Thanks so much to EmolisciousSkittlez for the super cool gif on the side! I love it SOOO much!

“Delilah,” a voice called as Autumn stepped into the hallway. Her bare feet froze with each step she took on the cold tile.

“Hello?” Autumn called, voice resonating down the hall.

“Delilah,” the voice cried. Each step Autumn took seemed to boom through the halls, like she was stepping on land mines. Her legs felt like noodles as she drug herself onward.

Turning the corner, Autumn spotted a mirror. She practically ran to it, staring at her own reflection. Blood poured from her nose, from the gash in her lip, and from the cut in her forehead.

Autumns trembling hands reached out, running her fingers over the cut. She stared in horror at the blood staining her fingertips.

“Delilah!” Autumn peered over her shoulder and down the hall, watching as a woman trudged toward her. “Delilah? Why didn’t you help me?”

“Who are you?” Autumn demanded, spinning herself around so she was fully facing the stranger. The woman before her was in worse shape than Autumn. One eye was swollen shut, the right side of her forehead was bruised, blood poured from the cut on her nose, the slash in her lip, and some dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

Her hand was glued to her side, blood seeping through her fingers.

“Why didn’t you save me, Delilah?” Tears raced down the woman’s pale cheeks. Her sunshine blonde strands stuck to her face due to the sweat staining it.

“I’m not Delilah!” Autumn shook her head. The woman tramped forward, causing Autumn to step backwards.

“You could have saved me! You could have let me live!” The woman sobbed, charging after her at a profound speed. Autumn couldn’t keep up, smashing onto her back.

“Please! I didn’t do anything!”

“Delilah!” The woman screeched.

Autumn woke up, gasping for breath. She was glistening in sweat. Tears fell from her eyes as her mind replayed the scene over and over. She didn’t understand why she was having these dreams.

This had been the third one that month.

Autumn dreamed constantly of people shouting at her, bleeding, screaming the name Delilah over and over. Autumn forced herself out of bed, praying time with either Cade would clear her mind.

Ever since the incident with Jonas and Josh a few days ago, Tate had disappeared. She was worried and angry, why would he just leave?

Getting ready as quickly as she could, Autumn stepped out into the hall. At first, she popped her head into the cafeteria. She scanned the room, finding no one. No Cade, David, or even Jade.

Shrugging, Autumn let out a frustrated sigh before heading to Cade’s office. She was surprised to find everyone inside, all huddled around the computers.

“What do we do?” Tate whispered. “We can’t just not say anything anymore. We figured out what happened.”

“I don’t know!” Cade whined.

“Hey guys,” Autumn smiled, wanting anyone to take her mind off of the horrible nightmare. She was glad to see Tate. Tate and Clarke whirled around, shocked. Cade quickly tapped key after key, swearing when he couldn’t do something correct.

“Hey, let’s eat?” Jade ran forward, attempting to steer Autumn from the room.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” David shouted.

“Come on,” she giggled. Stepping around Jade, David shuffled in front of her.

“I need help with . . . my power!” He clutched his forehead. “Ooo! Ouch!”

“Oh come on!” Autumn chuckled, setting a gentle hand on his chest and shoving him a step back. Autumn could see Mark’s picture on the screen. It was one his mother had taken of him right before Mark and Autumn left for vacation. “Is that Mark?” Tate leapt forward, setting his hands on her shoulder and spinning her around, shoving her from the room.

“I need to talk to you . . . outside,” Autumn threw his hands off of her, whirling around.

“Get of me!” Autumn drove him away. “What is going on!?” Everyone stared at her wide eyed, unsure of what to say.

“Autumn, please,” Tate whispered. Autumn circled around him, David stepping in front of her. David wouldn’t even look at Autumn, his eyes on the wall. Autumn glared at him, confused and scared. Shoving past David, Clarke shuffled aside as Autumn stepped towards the screens.

She rested her hands against the edge of the desk, eyes scanning the article on the screen. When she read his name, Mark Callihan, and the heart-wrenching words that followed everything seemed to stop.

Her hand flew to her mouth, covering it, as her mind began to spin.

“Autumn-”

“What happened?” Autumn set her hand down, digging her nails into the countertop.

“Autumn, I think-”

“What.happened.” Autumn growled, interrupting Cade again. There was a long silence, no one saying a word to each other. Autumn swallowed the awful lump in her throat.

“His apartment burnt down. He was inside.” Jade crossed her arms over her chest, chewing on her thumbnail.

“How long have you all known?” Autumn slowly turned around, eyeing each and everyone one of her friends.

“Autumn, please-” Clarke began.

“You guys knew,” Autumn’s eyes flooded with tears. They were instantaneous. Even though she was facing away from the screens, she could still see the words from the screen: Mark Cahllihan found dead.

“It’s not like that,” Tate spoke up. Autumn rushed away from Cade’s side, heading towards the door. Tate stepped in front of her, a mix of pain and sadness on his face.

“Get out of my way,” Autumn growled, anger boiling in her veins. She shoved past him wincing from the pain in her arm. Autumn ran from the room, not wanting to let anyone see her cry. However, she blinked, and they began to fall.

