"They're...dead" He managed to say again.
Autumn fell on the floor, looking around with mixed emotions.
"Nuh uhh. You can't tell me that shit Mr Rodriguez. If this is a silly prank, tell me." She spat.
"I....I wish it was Autumn, I wish." Mr Rodriguez said sadly.
"No, no. T...this c...can't be." Autumn choked on her tears that had begun falling down. She clutched the necklace and cried. Milky came to her side and purred, rubbing it's fur on her leg as though comforting her.
Autumn continued crying while Mr Rodriguez stayed by the door, battling with his thoughts of whether to console her or let her be. At last, he gave in and consoled her. She buried herself in his arms as she continued crying.
Few weeks later, it was the funeral of the seemingly remains of Autumn's father and mother. Relatives from far and near attended the funeral. Some were consoling Autumn as she stood by their graves, her eyes swollen, red and puffy from crying.
A hand touches her back and she slowly whipped around to see who the person was. It was Mr Rodriguez.
"I feel so lonely." Autumn said as tears flowed down her eyes.
"It's gonna be okay Autumn." Mr Rodriguez said as he patted her back.
Soon, a heavy rain began to fall and everyone scrambled inside to shield themselves from the heavy rain.
Autumn ignored the people that were calling for her to get to the safety of the house. She stayed in the rain. Her black dress clinged to her slim body, her black hair dripped but she just stood there, her head low.
She heard some rustling in the leaves and whipped her head towards the direction of the sound and she found a man. He wasn't looking at her, he was looking at her parents bodies. Autumn tilted her head, she couldn't see him clearly but she could now feel his eyes on her. She looked away for a second and when she looked back, he was gone. It was like he vanished into thin air.
Mr Rodriguez came out with an umbrella and pulled Autumn inside the house.
MONTHS LATER
Autumn sat on the couch with some ice cream and cookies. She turned on the television and she smiled as she found her favourite show.
There came a knock on the door, Autumn groaned and went to the door. Milky purred from her cat house. The doorbell rang again.
"I'm coming." Autumn answered as she reached for the door handle and twisted it.
"Mr Rodriguez" Autumn said in a low voice. He has been visiting her from time to time after the funeral.
"Are you okay Autumn?" He asked with stern concern.
"Yeah, I guess." Autumn said as she let him in the house.
Milky came out of her cathouse and rubbed her head on his leg, purring softly as she did that.
"How's your work going?" Mr Rodriguez asked
"I am gonna quit. I can't stay there anymore." Autumn said as she sat down on the couch.
"Why, how are you going to take care of yourself." He asked.
"I am looking for another job. I have sent my resume to some companies. Just waiting for response and besides this job doesn't even pay well." Autumn said as she munched on some cookies.
"Okay, anytime you need me, call me okay." Mr Rodriguez said.
"I am no longer a child Mr Rodriguez. I can do it on my own." Autumn said.
"Fine then. Just remember that I'm always available when you need me." He said, moving towards the door.
"Okay, thank you." Autumn said as he opened the door and went out.
Minutes later, Autumn finds herself in her parents study. She looked through their old journals and inside one was a photo of them, Autumn and her parents. They were smiling happily while Autumn looked so bored. She smiled and tucked the photo in her pocket. She continued looking through the study until she stumbled on a particular journal that she hadn't seen before. It was black and little red print on it. It had a neat lock placed on it. Autumn looked at the lock, it had a similar pattern to the necklace that her dad gave her before he died.
She removed the necklace from her neck and checked the necklace to see if there was anything she could use to open the journal. She found a little button at the bottom of the necklace and pressed it. A key came out and Autumn tried the key on the journal and it made a soft clicking sound and opened.
Inside she found handwritings of her parents scribbled shabbily on the journal. She found some pictures of her parents in front of an ancient ruins. She held up the photo and turned the back, at the bottom right corner of the photo, she saw a date. Her parents took the pictures some days before they died. She turned to the journal and read through some and it didn't make sense to her so she turned the page and she saw a paragraph in capital letters that stood out. It read:
📜"If you're reading this, something's gone wrong. There are things in this world. Things most people will never believe. We were close to the truth. Closer than ever. Be careful who you trust."📜
Autumn was shocked, she closed the journal and left it at the study table of her parents room. She came out and brought out her phone to search for the oldest ancient ruins and there it was. The one that her parents had found. She searched about the origin of the ancient ruins and she found out that it was named Veilmoor Ruins and it had been home to some unnatural happenings and some have sighted a corpse with a stake in the heart.
"A vampire?" Autumn laughed out. "This reporters just want to make money or get attention because there's no such thing like vampires or those mythical creatures."