"Really, Father? You're going with me?" Autumn squealed as she jumped up and down. Today was the day the fifteen-year-old had been looking forward to all year – July 11, 2007, the midnight premiere of the latest Harry Potter movie!

Autumn's father sighed. "Yes, Autumn, I told you I would go when I bought the tickets months ago," he muttered, obviously not looking forward to the long night.

He didn't look forward to many things that had to do with his only child, Autumn knew. She had been a mistake. She had never met her mother, and she didn't think she ever would. And although her father seemed to have a general disinterest when it came to anything that had to do with her, Autumn knew that he had taken her in when he didn't have to.

A few months ago, she had overheard a phone call between her father and his mother. She had only heard her father's side of the conversation, but it was obvious he was talking about her.

"I told you, her mother hasn't seen her since the hour she was born. I took her home from the hospital… No, I won't go find her! She would be a horrid mother… I didn't want her to go into the adoption process… thank you, Mother, I'm so glad you respect my choices."

With that, he slammed the phone back down on to its base and leaned back in his office chair with a sigh. Autumn quickly scampered away before he knew that she had overheard the only conversation in which he had shown a little bit of kindness towards her.

With the phone call in mind, Autumn did something she hadn't done in many years- she ran up to her father and hugged him.

"Autumn, what-" Her father stuttered, starting to protest. After a second he just stood there, allowing her to rest her head on his chest. She awkwardly pulled away and muttered "Thank you!" before scurrying away.

Never doing that again, Autumn thought embarrassedly as she sorted through her closet, trying to choose which Harry Potter shirt she should wear to the midnight premiere. Although her father didn't pay attention to her, he did give her all the money she wanted – so there were quite a few t-shirts to choose from.

During the car ride to the best movie theater in Dallas, Texas, Autumn reflected on the fact that her father was with her with mixed feelings. This would be their first time to go to the movie theater together, and she was both nervous and excited. What if he doesn't like the movie? What if he gets bored? What if I cry and it annoys him? Autumn worried. She cried at almost every movie she watched – she was a very emotional person, the complete opposite of her father.

They arrived at the theater and presented the tickets her father had bought her online months ago. As soon as they traded the online tickets for the real ones, Autumn followed the standard procedure of midnight premieres and began to walk to the end of the long line that stretched to the back of the theater. After two steps, however, her father grabbed at the sleeve of her shirt and stopped her.

"There is no way I am waiting in line for-" he checked his watch- "two and a half hours!" He said, outraged. With Autumn in tow he stormed up to the worker managing the long lines. "Excuse me," he said, waving his hand to tell her to get out of the way.

"Sir, I can't let you through," the worker said, exasperated. "The theaters don't open for another forty-five minutes."

"I said, excuse me," Autumn's father hissed, shoving a bill into the worker's hand and barreling past her. "Come on," he muttered to Autumn. Stunned, she followed.

"Did you just give that worker a hundred dollar bill?!" Autumn cried.

"Yes, I did. I will not wait in a line for two and a half hours, that is simply ridiculous." He said indignantly. "Let's get our food and sit."

But I like standing in line, Autumn silently protested. That when I get to talk to other fans!

After getting the biggest popcorn bucket that the movie theater had to offer, they went to sit in the very back of the completely deserted theater. Autumn sighed and sat down as she listened to the distant cheers of the enthusiastic fans waiting outside.

Her father pulled out his laptop and his noise-cancelling headphones. "Please don't disturb me, I have a lot of work to catch up on," he muttered, already not paying attention to her.

At least I came prepared, Autumn thought sadly. She reached into her large purse and pulled out her battered copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and her iPod. The soundtrack to the new movie had been released just that morning, and because she had pre-ordered it on iTunes, it had downloaded to her iPod the second it became available. She put her headphones in and quickly entered the magically world that she longed to escape to.

The father and daughter were technically closer than normal, but mentally very far away.

As the end credits started rolling, Autumn dried her tears with the sleeve of her jacket. The movie was so good! She thought happily. They left out some important things, but that's the nature of movies. I hope Father liked it...

Her train of thought stopped abruptly as she looked at her father and saw that he was fast asleep with his noise-canceling headphones on once again. What did I expect? She thought bitterly. It was a miracle he went with me, I shouldn't have wished for anything else.

She slowly removed the headphones and put them back in their fancy case. After all their possessions were back in their bags, she gently tapped her father on the shoulder.

"Father, the movie's over," she whispered in his ear. He jerked his head up and looked around frantically before he realized where he was.

"Let's go then, I have to go to work early tomorrow," he mumbled sleepily.

They silently left the theater together and headed towards the front exit. Just before they were about to walk out the doors, Autumn's father stopped.

"I'm going to use the restroom before we go." He stated. "Go wait by the car."

Autumn nodded and walked out of theater. Tears started flowing down her cheeks more and more rapidly as she got closer to the car. She wasn't usually bothered this easily, but a combination of sleepiness, left over emotion from the movie, and her father's lack of interest in one of her favorite things in the world left her vulnerable to her emotions. She slumped down on to the hood and desperately tried to stop crying. Autumn had never cried in front of her father before, and she wasn't about to start now.

Autumn was so absorbed in her emotions that she didn't notice the dark figure sneaking up the side of her father's car. She was jolted out of her self-pitying thoughts as a pair of hands grabbed her and yanked her off the hood of the vehicle. Autumn immediately screamed in terror but was quickly silenced by a gloved hand roughly pressing against her mouth.

Holy shit oh my gosh oh my gosh this isn't happening- she thought frantically. With a violent twist of her body she managed to escape the small arms that were wrapped around her. Without a second thought she ran as fast as she could away from the unknown person that had snatched her.

"Shit!" she heard a feminine voice shout from behind her as she continued to put as much distance between her and her attacker as possible. A female did this? Autumn thought, surprised. That is statistically unlikely… but there's an exception to every rule, I suppose.

Autumn stopped to catch her breath against the wall of the theater. She turned her head back and forth constantly but did not see anyone else near her. I should go back to the theater lobby to find my father, she reasoned.

As she turned to walk towards the doors of the theater, the breath was knocked out of her as a different, stronger pair of arms wrapped around her from behind and crushed her chest. She desperately gasped for air and futilely attempted to scream. Her legs, the only part of her body that wasn't hindered by the unknown arms surrounding her, lashed out relentlessly. The heels of Autumn's boots made contact with the kneecaps of her captor multiple times, but the grip on her did not slacken.

"Please don't make me do this," a man's voice pleaded. Autumn, confused, stopped kicking for a moment. What? He's the one in the position of power here, not me!

With renewed anger, Autumn began to thrash once again. The man sighed and removed one of his arms from around her torso. Autumn immediately attempted to escape, but the grip from only one of the man's arms was much stronger than the previous female's, and she couldn't get free.

The pressure on her chest had decreased when the man removed his arm and she was able to take a deep breath. As if anticipating her scream, the man quickly tightened his grip. His free hand came into Autumn's view and even in the darkness of the night she could see exactly what it was- a syringe.

A piercing howl met Autumn's ears as she watched the needle get closer and closer to her arm. She realized with a shock that the scream was hers just as the needle pierced her flesh. She frantically attempted to move every limb of her body, but to no avail- the arms were unceasingly strong.

"Father," Autumn screamed as her body slowly stopped responding to what her brain was instructing it to do. "Father…" she whispered again, barely audible.

He… will… worry… were Autumn's last thoughts before the weight of her body slumped fully into the unknown arms.

Author's Note: Don't forget to review!