“Ohmygod I’ve missed you so much!”

It has been over a week since Leda finally woke up, and another two days since she was allowed to go home. I had only finally gotten to see her, after spending the weekend up in Big Bear with Matt and Gus – this time, it was Gus’ turn to sit out on all the fun while Matt and I had some serious “bonding time” (basically, he got food poisoning on the first day and had to stay in bed the entire time). Matt and I got to catch up on a lot of stuff. We talked about school, life before we found out we were adopted… everything.

As soon as I got back, I was able to call Hunter, who told me that Leda was staying with Austin, and that Anthony still hadn’t shown up since he left nearly two weeks ago. But she was safe now, and she was stable; and that was all that mattered.

Matt drove me up to L.A. to see her. She wasted no time in dragging me straight to her room, ignoring Austin calling out to her to leave her door open, and filling me on in on how shitty hospital life was.

“The food there sucks,” she tells me. “I mean, I never ate much anyway, but at least what I did eat wasn’t… that.” I laugh slightly.

“So… When are you going back?” She sighs and flops down onto the bed.

“I don’t know. Next week, probably. I’m not allowed to have any visitors that aren’t immediate family – Austin is the only exception.” I lie down beside her. “They aren’t going to want to leave me alone. Ever.”

“How long are you going to have to be there for?” I ask quietly.

“The rest of the summer,” she replies sadly. I bite my lip. “But hey; this is good for me, right? I’ll get the help I’ve needed for a long time…” I nod. “You know, unless Austin and Hunter can figure something out, this might be the last time we ever see each other…”

“It won’t be,” I say determinedly. “I won’t let it. I’ll find a way to come visit you, or have you come visit me. I don’t care what Jim or Rhonda say – you’re my best friend. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She smiles, shaking her head slightly.

“Honestly, Autumn, you could do a hell of a lot better.” She pauses for a moment. “But thanks. You’re my best friend too – and quite possibly my only friend.” She sits up just in time for me to tackle her into a hug.

“I love you,” I mutter. “I know everything’s going to be okay.” She just laughs a little.

“Yeah… I know. I love you, too.”

~

Hunter: hey. do you want to meet at the park for a little while? you can tell your dad that we won’t be out past 10 if that helps

Autumn: are you asking me out?

Hunter: maybe. YDG?

Autumn: haha. he said it’s fine

Hunter: great i’ll pick you up at eight, yeah?

Autumn: okay :)

~

“I miss her a lot,” I say randomly. Hunter and I lay on the field in the dark, staring up at the night sky. Our fingers are intertwined. Everything is perfect.

“Yeah. Me too.” He falls silent for a minute. “The courts said that, unless Anthony doesn’t show up within the week, then he won’t be able to fight against Austin for her custody.”

“Really? That’s… good, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose.” He lets out a small sigh. “Well, it’s good for her. I’m still trapped with Anthony for god-knows how long.” He laughs humorlessly.

“I thought you were going to try and get emancipated?” He just shrugs. “I’m sure if you asked Austin, he wouldn’t mind giving you a place to stay every once in a while.” He shrugs again, and the two of us fall silent.

“I love you.”

I freeze up for a moment. It seemed so sudden – I was not expecting to hear him say anything like that to me any time soon. It takes me too long to register.

“And I don’t care if you don’t love me back,” he continues. I blink. “But I just thought I’d say that, just in case I don’t ever get another chance to.” My heart begins to thump harder than normal; I already know my answer.

“I love you, too,” I whisper. He turns towards me, shock etched across his face. He clearly wasn’t expecting me to feel the same, but I’m almost sure that I do.

“You… You do?” He shakes his head and clears his throat. “I mean… Good. I’m glad.” I can’t help but giggle. He rolls his eyes at me before pecking my cheek. “I love you, Autumn.”

“And I love you, Hunter.”

I rest my head on his chest and close my eyes, listening to the sound of his steady heartbeat. Everything seems right; perfect, even. And after everything I’ve been through this summer, I almost felt that I deserved it.

