Autumn Parallel

-Chapter One: The Night Before-

The ride to a town in the literal middle of nowhere was turning out to be a long and boring one for fifteen year old twin siblings Charlie and Isaac Smith. Charlie, not Charlotte, mind you. Not one person at Emmerson High School in Harpersville, Wisconsin dared call Charlie Taylor Smith 'Charlotte' unless they desperately wanted to get punched in the stomach with her fearsome right hook. Isaac was the complete opposite of his sister, with good grades and a disposition to rival that of Mother Theresa. Although Isaac was smart and kind to every person he met, he was often regarded as weak by the resident bullies of the school. But every student who had the dim idea of pestering Charlie Taylor Smith's younger brother of two minutes soon learned that it was a very, very dim idea. This news was delivered to them through her infamous right hook. There was a reason why Charlie was in the boxing club. Isaac didn't rely on his sister though, and often expressed his displeasure in her violence that occasionally landed him in the principal's office with his volatile-mannered sibling. He preferred to solve things diplomatically, talking first and hopefully not running away later.

At the moment, Charlie and Isaac Smith were not at Emmerson High School in Harpersville, Wisconsin. They were the only two people on a rickety old bus, aside from the driver, heading straight to a town called Autumn Parallel which is a place that neither had heard of before three days ago. Three days and a night ago Charlie was up later than she should have been and accidentally ended up eaves dropping on her parents.

"Rosie it's the only place we can send them while we're out of the country," Charlie's father Henry started, "you don't have any other relatives and my parent live in Canada."

"Then let's send them to Canada!" Charlie's mother Rosie exclaimed. She seemed quite upset. "I don't want them to go anywhere near that strange town!"

"Honey, Colorado is closer than Canada, and we don't know how long we're going to be gone on business." Henry softly reasoned as he held his wife of 20 years close. "Would you rather have them go a completely new country with people they've never met, or would you rather have them stay in the country with their uncle?"

"I don't know." Rosie whimpered into his shoulder.

Henry gently kissed his wife's head, "How about I drive them to the closest bus stop to where to where Norman lives. So you don't have to get any closer to the town than you have to? I can drop them off at a bus stop so I can make it back home ASAP so we won't miss our flight next wee k."

"Okay." Rosie sniffled. "How about we give them a few days to get ready to pack and say goodbye to their friends first?"

"Sounds good to me. Why don't you go to bed while I arrange for their transfer. It is only September 23rd." Henry suggested. "Do they have a school in Autumn Parallel, right?"

"Uh-huh." Rosie said while shuffling across the wooden floorboards of the house. "I'm going to bed."

"Alright honey, goodnight. I'm going to go check on the kids. After that I'll make some calls and get them registered to the school there."

"Come to bed soon, it's always cold without you."

"I will, don't worry."

It was then that Charlie quickly hid away her laptop and feigned sleep. Moments later Henry peeked into the dark bedroom that the twins shared and saw that both children seemed to be fast asleep. He quietly shut the door behind him and went to prepare for the coming days. Charlie instantly decided that she did not like the idea of leaving town for Colorado. The next three days were spent explaining to the twins why they had to pack up their things and go live with their Uncle Norman for an indefinite amount of time. Isaac was rather upset about the change but got over it pretty quickly. Isaac was an easy going person who was alright with change. Meanwhile Charlie said goodbye to her small circle of best friends and larger circle of not-so-best friends. She was extremely emotional and generally grumpy for the three days before her sudden movement.

The car ride to Salt Cliff, the nearest town to Autumn Parallel, was an eventful one. At least, it was for Isaac and Henry. The father and son duo chit-chatted the entire way there, much to Charlie's dismay, about each and every topic that came up. This of course ranged from what kind of fish could be found around Autumn Parallel to hour-long political debates that typically ended in tense silence. Talking about politics at the dinner table was outlawed in their house, but there was no rule that stopped them from talking about politics during a three day road trip. The trio of father, son, and daughter was supposed to take only three days, and that included stopping for food, rest, and sight-seeing along the way there. However the road trip took five days instead. Throughout the days Isaac's mood was like his father's - chipper and eager to get moving and see new things. Charlie lagged behind and managed to stay crabby about the move nearly the whole trip, although her mood gradually got better once she realized she might not have to stay away from Harpersville, Wisconsin for very long. After all, 'we don't know when we'll be back' didn't translate into 'we'll be gone seven years and you'll never see your friends again.' So without knowing it, Charlie began to look forward to seeing her hopefully temporary home. That is, until Henry dropped the two fifteen year old teens off at a bus stop with a note for the first person they saw in the town and around fifty dollars to cover their bus fare. Which of course, brings them to where this story began and ultimately will end; in a rickety old bus on a dusty road.

-Chapter Two: The Twins Arrive-

"I can't believe Mom and Dad right now." Charlie said to her brother who was sitting next to her. In the whole bus he couldn't have picked a different seat? We are literally the only two people on the bus and he has to sit next to me. Aside from the bus driver.

