Chapter 1.

"Mrs..."

The butler looked up and saw the lady's face, his eyes met the cold gaze of the lady and he was taken back, he cleared his throat and corrected himself, he quickly said, "I mean Miss Greg, you have a visitor."

"Hmm." The elegant beauty whose skin look like a million bucks remained in her seat in her library, she snapped her books together, and nodded in approval as he walked out. She was never like this, she was never this classy or modest, but all that are buried behind her now. Soon another lady almost as beautiful as her walked in and the two ladies were left all alone. An awkward silence filled the atmosphere, the two friends haven't seen each other in years and today was a very special day for their meeting.

With a bright smile on she said. "Hello Melanie, its been quite a while now." She stood up and walked towards the lady greeting her with a warm hug.

"You know why am here Autumn. Its time to come back home." Melanie said.

"Home." She laughed. "Don't waste your sweat Melanie am not going back." She walked back to her armchair and relaxed in it.

"You made a promise, Autumn." Her anger rose and she yelled.

"So what?"

"Autumn."

She rose her hand and silenced Melanie. "Please don't ruin my mood. You are a guest, and I do not treat my guest poorly, show her to her room." She harshly said. Melanie slowly walked out, but then she stopped, she had tears in her eyes.

The only words that could leave Melanie's mouth was. "Do you even remember who you made a promise to?"

Autumn flared up. "What do you mean remember? Of course I remember..." She sank back into her chair.

"Don't let his death go in vain, along with mine whom I lost while trying to protect you. Autumn." Melanie cried. These words taunted Autumn more than her problems, she had forgotten about it and covered up her pains with wealth.

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It was five years ago. Not a single car was driving on the road leading to Greenville village well except the Arthurs', ah yes, the Arthur's, specially known for moving in and out of one city or another because they are always bothered by the bank and IRS. Everyone was bored to death in the mini van and fell asleep and that's where she comes in, Autumn, the gothic only daughter of this terrible family quietly looked outside the window, examining the place, its trees and all. The 16 year old had seven ear piercings and green hair, she didn't care less about them, if she had her way she would run away from this nightmare of a family but the problem is she had nobody to turn to since she hardly had a chance to interact with people, so then where would she go, so obviously she has no other option than to remain with this burden [ family].

"Doesn't it look great."

She took a peek at who was talking and turned away, she rested her head on the window and gave a sigh before finally speaking, "Not even a little bit. I don't like it here, but whatever, we'll be moving out of here soon right, then its back to our old life."

"I promise honey, this is going to be different." He said, there was a bump on the road which caused Autumn's head to clash with the window, the result was bleeding due to the blow from the window "fuck" she cursed as blood ran down her forehead, "like you always promise I know, that's what you said three months ago but look where we are right now, moving again." She took out a hand towel and wiped the blood stain.

"Hey, keep your negativity to yourself Autumn." He shouted.

"Negativity! Well in case you haven't noticed, we're headed to a city which I can't find anywhere on google and according to what you told me, it has about a thousand people living there, how did they find a place like this." She asked.

Mr Arthur kept his eyes on the road but his attention was fully on her and once they start an argument, well it never ends. "Now don't get dramatic with me young lady, else I'll turn this car around."

"Great, then we can go back to getting loans to pay the bills or transferring from one school to another, your pick. Hold on, how did you get this job in the first place." She caressed her temple and whispered some words to herself so she can calm down.

"It was an online interview, okay."

At the sound of that, she lost her cool and shouted, "great. So how do we know for sure that they really want you, from what I know nobody wants you, in fact nobody's wanted you in the past 5 years, even the cops don't want you."

"Hmm, and what would you do if I die." Arthur asked.

She sat up, thinking about the meaning and worth of that question, she had never had to answer that question because she was never asked such, but today was different. "If I die, will you be able to live with yourself." He said.

"I, I..." Her mouth couldn't say a word, and for once she was speechless. He burst into laughter and said, "trust me, it'll be fun." He was hoping to make her accept their new life but she couldn't care less.

"Whatever." As they approached the town they saw a sign and on it was written, "'WELCOME TO GREENVILLE VILLAGE.'" She said. She paused. "Greenville village? Alright turn the car around we're going home." She screamed but her father didnt pay attention to her anymore, there was something odd about the place, there were military soldiers inside and outside the city gate, the name was already enough reason to hate the place but her expression soon changed when she arrived.

"Henry wake up." She said as she kept pinching him but he never woke up, so she balled her hand into a fist and sighed, "Henry" she shouted again but this time her shouting was followed by a punch in the stomach, it was so hard that he jerked up and coughed till he was tired.

