Beyond the Blood

Chapter One

The house felt so cold and empty all the time now, the spaces in it were absent of life despite those who stood in them. She felt detached from all the places she had once loved to be in, the places she had stood and laughed with people she had cared for. Now she knew how much that care could hurt when it was torn away, cruelly and suddenly, and she desperately didn't want to care anymore. The photographs on the mantelpiece showed the faces of people whose eyes were now closed and she half wanted to take them down.

She looked dispassionately at the fireplace where logs were laid out to be lit, in case it was cold tonight, which she strongly doubted it would be. It was only early October so she thought it would be very unusual if the place needed lighting. She turned around as the sound of clattering feet came down the stairs, and she saw her Aunt Jenna come in to view. Jenna wasn't paying attention to where she was going and as she looked up she jumped, having not noticed the girl by the fireplace before.

"Oh!" she said breathlessly, "I didn't see you there Autumn"

Autumn just nodded in agreement, "Is Elena up yet?"

"I heard her moving about," said Jenna, "You're up early, are you okay?"

"As I can be," Autumn said, "Just didn't sleep very well"

Jenna made a shape with her mouth that Autumn took to be a sympathetic look that she returned. The death of her parents hadn't just thrown my world into chaos; it had also changed Jenna's life forever. Three months ago she had been the cool aunt, studying at Duke University and now she was the legal guardian of three kids under the age of eighteen. It can't have been easy for her; then again, it hadn't been easy for any of us.

"Have you had breakfast?" she asked

"Not yet," Autumn said, "Elena and I were gonna head to school and grab something from the coffee stand there"

"Oh okay, well I'm just going to head out for my run, will you get Jeremy up if he's not moving by the time you're ready to go?" Jenna asked

"Yeah sure," Autumn said with a weak smile as she turned to get her trainers off the shoe rack by the door.

As Jenna bent down to tie up her laces, another set of footsteps came clattering across the hall and leading down the stairs. Autumn watched as her twin sister Elena came hurrying into view. Autumn smiled, no matter what was going on in my life, her sister always understood her, Elena wasn't just her twin, being with her was like looking in mirror. Physically they were utterly identical, they both had long chocolate brown hair that fell in a straight wave, Elena had hers cut to my mid back whereas Autumn's fell to my hips and a section at the front was dyed red. This was mainly done so people who didn't know them that well could actually tell them apart. Their faces were the same, down to the colour and shape of our eyes, and the apples of cheeks that became more prominent when we smiled to show perfect white teeth.

"Are you nearly ready to go El?" Autumn asked her, having yet to move from my position by the fireplace.

"Yeah nearly," she said passing Jenna as she went out the front door for her run, "Just need to grab a book from the study. Are you packed already? How long have you been up?"

"About half an hour, couldn't sleep very well, thought I might as well get all sorted then," Autumn said with a nonchalant shrug. Elena didn't hear her answer because she'd already disappeared into the study, Autumn knew she'd have known what she said though; Elena could always tell what she was thinking before she even said it. Sometimes it was annoying, most of the time it was useful and occasionally even endearing.

Autumn stood watching her rush around for the next five minutes before she was finally ready, bag on her shoulder.

"Who's driving; me or you?" Elena asked tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Me," Autumn said with a grin, "Being the eldest"

"Oh! By all of ten minutes," she said answering my grin, but shrugged anyway, "Good thing anyway, I think I left my car keys upstairs"

Autumn rolled my eyes at her before picking up my bag, "Hey, when you were upstairs, did you hear any sign of life from Jeremy's room?"

"Nope," Elena said

"Alright, well can you go put this in my car while I go get him up?" Autumn said, "He's gonna be late anyway, but better late than never I suppose?"

"Definitely" she said as she took the school bag, as Autumn moved to the stairs. She took them two at a time not caring about the noise; she was getting Jeremy up anyway.

"Jeremy!" Autumn yelled through his door before knocking on it, "Get your lazy ass out of bed!"

She heard no reply after about five seconds so she opened the door, to be met by the smell of boy and the faint lingering smell of weed. She crinkled her nose as she peered into the darkness before making her way over to the window and shoving the curtains wide open. She heard a very girly shriek from the bed, one that definitely did not belong to Jeremy and she whirled around just in time to see Vicky Donovan pulling the bedclothes up to hide her face.

Jeremy was just returning the land of the living so she didn't bother with long sentences.

"Get up. School starts soon. Also get her out of her, otherwise Jenna won't be happy" Autumn said to his slowly moving form, "See you later"

She got a groaned note of assent from the pile of bedclothes, took that as enough affirmation that he was about to get up, and headed back downstairs to meet Elena in the car. It was a bright day outside, and the leaves were just beginning to turn on the trees. She climbed into the driving seat and slammed the door behind her.