Isaac sighed, "You've said that at least fifteen times by now." and moved his line of sight back to her from the window across the aisle. "Relax Charlie. It'll be fine, you'll probably only be away from your friends for a couple months."

"A couple months Isaac!" she exclaimed. "That's a lot longer than you'd think! We're gonna miss the talent show, and we're gonna miss opening season for baseball, and I'll miss the boxing tournament and you're" I poked his chest with my pointer finger. "going to miss the big model UN meeting!" Charlie continued to rant. "A lot can happen in a few months Isaac!"

"Geez..." Isaac said and shrunk down into his bag. "Sorry for trying to make you feel better about moving. I don't like moving either you know." Charlie fell silent.

Now I feel awful. For this entire trip he's been happier than a squirrel in a nut pile, and I say a few things and now he's all upset. I really don't like seeing Isaac sad like this. Charlie bit her lip and gingerly said ,"No Zac, don't say sorry, I shouldn't have said that." He sighed with a small smile and trained his eyes on the stuffed animal head peeking from his bag. It was a white bunny he's had since he was little. He was quiet for a while.

"It's alright." He started. "I know you get a little ahead of yourself sometimes. Besides, look over there." Isaac pointed out the windows to a small sign that was nearly hidden from sight in between the towering spruce trees. "We're getting closer, 'Autumn Parallel, 15 miles'!"

"Oh great." She grumbled, back to being grumpy. "15 miles closer to the middle of nowhere." Charlie rested her head on the glass of the bus window and turned up her music. Her phone was playing the newest Ed Sheeran album on an endless repeat. Charlie settled back in her seat to wait for the bumpy bus ride to end and passed the time by looking out the window. A thick forest filled with spruce, juniper, fir and pine trees surrounded the thin and winding road, with a canopy that seemed to touch the clouds overhead. The towering trees threw long dark shadows across the leaf covered forest floor in the dusky light of the late afternoon. Charlie ended up losing herself in her music and the scenery for the next twenty minutes, until Isaac poked her shoulder to get her attention. She pulled out her earbuds to listen to what he had to say.

"Charlie, get ready to go, we're coming up on the town now." Isaac gathered a few of his bags from an overhead compartment. The rest of the twins' luggage was stored in the cabinets around the bus's interior.

"What town?" Charlie asked as the bus rumbled past an old wooden sign that was painted in the colours of fall. It said 'Welcome to Autumn Parallel' in curling letters. "Never mind then."

Isaac was happily chuckling next to her while opening the cabinet over their heads. "I was talking with the bus driver while you were sleeping and he said he's heard a few legends about this town." After setting down a handful of bags, he hoisted a larger bag onto his back, and Charlie knew this bag held a few of his journals and more precious of books. "Some of 'em are a little more spooky than others."

"I swear to god, this stupid town better not be haunted."

"It won't be, I promise." Isaac chirped in a lighthearted voice.

"Yeah, yeah. Besides," Charlie pulled her backpack studded with countless buttons onto her back. "ghosts don't exist."

"But you don't know that Charlie." Isaac said with a hint of wonder in his voice. "Nobody knows." He paused, "Well, maybe ghosts know. You know, in the middle of the woods like we are now, I feel like anything could exist!" The bus screeched to a stop and Charlie's eyes snapped from her brother's faltering form to the outside windows. Through the columns of trees, Charlie could pick out the occasional shack of a house. Few and far between cabins dotted the shoreline of a bow-tie shaped lake in the center of the town that reflected the golden and blush coloured sky. There isn't much to see here. There's not even a shopping mall.

"You know if you keep dreaming like that and you could end up dead in the mountains looking for some monster or something." Charlie snipped as she exited the empty bus to see her brother, who was currently sorting the ever-growing pile of luggage into smaller piles. Everything was laid out on the gravely roadside. "Don't you dare go off into the mountains looking for some monster, because I could never go a lifetime without you."

"Don't worry Charlie, I've got enough common sense to know that's a bad idea." Isaac pulled his wallet from a pocket in his red flannel shirt and held it out for Charlie. "Dad gave me money to tip the driver for driving us all the way out here, could you do that while I sort this out?"

Charlie snatched her brother's wallet and pulled out a rumpled ten dollar bill then handed the wallet back to Isaac. "Yeah whatever." Charlie walked up the steps to the driver. He was a thin old man who looks like he's seen a lot over the years, and had a gold wedding band on his ring finger. She handed him the bill, "Here's a tip, have a great day." and began to walk off the bus, but the elderly man stopped her.

"Young miss," He croaked as Charlie stopped to listen, "please do be careful." Worry clearly showed in his voice. "I've only heard legends about this place, but in person it's even eerier." He shuddered in his seat with his wrinkled hand tightly clutched on the wheel. "I just get a bad feeling about this town."

"Eh, they're only legends." She turned to exit the bus. "How true can they be?"

