The Return

Chapter 1

As the girl raced through the forest,  she didn't let her eyes stray far from him. Even as the branches whipped at her face and the roots clawed at her feet, she kept him in her line of sight. The man came to a sudden stop and turned to face her. She glanced up to try and catch the stranger's face, but it looked blurry. He gently cupped her face in his hands and placed a whisper against her ear. The stranger's breath felt warm against her neck as he spoke. "Mary, I miss you so much. Everyone does, but mostly me. Please don't forget me. I know it's hard, but try. I love you." The man's voice was so sad and desperate. The girl wanted to pull him close to her and tell him that she would remember him, but before she could do so, he vanished. That was when a voice bounced along the trees and forced its words into her ears. Even though it sounded far off, she could still make out what it was saying. "Autumn...Autumn...Autumn!"

"Autumn!" That was the only thing she heard as she jerked awake. As Autumn lifted her head from the desk, she came face-to-face with her ancient math teacher, Ms.Marcus. The old lady was short and plump with thickly curled grey hair and lines etched deep into her sagging face. Over her seething green eyes rested rounded glasses that were much to big. Everyone around the school believed that "it" was a vampire because "it" never went outside. When the lady did, she stayed strictly in the shade of the trees that covered the school yard. "Don't you dare fall asleep in my class or it will be your third detention this year Miss Autumn," said the teacher with venom in her tone. "I won't let it happen again Ms. Marcus," said Autumn through gritted teeth as she heard faint laughter echo throughout the room. After a stare-down between the two of them, Ms. Marcus turned her attention back to the board to continue her lesson about who knows what. When Autumn had  moments in class where she felt like she was going to snap, she stared out the window and did the one thing that she was good at, dreaming. When the girl was dreaming, she could avoid the one thing she hated most (besides people in general), herself. Autumn was a simple girl, and not very pretty. Her eyes were nothing special, just a plain brown covered by coke-bottle glasses. Her hair was just a thick mess of jet black curls that could never be tamed. Her skin was as pale as a ghost and she had no strength or special talents what so ever. This tended to make her a favorite target of bullies. But in Autumn's dreams, people would come from all over the world to marvel at her beauty and talents. As she stared out of the first story window of the classroom, she saw two figures sprit with unimaginable speed across the school yard. They moved so quickly that Autumn couldn't exactly tell what they looked like. Only that there were two of them and that they appeared to be wearing long capes, or maybe coats. As she turned her attention back to the board, she heard a sharp rapping on the window. The girl jerked her head to see what it was and almost fell out of her chair in the process, but managed to catch herself (which was a first). Autumn then realized that no one else was looking at the window "Am I the only one who heard that," she thought. "Maybe this class is driving me crazy!" All she knew that she had to get out of the room. "Maybe I can hide in the bathroom until lunch, then I can call my mom and tell her I ate bad food at lunch and ask her to come get me." Now that she had a plan, she needed to see it through. As Ms. Marcus tuned to the class to find a student to answer her question, Autumn fired her hand into the air with the speed of a cannon. "What is it now Miss Autumn," said the teacher in a bored tone. "I have to go to the bathroom," the girl replied, stumbling over her words. "I'm positive that it can wait Miss Autumn." As soon as the teacher began to scan the students to find another child to answer the question, Autumn felt a searing pain in her left shoulder that quickly spread throughout her body. The pain was so sudden and sharp that she jumped out of her seat and let out a yelp. That was when she felt the eyes of everyone immediately upon her. Autumn spun around towards the suspected culprit, Jacob Masters. She glared at him and shouted with all her might,"Why did you do that! Why did you stab me!" "I didn't do anything, you're just crazy," the boy said with a snicker as he twirled a pencil in his hand. Just as Autumn was about to lunge at him, a sharp pain gripped her stomach and she toppled to the floor with a gasp. The girl felt as if she has just been punched in the gut. Ms. Marcus rushed to her student's side. "Are you alright Miss Autumn," said the teacher as she gripped the girl's arm and pulled her up with sudden strength. She was about to respond with a simple "I'm fine," but that wasn't what popped out of her mouth. What came out in its place is a sudden, bubbly laughter that she couldn't control. "What's going on," the girl questioned to herself. "Why am I laughing and why can't I stop it or speak!" Soon, Autumn's laughter quickly grew louder and uncontrollable. Her sides ached so fiercely with the psychotic laughter that she fell to the floor again and curled into a ball. This time, no one came to help Autumn. The girl tried to tell them that she was just as confused as they were, but it stayed trapped inside her head. The strange, crazy laughter vanished as quickly as it came, but Autumn still couldn't speak. "Thank goodness that's over," is what she repeated over and over in her brain. She tried to stand, but her body stayed glued to the floor. As soon as all of the laughter faded from Autumn, sobs took its place. They jerked through her body and spread her limbs out against the dirty floor. "Im not even sad," she internally screamed as the sobs jerked her limbs like a rag doll and the tears streamed down her face like a mighty waterfall. Suddenly, the violet sobs gave way to screams that seemed to pour from Autumn's mouth. The screams were enough to freeze blood, and sounded as if the girl was being murdered. The door to room 104 ripped open, and principal Weathers stopped dead in his tracks. He was a tall, slim man with a shiny, bald head and copper eyes. Just as he cleared his throat to speak, another scream ripped through the air. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF HEAVEN IS GOING ON HERE," the man yelled as more teachers and a few students who dared to brave out of their classrooms piled around him. As they all shoved their way into the 7th grade math classroom, Autumn rose to her feet without so much as an ounce of effort. Autumn could no longer scream in her head that she didn't know what was going on. She suddenly had the urge to scream and laugh. But instead, she spoke. "You're just in time for the party," she hissed to her audience. Her voice sounded like that of a mad woman. An urge to lash out at someone gripped her body. The girl's arm darted out to her desk and snatched her pencil. She then turned and stabbed the point of the pencil into Jacob's face. The boy's flesh tore and blood dripped  down his cheek. Jacob's screams of pain filled the air, but we're quickly drowned out by Autumn's crazed laughter. She suddenly felt that strange force that had gripped her and compelled her to act crazy flow out of her body. All that remained was a tingling sensation and a loss for feeling in her legs. The girl gasped for breath, trying to fill her lungs with as much air as they could hold. Its felt as if a hand suddenly wrapped  around her throat and she was slammed against the wall. Autumn's feet left the floor and she started to choke. Her hands darted forward and she grabbed something that might be an arm, but all the appeared to be there was empty air. Her hands moved along the invisible arm and her fingers danced over what felt like a watch and she yanked it away as hard as she could. As Autumn did this, a man appeared before her. Black dots started to cover her vision as the air was forced out of her lungs. The girl used all her might to struggle against the purple-eyed, silver-haired stranger's hold around her neck. She pled silently that one of the teachers would come and save her, but they stared at her dumbly as this man tried to kill her. Just as Autumn felt herself sinking into unconsciousness, a snicker escaped the mouth of the stranger and he seemed to read her thoughts. "I don't think that anyone will come to help you Mary." "Mary," She questioned to herself. "Why did he call me Mary?"