Beware [COMPLETED]

2. Maps of catastrophes

"What happened?" Autumn asked the moment she approached the road.

There was a car stopped in the middle of the road and a brown haired woman standing next to it. A few feet away from the car, Adam was sitting on the rough concrete with a pale face. Kaylee was crouched down next to him.

Talia turned around in her Autumn's direction with her blue eyes wide, "I looked away from the road for just a second and almost crashed into Adam."

"Oh, God," Autumn mumbled and ran to her friend.

"You okay?" Raymond asked him, to which Adam nodded and stood up.

After some more inspection, everyone felt relieved that he was fine. Talia turned to her sister and spoke up.

"Why are you all parked here?"

"The tyre burst because of a rock," Autumn spoke while rubbing her arms, still feeling cold. "I put my spare in your car because there wasn't enough space for all the bags in mine, so we decided to wait for you."

"Why didn't you just call me? I could've come earlier."

"I tried, but there was no service."

"That's weird. I just ended a call with mum a while ago," Talia mumbled as she took her own phone out. A frown masked her features as she looked at the screen before sighing. She had the same result.

She then walked at the back of her car and opened the boot, taking the extra tyre and tools out with Raymond's help. Autumn crouched down next to her car and dragged the tools to herself that Raymond had put on the ground. She was about to loosen the wheel nuts when a voice called out.

"Um, guys?" Everyone looked at Adam with a questioning look. Kaylee was standing next to him with the same shocked look on her face.

"What is it?" Talia asked.

Adam walked over to everyone with the map in his hand. "It's not here."

"What's not here, Adam?"

He showed them the map with trembling hands. Indeed, there was nothing on the map. It was as if someone had removed the location of the mansion from the map. Autumn turned the map around and felt her heart skip a beat when she found the page empty. The map of the inside of the house was also missing. She felt cold all over as if someone had dropped an ice bucket on top of her.

"How did that even happen?" Raymond asked.

Adam shook his head. "I don't know. I had the map in my hand when Talia's car came and due to the almost hit, I lost my hold on it. I was just looking for it and found it stuck between two rocks like this."

Adam's voice trembled as he continued, "We haven't even reached the place yet, and things are already happening. Maybe we should just head back and get-"

"Don't be silly, Adam," Talia interjected, "Maybe you just picked up a random paper and not the map. I mean, it couldn't have gotten stuck between the rocks that easily."

"Then where did the map go?"

"I don't know. It must have gotten away with the wind." They knew that couldn't have been possible because there was no wind. The wind was dead and non-existent. But no one said anything.

"How are we going to get there now?" Kaylee raised the question.

"I still have a map with me." Talia replied.

As she went to retrieve the map from her car, Autumn changed the tyre of her own with Raymond's assistance. She couldn't bring her head around what had happened, but decided to ignore the anomalous scenario. The more she would dwell on it, the more she would want to turn back, and that was something she didn't want anyone to see. Autumn could just imagine what Adam would be thinking.