Chapter 6: Chapter Six

Excerpt from Autumn’s Fall

‘Homecoming Havoc’

“Are you drunk, little sister?” August asked his sister Autumn on homecoming night.

“No, I’m not, big brother,” she replied. Her response would have been more believable if she hadn’t staggered into the house or slurred her words. Her response—a lie and a denial—was all August heard anymore from his older sister. “I’m drunk and I’m high.”

“You’ll be in trouble,” August said, sounding sad, angry and strangely protective.

“Listen, big brother! You got to know something!” Doesn’t she realize she’s shouting?

“What’s that?” August asked, trying not to stare at his sister’s outfit of stiletto ruby heels, tight, low, black jeans and a red Hollister top with a zipper farther south than north.

“Our parents are not going to kill me or give me away,” she said, then laughed—a laugh that chilled August to his bones. “There’s nothing they can do to me.”

“But—” August started, but he couldn’t argue with that logic—or lack thereof. He’d never been in trouble with his parents and neither had his older sister Amber. All the trouble in his house settled in the middle daughter, especially since the start of her senior year.

“You’ll grow up, one day. You’ll see,” Autumn said, as she swayed from side to side. “You try to do good things, but they don’t care. All I do is disappoint them, and myself.”

August knew his fourteen-year-old words wouldn’t make any difference. He’d listen from afar with a mixed grill of emotions as his parents handled Autumn’s increasingly bad behavior. It seemed every night there was a fight, except for the nights when Autumn didn’t come home. The fights were getting worse. The nights coming home late, or not at all, growing more frequent. August didn’t understand anything but his helplessness. He wished he could do something and act heroic, like the characters he read about in fantasy fiction.

“Hey, Autumn, let’s roll,” called a male voice from the open door.

“I gotta get my things,” Autumn said. “Dwayne, come in and entertain my big brother.”

“You don’t look so big.” Dwayne, a classic biker, asked, “Why does she call you that?”

“I always wanted a young sister, while Autumn always wanted a big brother. We decided that since we couldn’t change our places in the family, we’d change what we called each other,” August said. The names stuck, even if their once-close relationship was now fractured.

August hated it when his oldest sister, Amber, called him ‘baby brother’, but nowhere as much as Autumn hated the phrase ‘middle child’—or as much as he hated Dwayne. August didn’t know Dwayne. He didn’t want to know him. Like all her revolving door boyfriends, Dwayne had exited high school early. Autumn hung by a thin thread, which was a shame. Autumn was everything that August wanted to be—smart, popular and an attention magnet. Why couldn’t she see it for herself? Except in her appearance, Autumn thought she was a failure compared to Amber.

“Dawg, your sister has a fine ass.” Dwayne was white trash, but spoke Flint ghetto. He dressed in a black leather jacket, rode a silver Harley and had a big gold earring. He wasn’t dressed for a high-school homecoming. He was dressed for pirating August’s sister.

“I’ve got to go,” August said, trying to flee fast.

“Wait up.” Dwayne grabbed August by the belt and pulled him back, like some bully on the playground. Up close, Dwayne smelled like a brewery fire.

“Let me go,” August said, but Dwayne held tightly then talked rapidly about nothing—nothing the keyword, as there was nothing August could do. He could feel his anger rise with the goosebumps on his arms. Seconds after the furnace clicked on, Dwayne shouted, “Is that a rat?”

August ignored him as he watched Mr. Innocent race through the room. The dog, a Boston terrier pug mix that August’s mom found through a rescue group in Texas, had been a gift for his tenth birthday. The dog had yet to grow hair for the cold Michigan climate. The minute the furnace clicked on, he would race toward the heat vent in August’s room.

Dwayne finally let go. August started to leave but stopped when Autumn emerged from her room. Her low-cut gold homecoming meshed with her long blonde hair. The dress their dad had insisted she return, which meant she wouldn’t. But the dress wasn’t all that was gold. Necklaces, rings and bracelets. Autumn didn’t work other than helping their sick grandmother, but that was unpaid. He knew their parents had ended her allowance as one of their punishments. August assumed that Dwayne was Autumn’s alchemist.

“Damn, you are so hot,” Dwayne said then handed something to Autumn.

“Are you still going to homecoming?” August asked his sister. It took her a second to respond, she was too busy lighting up the cigarette Dwayne had passed her.

“You’re keeping track of me now too, big brother?” she said, then laughed. She blew the smoke in the air. August thought the smoke served as a perfect metaphor as August watched his sister’s life burn down.

“Mom and Dad wanted to take pictures,” August said, looking nervously at the clock. They were never late for anything, so August figured they were just avoiding another scene.

“So they can compare them with the Princess Amber,” Autumn shot back. “I’m sure her homecoming was perfect, like everything else she does, while I can’t do anything right.”

August didn’t say anything, just like he’d never heard his parents say anything of the sort. He didn’t know everything his parents thought or said, but he knew this competition between Amber and Autumn existed only in one place—Autumn’s increasingly distorted brain.

“Take this picture!” Autumn thrust a middle finger toward the stairway at a family photo from an Easter morning years ago. Everyone in those pictures was smiling, especially August whenever he stood next to Autumn.

“Why are you acting this way?” August asked, unable to understand yet wanting to know so he could change her. August loved his sister so much, but hated who she was becoming.

“When I’m rich and famous, everybody will take pictures of me,” she said with a smirk.

August didn’t respond. He didn’t tell his sister that he’d seen her Facebook page. Back in her freshman year, the pictures had been like those of any other girl, but everything had changed that summer. Cancer attacked Grandma, change invaded Autumn. August had watched helplessly as the Autumn, who babysat him for years, helped him with his homework and did everything a big sister was supposed to do, slowly disappeared while this new creature emerged, obsessed with herself and fame. The bad behavior, August guessed, wasn’t her acting out like a child, but lashing out like an adult frustrated that they are unable to achieve their dreams. What would it take to make her happy?

“They’ll be angry,” August finally said.

“Good,” Autumn said, then laughed. The laughter was drowned out by the clicking of her high heels across the kitchen floor. August looked out of the window. There was no limo, just Dwayne’s chrome horse. August realized that it wouldn’t be long before Autumn walked out of the door and never came back. What kept him awake was deciding if Autumn leaving home forever would be a dream fulfilled or a nightmare descended. August thought that maybe his family’s dreams and nightmares were the same, and they all resided in Autumn. Autumn controlled all their lives and Autumn’s life was spinning out of control.