"Vicky Donovan was in there," she said shortly to her sister who was leaning back against her seat, her phone in her hands.

"What? Really?" Elena said her eyes flicking quickly up to my face, surprise written on her features.

"Yeah, I didn't know her and Jeremy were together," Autumn said as they backed out the driveway and started on the road to school. Elena knew more about social gossip than she did, so if there was anything she was missing out on then El would be likely to fill her in.

"Neither did I," Elena said, "That's why I was surprised, as far as I knew she was still with Tyler Lockwood"

"Well he's going to pleased," Autumn said sarcastically.

"Hardly," Elena said, "He's been looking for an excuse to beat on Jeremy since they were in junior high. Jeremy never was especially smart when it came to girls"

"Yeah, but are any of us when feelings are involved?" Autumn said pointedly. Elena shrugged because she knew that Autumn was talking about Elena and Matt, Vicky's brother. They had broken up just after the accident, because Elena couldn't see where their relationship was going, whereas Matt seemed to have grand plans involving marriage and at least three kids. Autumn thought it was a good move on Elena part, to be thinking about huge life decisions like that at the age of seventeen was far too quick for my liking. Don't get her wrong, she liked Matt, she just didn't see too many prospects in that kind face. Elena felt guilty about hurting his feelings, however.

"Yeah, that's going to be awkward today," she said uncomfortably, her mouth a little moue expressing her emotions.

"I'm sure it'll be alright, Matt's a big boy, he'll get over it," Autumn said attempting to raise her spirits.

"Yeah, but Autumn, he was really in love with me. Like really in love," she said emphasising the last three words as we turned into the school parking lot.

"I know, but we all have knockbacks and stuff, hence the reason I don't get that involved!" Autumn said chirpily. Elena grinned; she knew Autumn's philosophy on relationships; that she didn't mind having make out sessions and mindless fumbles under the bleachers with boys who were mildly attractive, but that she was quite happy to remain firmly single until she found someone who she could truly see myself being with. Autumn didn't see the point of throwing her lot in with a boy that she thought was merely 'okay', or who she was going to get totally bored with within a couple of months. She needed something deeper, something more intense to keep her happy.

Autumn parked in her usual spot; next to the space where she knew their mutual friend Caroline would park. She reached behind her and pulled her bag off the backseat before getting out of the car and blinking in the sunlight once again.

"Alright, well I'm going to meet Bonnie by the bagel bar," said Elena, "Are you going to wait for Caroline?"

"Yeah," Autumn said, "I'll come find you in five, get me a bagel as well?"

"Sure," Elena said, "Usual coffee as well?"

"Please," Autumn said with a smile. Elena turned her back on her sister and started to walk around to the side of the school, where the outdoor eating area was situated, along with various stands that sold food right throughout the day.

They were among the first few people to school and Autumn watched as the lot filled up around her, people climbing out of their cars and noticing the filled spot that had been empty for many months. This was the Gilbert's first day back at school since the accident; the first day of Autumn and Elena's Junior year, the first of Jeremy's Sophomore.

She heard the familiar sound of pop music float into the car park, and get closer as a baby blue Volkswagen Beetle pulled into the spot directly next to where she was leaning. Her blonde haired best friend, Caroline, was bopping her head as she turned the ignition off, the music dying with it. She smiled as she saw Autumn through the window, Caroline grabbed her bag off the seat next to her and got out of the car, locking the door behind her.

"Hey Autumn!" she said, hugging her tightly, even though they had only seen each other yesterday. Autumn smiled and hugged her back; Caroline and her were as different as chalk and cheese in personality and in looks, and yet somehow through it all, they had managed to become (and stay) the best of friends.

"Hey Care," Autumn said as they broke, "Do you wanna go over? Elena's getting us coffee"

"Sure thing," Caroline said with a smile as we headed out over the grass, the windows of the school glinting in the sun.

"Feels good to be back," she said as she walked.

"I guess," Autumn said with a smile, "It feels very different. At the same time though, it feels like something of a new start"

"It is, this year is going to be good," Caroline said optimistically, her smile sunny and it constantly was.

"Well we'll have to see what Bonnie says about that!" Autumn said with somewhat of a giggle.

"Oh Mystic Bonnie…" Caroline said with a grin, "Yeah, well we'll have to ask her to do some of her voodoo and give us her prediction."

"I wonder what she'll come up with?" Autumn said wryly.

"Oh I don't know," Caroline said with a giggle and then intoned in a deep voice, "Autumn, I can see a dark and handsome stranger in your future! Just out of reach!"

Autumn laughed at the most predictable prophecy in the book as we rounded the corner and spotted Elena and Bonnie sitting at a table in the centre of the square.

"Let's go find out then," she said as we headed over to join the others and start our new school year.