Beware [COMPLETED]

1. The beginning of the end

A bead of sweat rolled down Autumn's face despite the cool and windy weather. The light wind blew back her brunette hair from her face and cooled her face down. With one arm resting against the open boot lid of the car, Autumn inspected the filled up space- counting the bags inside. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and straightened up. There was one bag missing.

A dragging of feet and movement in her peripheral vision made Autumn look at the open doorway of her two storey house. On the porch steps, he father was standing with a small duffel bag in his hand.

"Looking for this?" There was a teasing glint on his face as he looked at his twenty-four-year-old daughter.

Autumn's face broke out in a smile as she jogged up the path that led to the porch. She took the bag from her father's grip and slung it over her shoulder.

"Any word from Talia?" Arthur asked.

Autumn was about to shake her head when she felt a slight vibration in her jeans pocket. She took her phone out and looked at the brightened screen- showing a wallpaper containing five people of almost the same age making weird faces.

Autumn noticed a message from her adoptive sister who was older by one year. She read the text with a line between her brows and then looked up at her father.

"She said that we should leave without her and she would meet us there." Autumn sighed and ran a hand through her hair before continuing, "She has to fill in full time for her co-worker, but she'll try to make it quick."

Arthur nodded and rested an arm around Autumn's shoulder. He pulled her petite frame to his tall and lean figure and wrapped another arm around her. Autumn returned the embrace and closed her brown eyes- enjoying the comfort her father provided.

"How long will you all be gone for?"

"Roughly two or three weeks," Autumn replied with an uncertain shrug. "We'll try to stay in contact, but we don't know if there'd be any service there. It's in the middle of the forest, after all."

Arthur nodded and opened his mouth to speak when a woman appeared from behind him.

"When are you leaving?" Victoria O'Neil asked her daughter as she came to stand next to her husband. Arthur smiled at her and wrapped an arm around her.

"In about," Autumn paused as she looked down at the screen of the device in her hand; she was reading the recent messages she had received from her friends and their status, "five minutes."

Her mother pulled her in a tight hug just like her father had, and Autumn happily returned it. She knew that her parents adored her and they treated her and Talia the best. They were their miracles. They couldn't handle the thought of even one of them leaving for a while. But their daughters' adventurous personalities made that hard.

Too much pain in the past had led them to feel extremely affectionate.

"Have you taken everything? The backpacks? Snacks? All the sleeping bags? The equipm-"

"Mum," Autumn broke her mother off mid question, "I've packed everything and all the bags are in the car. Don't worry."

The lines of worry lessened from Victoria's face and her and Arthur hugged their daughter again.

After bidding her parents goodbye, Autumn walked over to her car. She put the duffel bag in the boot, closed the lid, and went ahead to sit in the driver's seat. She waved at her parents one last time and drove off.

A day ago, Raymond, her best friend, had suggested that everyone should settle down in Autumn's car. She had wanted to protest because she was being appointed as their driver, when she remembered that she was the one who was dragging them on the trip in the first place. It was a fair deal.