"You never know, young miss, you never know. Legends gotta start somewhere though." The old man shut the door and puttered back down the road he came from and left the twins alone. They were surrounded with a hoard of towering trees with only a thin screen of branches obscuring the town. A thin dirt trail winded in between the trunks and downhill to what could be seen of Autumn Parallel, but branched off earlier to a spruce wood building with a sign hanging outside. A few slowly twisting railroads branched from the slate-roofed building's back, and Isaac was sitting on a bench next to the sorted suitcases outside it. It seemed like he managed to drag about twenty luggage bags down the trail to where he now sat while she was talking with the bus driver. How nice of him. Charlie walked over to Isaac and sat down on the bench next to him.

"Hey, Charlie. It's not too bad, is it?"

"Eh? What's not too bad?"

Isaac sighed and rested his elbows on his knees. "The town, Charlie. It's not too bad right?"

"Oh." Charlie thought about this for a while and sat next to Isaac. Okay so there's no mall. Great. I didn't see any telephone poles for most of the way here. Charlie pulled out her phone to see if her suspicions were true, then hid it away after she saw her result. Go figure, no service. I don't know anybody here but Isaac. Unless you count Uncle Norman that we've only seen twice. Even better. She sighed and slumped forward to rest her elbows on her knees, unintentionally mimicking her brother's actions. Isaac couldn't be in a better mood though, and was happily gazing into the endless woods surrounding them with obvious curiosity. Charlie was bored on the other hand. To add to the moment the train station, or at least what Charlie thought was a train station seemed to be closed for the day. She silently crumpled the note in her pocket from her parents. There's no way somebody we can give this to is going to walk by anytime soon. So if we stay here, we might end up waiting for hours. Charlie did not have the patience needed for waiting.

"I'm gonna go for a walk." She remarked and stood up.

"What?! That's a bad idea! We don't even know what street we're on!" Isaac called after his twin who was already walking into the autumnal forest.

"Psssh, and what do you plan to do otherwise?" She questioned him. "Just sit there and do nothing? I don't think so." She turned back to the forest. "I'm not going to bore myself to death, thanks."

Isaac fidgeted in his seat and retracted his hand. Should I just let her go..? It's not like she'll listen to my advise anyways. Charlie doesn't listen to anybody when she's in this kind of mood. But it never hurts to try! "Keep your phone on!" He yelled. "And don't be gone long!" The protest was all he could manage. He wanted to go with her, but didn't want to get in trouble or lost because of it. So Isaac decided that he would have to be fine with staying put. Oh forget it. There goes that decision. There's no way I'm letting her go alone. Isaac snatched up his heavy coat along with his phone and journal. He quickly scribbled a note and left it under a rock by their things.

"Wait up!" Isaac ran into the forest to meet with his sister. Half crushed fallen leaves were kicked up by his sudden movement.

Charlie was thoroughly surprised when she looked back to see Isaac sprinting like a track team member. "I didn't think you'd actually come. Usually 'the voice of reason'" she said with air quotes, "overcomes your sense of adventure." Charlie vaulted over a log and landed in an unseen puddle on the other side. "And usually I wouldn't be jumping over logs either, and look where that got me."

"Well I couldn't just let you go by yourself, we're a team. We've always been one."

"Yeah we have." Charlie waved her hand over her shoulder. "Even if I wanted to go solo, you always come to back me up anyways."

"You know why?"

"No, not really." They were moving deeper and deeper into the forest. The evening sun was sinking below the trees to bathe the world in a crimson light. All of the life that filled the trees with noise were settling down for the night, and so the forest was nearly silent. Eeriness was creeping ever so slowly through the trees like a monster ready to gobble up unsuspecting travelers.

"I always like to tag along in case you ever get yourself into so much trouble that you can't get yourself out on your own." He carefully slid himself over the mossy log and around the puddle. Isaac held close his journal. Everything Isaac saw and did was written down inside of that green book and was one of his most treasured items.

"Because we both know that you do that pretty often." Isaac added.

"Pssh! I don't get into nearly as much trouble as you think I do!" Charlie fired back. She stopped and turned around to look at their surroundings more closely while Isaac caught up. He sure is slow. I wonder where all that speed from earlier went? Gone were the few landmarks of the town Charlie could memorize in the short time she was actually there. All that surrounded the twins was the deep forest drenched in utter silence. Not one cricket chirped, not one bird sung, and no squirrels dashed through the branches over head. Not even the wind made a sound. Her demeanor was quickly changed once she realized the situation she and her brother were in.

"Um, Isaac?"

Isaac was close behind Charlie and stopped walking just short of being by her side. "Yeah?"

"I think we're lost."

"Now what was that about not getting to trouble?"

"Ugh you were right!" Charlie leaned up against a tree with a huff.

Isaac chuckled a little under his breath. "As much as I like to hear you admitting you're wrong for once, it doesn't help us get out of here." He twirled on his heels into the opposite direction.

"You are strangers here." Sang a harmonious voice from above. Isaac looked up to see a teenage boy about his age precariously perched high above them on a tree limb. "Of course you wouldn't know where you are."