Suddenly, there’s a rustle coming from a nearby bush. Paranoia causes me to sit up quickly, and Hunter does the same; he places a comforting hand on the small of my back.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he whispers, though he doesn’t sound too convinced.

Sure enough, someone steps out from behind the bushes, twirling a gun in his hand. My heart stops when I’m finally able to make out their face in the dark.

Anthony.

“Well, well, well; what do we have here?” he smirks. I feel Hunter tense up beside me; fear courses through my veins.

“Anthony,” Hunter growls. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I just thought I’d pay my little… toy a visit. Is that so wrong?” I bite back a scream, memories form that night flooding through my mind.

“Don’t touch her.” Anthony just clucks his tongue.

“Awe,” he coos mockingly. “How cute. They’re in love.” I can hear a small growl rising up in Hunter’s chest.

“Don’t make me call the cops, Anthony…”

“Ha!” He shakes his head. “You really think they’ll be able to do anything?”

I don’t care if what he’s saying is true. I decide to take my chances anyway. I slide my iPhone out of my back pocket, slowly; carefully.

He doesn’t notice. His eyes are still trained on his younger brother. “Get up,” he demands suddenly, pointing the gun at both of us. “Both of you. Now.”

Hunter helps me to my feet right as I’m able to dial. I can her the operator’s voice, and so can he. But Anthony doesn’t. I hit the end call button before dialing the number a second time.

Anthony steps towards me, pinching between his thumb and forefinger on his free hand. I cringe, sliding the phone back into my pocket. “I’ve missed you, Autumn,” he whispers into my ear. It sends shivers down my spine – and not the good kind, either.

“Get away from her.” Hunter shoves him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble backwards slightly.

“Ah, ah, ah…” He aims the gun right at him once he regains his balance. “You know, you’re not like any other girl,” he continues, smirking at me.

“Shut up,” Hunter snarls. He ignores him.

“Sure, Leda was pretty satisfying, but you – you’re something special, Autumn. There’s just something about you – I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.” His face is inches away from mine; my heart leaps to my throat, and I feel like I’m going to be sick.

Until Hunter tackles him off to the side.

He falls ahead of me by about five feet. Anthony is on top of him, pinning him down by his shoulders. I watch in horror as Anthony begins to strangle him. I know I should try to fight him off as well, but I’m frozen in place; I can’t move.

The gun.

It’s been thrown somewhere off to the side. I couldn’t see it very well in the dark. But maybe, if I could get a hold of it, I could just…

Hunter lets out a small grunt, and suddenly, he had Anthony pinned to the ground. They’re too distracted to notice me drop to my hands and knees and begin feeling around for the fallen weapon. I hear Anthony let out a yell of pain. When I glance over, I notice Hunter slamming his head down on something… I don’t want to watch. I turn away and keep looking.

There’s a sudden gun shot, and just then, the fighting stops, and everything falls silent – save for the sound of the weapon echoing off in the surrounding forest.

I whip around, just in time to hear Hunter let out a strangled gasp.

He shot him.

From what I can see, his abdomen is bleeding profusely. He hit him right in the stomach, in his last few seconds of life. I cry out to him and rush over, cradling his body in my arms.

“Hunter?” I cry weakly. He forces a smile up to me.

“It’s alright now, Autumn,” he coughs. “You’re safe now. He’s never going to hurt you again.”

Notes

A/N: I am posting the last two chapters tonight (which includes this one). I would like to say that this is the original ending I originally wrote, but I feel that it's not as good as it could be. At the same time, it also ties the story together, but I felt dissatisfied with it, so I've decided I'm going to write an Alternate Ending in the coming months, which will be longer than the original two-chapter ending. So if you're interested (and you think this ending completely sucks, which I wouldn't exactly blame you to be honest) then please look out for that as I will try to write that as soon as possible.

Second, me being me, I have started writing a few other stories, including a new story called Unfamous, which I plan on posting within the next couple of weeks, so if you want you're interested, you can look out for that.

Thanks for reading =)

~WOLFY~