Chapter #1

Loneliness. My worst enemy. When I'm alone I have feelings far away from happy. I see everything but light. When I'm lonely I feel sadness and a strong negative force of energy pushing me down into the darkness until I have no more self-esteem. The same loneliness I felt dwelling upon me one Thursday night exactly a year ago on this day. My father had died that day. he was in his laboratory when he mysteriously died due to the unknown. He was a scientist and more importantly, my best friend, well that is, besides my fox, Autumn. My father had given her to me when I was 7 and we have been together ever since. She was very kind and she loved the company. To this day I have never known what my father was working on in that laboratory but I know that his job was his pride and joy, so I didn't ask questions. Science has always been my least favorite subject, ever since Mrs. Baggio was my teacher. My name is Athena Archuleta, and Today My closest friend Anne told me that my life was more meaningless and worthless then anything in the world and the worst part was in that exact moment, I believed her. I'm in 8th grade and I'm 14 and when I heard those words I almost felt like punching her in the face so hard that her teeth will need to be readjusted but all I did was cry and all I felt was loneliness.

Chapter #2

I ran. After I humiliated myself when Anne decided to make a scene, I ran to what I have called home for longer I can remember. I lived in a small house about one mile away from civilization. Currently, I live with my uncle who doesn't talk to me or incorporate himself in my life. He is rarely at home and he sometimes is out very late at the casino or something else, I'm not completely sure what he does. When I ran home that day I didn't even think about missing the rest of my classes or eating my lunch because My throat caved in on itself and I cried so hard that tears made my vision foggy. When I got home I almost yelled out to my dad but then I realized that he wasn't there. I cried on my bed to find that Autumn had curled up next to me.

"Why does this happen to me?" I cried "Anne was the only friend that I've had since 3rd grade and now I have found that all those years were wasted on spending time with a person who doesn't even care about me. Everybody in the world seems to have friends and they just pretend like the people who don't, aren't human." Autumn looked at me, sat her head down and sighed like she actually understood what I was saying. I loved Autumn, Something was comforting about talking to her that was hard to understand. Autumn was named Autumn because I and my father's favorite season was fall. We loved playing in the leaves and both of our birthdays were in the fall. Last year on my birthday Autumn, my dad and I had a little celebration but this year my uncle said he is going on a road trip with his girlfriend for 2 weeks during my birthday so I guess things will be different for me and autumn.

Chapter #3

The school play is coming up and I don't know if I want to do it. Although it was great last year I didn't like the part when we got to talk to friends because I don't have any. I consider myself a good singer or at least I hope people see me as one. The whole concept of the musical is fun and all but this year if I do it, the seats for my family will be empty. Anne is doing it so maybe I'll just avoid it. On my way home, I had a headache from listening to the obnoxious kids on the bus. Sometimes on occasion, I draw in my sketchbook during the bus ride, if only the road weren't so bumpy. After I got off the bus I went inside to get a snack. Usually, after school I do my homework, but after what happened yesterday, I would like to think that school doesn't exist. I didn't know what to do so I decided to get some fresh air and I walked through the path in the woods with Autumn and I sang to myself the song that my father had always sung to me. I was walking toward the old swing that I had made in a large willow tree. I started thinking about my dad and I started to wonder "What did happen to him?" and "what or who killed him?" I thought so much that my brain hurt. I decided to just forget about it and keep walking.

Chapter #5

The path came to an end. The path that once seemed to go on forever came to a stop due to overgrown wildflowers. To the right of the soon ending path was the willow tree. Being outside made me feel free and independent. Almost like it doesn't matter who cares about me and who doesn't because that is being pushed out of my mind by the cool breeze blowing through my hair. I hopped on the swing holding autumn and glided through the air as my long hair flowed through the wind. I loved that swing. I had so many memories of me and my dad running down the path soon to swing on the old willow tree. After a good 30 minutes, Autumn and I were done swinging. We slowly walked back to the house as the sun began to set over the tips of the trees. As I got home, I noticed that my uncle had not come home yet... I guess that means I'll be making dinner tonight. I looked in the pantry and all we had was a few cans of soup. "How does french onion soup sound Autumn?" She didn't hesitate from laying down by the fire. "Soup it is," I mumbled as I quickly swiped the tin can of soup. As the soup slowly sizzled in the large pot I sighed and leaned on the counter, wishing time would go by faster. When the soup was done I put the majority of it into a bowl and the rest into a small plate for Autumn. As she licked up the rest of her portion, I finished up too. I layed down on the couch, grabbed the remote and turned on a movie as I slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.

Chapter #6

With a start, my eyes flew open when the realization came to my head that I was late for school. I threw myself off of the couch and ran with my backpack straight outside to the bus. Luckily the bus was only 30 seconds away from the bus stop, by the time I got there. When I got on the bus it was silent for a second when I got on. After the silence, everybody laughed and started whispering to each other. Everybody looked like they were having a great time while I was about 3 empty seats away from the people who had friends. My heart hurt and I felt out of place. I sat down and pushed my earbuds in as I wiped the small layer of tears away. "It's not my fault" I kept telling myself, "It's not my fault". I started to write in my journal.

