The Road Of Autumn [Interracial/WWBM]✔️

Chapter Five: Forged by Fear

The two most petrifying things humans can coax each other into doing is opening up and allowing entrance. Our biggest fear is not necessarily opening up, our biggest fear is what happens when we do. We fear what happens after we make ourselves vulnerable. But we deserve vulnerability. And even after we open up, there is still that lingering fear of letting someone in. But even the deathly afraid has to get over their fears sometimes.

I have been judged critically, for the most part. I have been unfairly looked upon as a witch of some sort. I have even been praised for being "headstrong".

"You are so much like Elizabeth. Emotionless and so strong." My grandfather would constantly remind me.

But never have I ever, been accused of running away. No not Autumn Heart. Autumn Heart is strong, sharp, maybe even a microscopic bit of callous. Never timid. Autumn tends to grow uncomfortable, as all humans do, but she never shies away.

Not until a charming, equally sharp, dashingly handsome man strolls into her life. Not until that very man causes her to shiver from momentary contact. Not until that man, with a smile that can light a thousand moons, grins at her. Autumn Heart isn't strong, not around him.

And that alone scares her.

There, it has been disseminated into the atmosphere. The analytical, proficient, fluent little Autumn is no more in the presence of the dangerously aristocratic Timothy Ashley.

Although that heavy little feather feels awfully wonderful to remove from my shoulder, I know that it will still cause a few chips. The chipping brought upon by one unfortunate reality.

I am too afraid to face my fears.

San Francisco is said to be one of the many thriving cities in northern California. A simple city sitting pretty atop the tip of the Pacific Oceans peninsula. From the city's iconic Golden Bridge to the gorgeous Victorian homes, San Francisco has it all.

And just as any other big city with wonderful pros, San Francisco has its cons as well. The city's main con being the offering of counter-intuitive weather. Where summer's feel like winters and winters feel like summers.

Nonetheless, aside from the inconsistent weather, San Francisco offers so much and represents lively at its fullest capacity. Which is the exact reason I dared myself to venture downward, all the way from Northern Washington.

I wanted to find a quaint space. A simple city, town, or even state in which I could simply branch out and flourish. I say quaint because, at the time when I moved, I was a young woman still finding her way.

Washington is quite immense in its own way, which made me long for something different. San Francisco was the exact "different" I needed.

Therefore at the fresh age of twenty-one, I purchased a few tickets, scrounged up a bit of change, and kissed my old life goodbye. When I set my mind to do something, I never waste a waking moment to go through with it.

Although my departure was bittersweet, I knew it was right for me. My mother was fine with it and my dear sister would travel down to join me years later. My life was pretty panned out.

I landed a part-time job at a diner months after my arrival. The job paid well. I earned enough to rent a monotonous one-bedroom apartment and live off of. Life was slowly spinning its gears in my favor.

But after two years of having nothing to show forth my "planned out life", I finally decided that a simple part-time job at a local diner was no longer going to cut it. I had a degree for God's sake, it was time I used it.

So I and to ask myself: Why in the heck was I disseminating coffee to howling men who give terribly cheap tips?

The answer was not easy to come by, but a solution was; I needed to look for proper work. I had plenty of college internships that I could showcase, beautiful resumes from my college career as well to offer, and I had one hell of an eloquence. I knew no one would deny me.