, it didn't work. I couldn't get my dollar back either. Let's just say it hasn't been the best morning. And finding this dead end didn't help my mood either. I felt stressed out, in need of a shower, and I missed Patrick a lot.

I just wish everything was alright. I know that it is such a cliche thing, but I really did. It was simpler, and less danger. I mean, hell, my best friend has gone missing! This was such a mess. I opened my motel room door, and headed straight for the bathroom. First order of business, shower. Then, food, and possibly alcohol. And MTV, if this motel has it. I doubt this TV had anything other than Sesame Street and Fox News. I might just skip the TV and drink until I black out.

Wait, no. Don't do that. No alcohol. Last time I had alcohol, I woke up in someone's car with a half naked woman. I do not want to have a repeat of that again, thank you.

Okay, this was my plan. Shower, eat, try to sleep. There. No alcohol. Not today. Maybe tomorrow.

The second I climbed into the shower, I realized I needed to call Brendon.

"Dammit!" I said. I knew that I would forget about calling him later... Nah, I won't. I will remember. I had time to call him. Brendon wouldn't call the police.

A few hours later, I received a new message from Brendon.

"I called the police." Beep.

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(A/N: is anyone enjoying this book?)