He held his stomach from the pain and asked, "Jeez Autumn, what have you been eating."

"Just regular food." She replied with a smile.

"Well in that case, we have to stop you from eating, who knows, you might kill someone one day." As they got out of the car, she couldn't help but open her mouth out of shock, before them stood what might be the biggest house they had ever lived in, It was a small duplex with a gate and a small pool, this might be little to some people but this was surely heaven on earth for the Arthur's.

"You sure this is the place?" Her mother Jane asked, even she was surprised well you can't blame her, they've lived their lives in small houses for years.

"Yeah, picked it myself." He replied.

They picked their rooms and settled in, Autumn picked a smaller room which had the best view in the entire house.

"Seems you like this one", said Henry from behind. He was watching her look up at the sky and smiled.

She shook her head and replied, "Yes, I can see the moon from here."

"Whatever." Said Henry. "Hey, don't be too hard on dad, there are a lot of people out there who needs a father, you're lucky Autumn."

She laughed and turned around. "Well they can have mine and when they do I'll make sure there's no returning him." She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes and in a few minutes, she was gone.

"Terrible, you're just terrible. But I wish I had more time to spend with you." Whispered Henry as he walked away. They all went to bed without having dinner since the drive was really exhausting.

Then suddenly, it was morning.

The alarm was so loud that everyone heard it. It was the town's alarm used to make sure everyone woke up on time, well except Autumn who was completely unaffected by the sound, Henry still sleepy walked towards Autumn's room, in his hand was a bucket of water which he used on Autumn considering that she's a deep sleeper, Autumn hardly responded all she did was turn over to the right side of the bed, anyone would be furious about this method, but for someone like Autumn nothing her family does surprises her, he stood at the end of her bed and began pulling her legs. "Autumn wake up. Your going to be late for school."

"Leave me alone." She whined as she freed her leg from his grip, she turned over to the left side of the bed and Henry followed her.

"I said wake up." He shouted once more, pulling her legs again, angrily she jumped from the bed and sat down.

"What!" She shouted.

"Use that tone on me again and you'll regret it." Only now did she hear the sound of the annoying alarm, she looked closer at him and saw he was still sleepy and without a doubt knew it was the work of the alarm.

"What's that sound?" She asked, still uncertain if it was truly an alarm.

"An alarm." He replied.

"Whatever it is make, it, stop." She said as she once again laid down, she used her pillows to cover her ears but the sound still found its way in.

"I can't." Replied Henry as he stood there waiting for Autumn to get up.

"Then tell mom to shut it up." She murmured from under the pillow, "the stupid thing is driving me nuts."

He only smiled and said, "She can't, the alarm belongs to the town." Seeing the responsibility of waking Autumn gently sliding away from him, he couldn't be more happier.

"Almost sounds like they want to control my life." She said.

"Would you get out of that bed."

"No..."

He held out a finger and said, "I'll give you a wet willy..." Wet willy, Autumn's worst enemy, at hearing this she immediately jumped from the bed and ran for the bathroom. Once she was done she dressed in her usual gothic wears and ran downstairs, she didn't wait for anyone to tell her what to do, the girl had breakfast and left immediately for school.

The school wasn't far from her so she was at school in no time. She stood before the school gate and looked at the mighty gate that stood in front of her and on it were words which she read out loud, "WELCOME TO GREENVILLE ACADEMY" she laughed at this and said to her self, 'Greenville academy, no doubt the name of their toilet paper's named Greenville too. So many cars too.' There was a building quite similar to this one and that made her curious, she gently walked inside and looked around for her class, once she found it she opened the door and poked her head in, "excuse me, is this class 5A? I believe am supposed to be here."

"Yes", replied the teacher, Autumn walked in without a single fear, she was never nervous about anything and a new school was not something new, she had been to at least 11 new school in the past, a new year a new school, even Henry went through all this but he was different he was the most popular kid in every single school, oh well what do you expect from the most handsome kid in school that was the only good thing they inherited from their parents.

"Hold on a sec, class this is Autumn, and she's been transferred, so please be nice to her, now who wants Autumn to seat next to them." The teacher asked but no one raised a hand. "Oh, since no one wants to pick then I'll have to call someone to pick a seat for her, hmm, what about Steven from eight grade and..."

"No", everyone shouted, Steve also know as fart Steve was the smelliest kid in school and if he steps inside this class everyone would have to inhale his smell and no one wanted that, even the seniors kept away from him let's say he had a secret weapon.