“Autumn!” Tate shouted. Autumn stopped in front of her room. She knew Tate would simply follow after her, and she didn’t want that. Autumn felt betrayed. She sprinted away from her room, throwing open the first door she saw.

She was lead into a stairwell. Climbing up the steps until she couldn’t anymore, Autumn held back a sob as she entered the hall. Her shoes cracked against the floor as she pushed herself into the nearest room.

The light buzzed, turning themselves on as she stepped inside. The room was empty, no one inside. A small, yellow spotted mattress rested in the corner, a single blanket and pillow on top. An antique lamp rested on the ground next to the makeshift bed.

A large counter sat in the center of the room. Autumn didn’t spend much time studying it. She shut the door, crawled into the nearest corner and sobbed. Mark was dead.

Mark, her first love, was gone. The man that the last time she saw, it didn't end on good terms. Autumn’s chest was heaving, she couldn’t even think straight. She could see his face flashing in her mind.

She could see him laughing on their first date, she could see Mark smiling after their third, she could see herself chuckling as Mark dropped box after box while moving in together.

Every good memory replayed, she could feel his soft lips on hers. Autumn buried her face in her hands, gasping for air in between cries. Her whole life felt like it was crashing down around her; plummeting into the darkness.

She could feel her heart ripping into pieces, being pulled apart and shattered. Autumn couldn’t breathe, choking on her own sobs. Autumn felt like she had sat like that for days.

Shoved in a corner, bailing her eyes out, wishing for the first time in a long time for death. She never wanted any of this. All Autumn wanted was to be home, back in Mark’s arms again.

But her life was over now. Besides her ditzy and unknowing family, Autumn had nothing left. It felt like months later when she heard something besides her own cries; a smash.

She leapt onto her feet, watching as a man struggled to straighten the lamp.

“I’m sorry,” Autumn sniffled. Running a hand over her face, she wiped away all the wet tears staining her cheeks.

“No no!” The man threw up his hands, shaking them. “You stay, I’ll go.” The man headed for the door.

“How . . . how did you get in here?”

“I uhm . . . can turn invisible. And it . . . doesn’t really work? I’ve actually been in here, sleeping. I woke up and saw you and,” the man paused. “Never mind. You seem like you need some space.”

“Do you . . . live here?” Autumn gestured toward the bed.

“I do,” he nodded. “But I’m okay with you sitting in here. I can leave, find some other place to not exist,” he laughed nervously at his awful joke. “You take your time.”

“You probably don’t know who I am,” Autumn twiddled her thumbs.

“You are Autumn, the human.” The nonchalant way he said this was so shocking to Autumn, it took her a few minutes to disgust.

“And you’re okay with that?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “You’ve done some pretty good things around here. I haven’t seen Sibella happy since the last time I was out there and visible. What was it . . . three years ago?”

“You haven’t been seen in three years?” Autumn wondered.

“This isn’t about me,” he shook his head. Autumn found her thoughts swaying, thinking back to Mark almost instantly. “You know. Being invisible and all for so long, I’ve become a very good listener.”

Autumn found herself returning to the corner, which had become her safety net.  The man hesitated, his hazel eyes studying her before he joined her.

“The man I love died,” Autumn shared, her eyes glossy just saying the words. The man stared off into space, unable to look at her for a moment. However, he ended up eyeing her. “And I don’t know how to feel.”

“What do you mean?”

“I loved him for so long. He was amazing, and-and funny. And then something changed,” she blinked, her cheeks damp. “He was mean and nasty. H-h-he looked at other girls all the time and I was more than sure he was cheating on me.”

“The bad doesn’t always outweigh the good.”

“I’m so upset,” Autumn’s voice squeaked. “And I’m angry and frustrated and-” she couldn’t say it.

“Relieved.” The word’s hurt more than knives; than getting shot. Autumn broke down in front of a complete stranger whose name she didn’t even know; and it wasn’t awkward. He scooted closer, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and Autumn buried her face into him and cried.

“It’s okay,” he rested his chin on top of her head. Autumn couldn’t help but remember a moment similar to this she had with her father. Her real father, whom had left her when she was ten, had hugged her like this when her dog died.

It felt like another millennium before she stopped. Her eyes stung and she was exhausted.

“I should go, stop bothering you,” Autumn rose to her feet.

“You’re not,” he smiled, standing. “But, you could do me a favor.”

“Of course.”

“Give Tate a second to explain himself.” Autumn raised her brow. “I know everything,” he grinned. Autumn faked a smile, heading towards the door.

“Thank you,” she called, hand hovering over the handle. She peered at him over her shoulder.

“Eric,” he smirked.

“Thank you Eric,” she lifted the corner of her lip. “And maybe try focusing on staying either visible or not.”

“You don’t think I’ve tried that.”

“I mean really focus. Not just try for two seconds and quit.”

“Maybe you know everything,” he chuckled, ruffling his sandy blonde hair. Autumn was halfway out of the room, wanting nothing more than to leave and take a nap.

“Don’t blame yourself for how you feel. Sometimes, falling in love with someone new can change your feelings about old loves.” Autumn knew exactly who he was talking about; Tate.