April 30th, 2018

Why is everyone staring at me? Am I that big of a distraction that I need to leave? What makes me different and why do people not accept me like they expect everyone else? Is my life as worthless as Anne made it sound? I don't know if I should change the person I am, or ignore them and live alone. I don't know...

The bus came to a stop and right as I got up someone ran right past me causing me to fall and drop my journal causing it to rip. I quickly went to grab it, but before I could pick it up a hand swiped it off the ground. I looked up and it was none other than Anne bursting into laughter as she ran up to the front of the school. I wanted to chase after her but I know that I'm not athletic at all. Then I thought "Great! That had my photos in it for the presentation today!". I went to class, sat down, then it was all a blur from there on.

Chapter #7

The laboratory. I haven't been there since dad died. Maybe I should go check it out. Autumn and I started walking when I got home from school. It was about a half a mile away but I didn't have anything better to do, so I might as well. When we arrived, I opened the door and It was dark. There was only one small white light shining on Autumn and I. I felt around on the wall and found the switch. As I flicked it on, we walked in, and so many memories flooded my head as I looked around. That walk made Autumn thirsty so I walked over the fridge. I opened it up and found hundreds of lab fluids and experiments. "Shoot!" I said, "how am I supposed to find something for Autumn to drink when everything here could easily be deadly".I took each of the bottles out of the fridge and smelled each of them none of them smelled good until the last one. "Water!!" I claimed as I poured the nice smelling substance into Autumns bowl. Autumn immediately began drinking the water. I continued wandering around through the lab. Autumn started whining but I just brushed it off and kept exploring. I found basically nothing except a locked door. I picked at the lock and tried kicking it down but there was no use. I don't know if it was from the walk or overheating but Autumn looked sick and weird. I started petting her and she laid down. I said, "Its ok Autumn, it's ok." Man do I wish there was someone there to say that to me when I feel horrible. I looked around for a minute, but when I looked back... Autumn was unconscious.

Chapter #8

I swooped Autumn up in my arms and prayed that she would be ok. I ran home with her in my arms and I quickly laid her down on her bed. I wrapped a blanket around her and sat there anxiously hoping that she would wake up. I called my uncle on my phone and he didn't pick up so I left a message. "Uncle Gordon! Autumn drank something I don't think she should have. She's unconscious. I'm in dad's secret laboratory, 168 mayor st." I almost yelled into the microphone giving myself a panic attack. It was so hot and I was breathing so hard that I started seeing black splotches covering the majority of my vision. The black splotches quickly spread and soon enough I was lying on the floor, with autumn. I had fainted. It was dark. I was dreaming and it seemed unusually real. In the dream, nothing happened. It was just me in a small room with no doors or windows. Just me sitting on a small black stool. I had the strangest feeling that somebody was watching me. Even though I was concealed in a small room, it felt like somebody was staring. I began so get scared, and the room seemed to spin in circles. I was tired. The whole situation made me very anxious and start to sweat. After what seemed like hours of dreaming my eyes began to flutter open. The weird part was not that I fainted except I woke up nowhere near the place that I did.

Chapter #9

I was in a bed. Almost like a hospital bed. All the walls where white and the bed was the only piece of furniture in the room. The small LED lights seemed to sting my eyes as they were dimly Flashing above me. Also Autumn... where is Autumn? She wasn't next to me or anywhere in the room. I was scared. I yelled and ran around banging on the walls. Then a small hole slowly sunk into the wall and shot out a piece of paper. As the paper slowly floated through the air twirling in circles, I quickly went over to it, to see what it was. I struggled as I tried to pick up the paper and on it, It said,

~ARE YOU A NORMAL HUMAN? WHEN WERE YOU BORN?

ANSWER LOUDLY TO THE SMALL BLACK GLASS KNOB, AND MAYBE WE WILL CONSIDER GIVING YOU THIS
ORANGE and white creature.~

I slowly looked over and saw the knob that was definitely not there the last time I checked. I claimed "I am a normal human my name is Athena Archuletta and I was born in the year 2005." I didn't know where I was or why they needed this information, but all I wanted was Autumn.

Chapter #10

After I answered the question a large opening appeared and led into another room where I saw a big mirror. There was a table and chairs in the room where I soon sat down. After noticing a door behind the chair I sat in, I anxiously sat hoping they would give me Autumn. A man entered the room. He was probably about 50 and he had a cleanly shaved beard. He was wearing a nice tie and a dark blue polyester suit that made his eyes stand out. He sat down and looked extremely serious. He looked me in the eye and said

"Your a normal human?" I quickly responded

"Yeah! Are you saying that I don't look like one?"

"No! I just... Well on planet earth there are only 43 humans left, and you... you Athena are human number 44..."