"Well then, will someone speak up". A hand was raised from the back and a girl stood up, "She can sit with Emily, what do you say Emily?"

Emily raised her head up and asked, "Is she smart?"

"What kinda question is that" the girl asked.

"Fine." Emily said, Autumn sat next to her and teacher went on, starting a conversation with Emily could get her into trouble on her first day so she decided to let it slide, but Emily broke the silence. "Hey."

"Hi" Autumn responded.

"Am Emily."

"Yeah, I heard." She had no idea of how to communicate with people because she didn't need any friends, but Emily kept interrupting her and that made Autumn annoyed but she refused to say a thing to her just to avoid being rude. The bell for break went off and Autumn left for the canteen but Emily still followed her around, "when we're done, I'll show you around the school."

"Whatever you say, Emily." She drew near, and whispered. "You smell nice." Emily had heard her, she smiled and said.

"Oh, its D&G."

"Is it original."

"Hell yeah." She said, "everyone in school has original stuffs, the government gives them to us." Autumn paused, the government sharing original expensive stuffs seemed untrue, but now that she thought about it, everyone was dressed fancy, even her teacher, plus there were so many cars outside, like she was the only one on foot. The environment wasn't really her class. "Don't worry, you'll get yours soon enough, and you'll get used to the wealth."

"Hey Autumn." Cried a familiar voice, she turned towards the direction of the voice and found the girl from this morning, "come sit with us." She said, Autumn grabbed her things and walked towards them, the girl made her sit next to her then she started, "hi, am Melanie."

"Nice to meet you. I don't think I'll have to introduce myself since you already know that. By the way, why is it only the both of you?" She asked when she noticed a boy next to her.

"No there's more actually, only they're not gonna be here until tomorrow, right Jay." She said to the boy.

He simply nods,

"Anyway, heard you're always moving from state to state, why is that. Don't tell me, are your parents perhaps researchers?" Melanie asked with curiosity in her voice, "Is that why you keep moving, are you perhaps looking for something." The two came nearer waiting for an answer so she thought, 'one lie won't hurt.'

"Yea. That's my family, but they never tell me what they're after, I only find out once they're done, it's a family thing." She said trying to avoid further questions.

"Wow, your life is really amazing, being the mayor's children can be quite boring right Jay." Melanie asked.

He simply nods,

"Cant he talk, wait you're the mayor's daughter, I mean children."

"Yeah, so what?" Autumn has never met a rich kid like Melanie, who wouldn't rub their money at people's faces so meeting Melanie is a sure discovery.

"Nothing, anyway on my way here, I saw a building like this one exactly like it, but there was no one going in or out."

"Oh, it's just the ghost school, we decided to give them some space since they are noisy and pretty loud but hey what do you expect from teenage ghosts." Autumn didn't get the picture of what they were pointing at and she didn't care, meeting the mayor's daughter was enough blow for her. She arrived home in a good mood and couldn't wait till tomorrow.

Tomorrow had come and Autumn was still asleep, Henry walked straight to her room with yet again another bucket of water, and gave her a splash but it had no effect on her, she had learnt to make peace with every bucket of water that comes her way every morning.

"Wake up." Henry shouted.

"I don't want to ever wake up". She cried.

He folded his arms and gave a siutable reply, well that's what he thought. "Well if you don't you'd die."

"Great, I'm looking forward to that." That probably wasn't the best answer, since she welcomed death with open arms.

"Hey how can you still sleep and not be affected by that sound, it's so loud I can hardly hear myself." He shouted.

"Then clean up your ears. Now let me sleep."

"Fine, by the way a girl called Melanie called, she said she was gonna pick you up today." At the sound of this, Autumn jumped up and rushed for the shower, anyone who knew Autumn would know something was up so they watched her carefully.

She grabbed an apple and was about to leave when her father stopped her, her father whose face never left the newspaper said,

"Honey can you change those clothes, the ghost might think you're a ghoul."

"True, the ghost from college actually tried to make contact with a girl yesterday, you know since we go to school together they are treated as humans, I don't think its a good idea to put such on gothic dresses here, they hate ghouls and only ghouls dress like that." Said Henry drinking a cup of coffee.

"Can we not do this now, I have classes and when your done with your ghost talks then we can have a proper chat." She walked out of the house to find Melanie already waiting and stepped into the car, Melanie had one look at her and asked, "Daddy issues".

"Nah, more like family drama." She replied.

"Oh, been there."