-- Ephraim
She took me back to school after that. I wasn't completely weirded out but I was pretty damn close. She seemed so normal, maybe it was the normal thing that made her seem weird to me. I went to Ballet practice after school and sat down at the piano. Autumn was standing next to the teacher and they were talking, really it was more like an argument. Autumn seemed pretty pissed off as she sat down next to me at the piano. She put her head on my shoulder and sighed.
"I didn't freak you out did I?" she spoke as she started to play around with the keys. There was a pause, should I tell her the truth?
"Well, no if you don't count the fact that I now have only one fear and that is you and the whole psychic friends network hunting me down and killing me with tarot cards" I spoke as I looked at her, she laughed.
"You're funny Ephraim Brown," She said as she briefly looked up at me before she went back to playing the song which I had now noticed was the moonlight sonata.
"So why were you fighting with," I pointed to the teacher. She sighed and stopped playing.
"I am a leaf," she said as she folded her hands neatly in her lap and smiled.
"And why is that a bad thing, they could have made you a rock" I said with a half smile as I looked at her, she shrugged.
"I have been dancing since I could walk, I have been part of several nationally recognized companies including the New York Youth Ballet and the Manhattan Youth Ballet both of which got me featured in a dance magazine, I had a feature in Ballet magazine last month over my moving to this hell hole, they kept talking about my great talent for dance and now I'm a leaf, it's like putting a 750 horse power engine in a pinto,"
"So go and be the best damn leaf that they have ever seen"
"I think I will, I will be the best damn leaf this raggedy ass town has ever seen! Thank you Ephraim" She said before she leaned over and the teacher yelled and her shoulders slumped and she stood and walked over to the bar.
After their practice was over I hopped on my bike and got home to find no one there. It was empty, no Delia and no Dad. I peered out of the curtains and noticed all of the cars gone out of the Wood's driveway too. I didn't think anything of it and went to sleep.
I got up the next morning and found that no one was still home, and the cars were still gone from the front of their house. At eight when I was getting ready to leave a toe truck pulled up in front of the Wood's with Autumn's car on it. It was nothing but a twisted hunk of blue metal.
"Whoa, she is going to be pissed" I said as I adjusted my backpack and looked at the car. The driver's side was almost completely crushed. Then it hit me, Autumn took her car to school but by the looks of it she didn't make it home. I went back in side and started to cry.
Dad didn't get home until much later in the day. He smiled when he saw me on the couch. He even made an effort to talk to me. He sat next to me and looked at me as I watched some stupid T.V. show about "Teenaged" life and how it is ideally. He picked up the remote turned the T.V. off and looked at me.
"I know you and Autumn have gotten pretty close in the last two weeks Ephraim, but…" He paused and there was a knock at the door it was Mr. Wood and next to him was Mrs. Wood. "C'mon in Al" Dad called as he looked at them through the screen door.
"Andy, is she any better?" Mr. Wood asked as he looked at me and then back at my Dad.
"She woke up but she still can't talk, they think when she hit the steering wheel she might have damaged something"
"What happened to Autumn?" I asked as I looked up at my father he and Mr. Wood hung their head and Mrs. Wood walked over. She looked a lot like Autumn there was no mistaking that they were related.
"Honey, Autumn had a little accident last night, she was driving home from her audition with the ballet when a semi sideswiped her car, She was in a comatose state for a couple of hours but now she's awake, she did however hit her throat on the steering wheel and she might have damaged her larynx" She spoke as she put her hand on my shoulder.
"So she can't talk," I said as I fought back the tears, she was right something bad was going to happen and it did.
"It's only bruised Ephraim after two or three weeks she'll be okay, She smiled when she found out she hadn't broken her legs, which is the oddest thing because most people would be upset that they can't talk"
"Still she can't talk," I screamed before I ran up the steps leaving my dad and her parents to talk.
The next day I went to Denver with my father to check on Autumn it was a long silent drive. The road seemed endless as I watched the signs go by. But when we got there I knew how Amy had felt. Autumn was laid on the bed with an IV on her finger and tubes running out of her nose. She had her throat bandaged but she was awake. My dad walked in and picked up her chart.
"Good morning Autumn, I brought Ephraim with me to keep you company while we run the tests" Dad spoke as he watched her furiously write on a dry-erase board
"How is my car""I'm sorry Autumn but the car was ruined", She frowned and then started writing again.
"Hi Ephraim" She wrote with little smilie faces around it. I smiled and waved.
"I brought something to read to you," I said as I took out a book from my bag. It was 'The Scarlet letter'. We were reading it in English. And I much like Amy used to do read to my slightly incapacitated soon to be significant other. She then started to write again.
"I told you so" She held it out under my nose and smiled.