The Light's Calling

Chapter 2

As she walked home with her brother, he was asking her so many questions, but she felt the need to not answer. She just nodded her head to let him know that she had heard him.

"Who was that, Autumn?"

"What do you mean? That girl?"

"Yep, the only person standing with you"

" I honestly have no idea who she is, and I don't know if I want to tell you why I went there because you'll just think I'm crazy"

Her brother rolled his eyes and continued walking, dragging her along by the hand. Autumn wanted to discover what that mysterious girl was doing the other day with the pink lights, the camera, the drawings all over her wall. She could not make sense of anything, but she didn't really feel like no matter how much more she could learn about all of this, she'd never truly have every single answers, because if there was a light for every person, there would be a new mystery to reveal, a new light to discover every day.

As Autumn started reaching the porch of her house and saw her mother's silhouette in the window to the kitchen, she realized that this was her reality, one that was far away from the lights.

"Don't do that ever again, Autumn! It's just you, me, and mom, and I know I don't always tell you this, but I kinda like having a little annoying sister to shoo away so that I can look cool in front of my friends."

Autumn glared at him and pulled her hand away, but her brother held on "I'm just kidding. You know you're my sunshine" he said as he made his way towards the kitchen.

Autumn was pretty sure she'd be grounded this time for this running away/not checking in stunt, but when she walked through the doorway into the kitchen, her mom just looked at her with tears in her eyes. Autumn's heart broke a little bit because she had a feeling it had something to do with her.

"I'm sorry, mom" she said, as she approached her mother who was walking towards her shaking and wiping away her tears.

Ever since Autumn's dad died, her mother was never the same. Everything in Autumn's mom's mind was much worse than it actually was. She cried all the time, and she regularly checked on her kids to make sure they were there, like all the time. Autumn would catch her mom looking at her through the rear view mirror every 25 seconds or so, and Autumn knew that her mom's anxiety had kicked in. She must have thought about Autumn's dad, and then she would get lost in the rabbit hole of thoughts that would take over her mind. Autumn's dad's death was so sudden. He died in his early 40s from a sudden heart attack. The doctors said that it was hereditary, as heart problems ran in the family. It never made sense to Autumn because she felt that her father's heart was just fine, but apparently, it was not.

Autumn's mom always felt that death would be knocking on her door to take her precious children or take her away from her kids, but she always resisted. She tried not to think about it, but after Edward's death, it was inevitable.

He left her a widow, and she didn't know how to live without the love of life, the one who promised to be there by her side, in sickness and in health. He promised they'd be together "until death do us part", but life has a funny way of just making that vow so unpredictable for optimists who imagine living a long life together with their wife or husband until they're both old and ready to go. Edward wasn't ready. He was just starting to realize what an amazing woman he had married. They had been married for 4 years, but they had been together more time than not. Love wasn't something he learned to do, at least not consistently right. Sometimes, Edward would just go through his routine, give Autumn's mom a quick hug and a kiss goodnight and that would be their only true interaction in the entire day, but Autumn's mom knew he loved her, and she reminisced on the first 2 years they were together, the best ones.

Autumn hugged her mom tightly, knowing that her mom needed it more than she did, but she reassured her mom that she wasn't going anywhere. "I'm sorry, mom. I promise I will not just walk away like that ever again, but there was just this...." Autumn stopped and just held her mom as she cried silently, holding onto her daughter, as if she were holding onto life itself.

Her mom wiped away her tears, gave her daughter and son a kiss goodnight, and then she slowly made her way to her room at the end of the hall.

The halls were lined with memories that were captured in time: a soccer game, a tennis match, a family bowling game, and every single school picture Autumn's mom carefully cut by hand, making sure that she didn't even make a single mistake in the straight lines that framed her children's faces. Right next to her door, there were two pictures side by side of Edward and Joanne facing each other and making a kissing face so it looked like they were giving each other a kiss. It was totally corny, but that's what Edward liked, and Joanne played along because he never really knew how to verbally express his love for her.

The pictures were  very old, as both Edward and Joanne were both teens in the pictures, and Edward had paid for it when he paid for his senior pictures, same photographer. These pictures were more than just your typical senior pictures, they were the mark of a new love, but not the kind that fizzles away, the one that shines brighter and brighter as time passes by.