When Nick rolled over in bed, he was surprised to find the spot next to him cold and empty. His eyes blinked open a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light before him. He stretched before he got himself out of the warm comfort of the hotel bed.

"Autumn?" He called. He heard the sound of running water in the bathroom so he knocked lightly on the door. "Autumn, are you in there?" He called to her. In response, she threw open the door and greeted him with a mouth full of toothpaste.

"Hurry and get ready, Nick. They want us to be at the house by 12:00," Autumn said. Nick stared at her for a minute trying to figure out what the hell Autumn was talking about. Then he remembered that the police wanted them to go to the old house to help them with the investigation.

"Let me take a quick shower, ok?" Nick sighed sleepily. Autumn nodded and looked down at the floor.

"Nick, I still have to get ready. Just get in the shower, take off your clothes and take one ok? Do you mind me still being in here?" Autumn asked.

Do I mind? Hell no, I've been wanting this for the past 3 years! He wanted to shout, but instead he just smiled and shook his head. He slipped behind the shower curtain and stripped himself of his clothes and threw them over the shower bar. He turned on the water and took his shower.

Once he was finished, he looked around in search of a towel.

"Could you hand me that towel please?" He called out to her. She stuck her hand into the shower and handed him the towel and he quickly tied it securely around his waist. He stepped out into the bathroom and Autumn turned around to see him. She blushed when she saw what he was wearing.

"I'll just go finish up in there," She said quickly before grabbing her things and walking back inside the room. He stood still for a minute before he shrugged his shoulders, dried himself and threw on his clothes. He reached for the hair gel that Autumn had on the sink and he quickly fixed his hair so it looked decent.

"Autumn!" He called.

"Yeah?"

"Can I use your toothbrush?"

"Sure!" She replied. He took her green and blue toothbrush and squeezed out the toothpaste.

"Ready to go?" Autumn asked as she walked inside the bathroom. Nick nodded and wiped his mouth on the towel.

"Let's go," he said.

*~*

The two of them talked quietly on the ride to their old house. Nick didn't want to admit it, but he was petrified at just the thought of going back in there. Pictures of Autumn in a puddle of her own blood shown in his mind and he shook his head to get the thoughts out of there. He tried to remember all of the happy times that had took place in that house. He smiled as he remembered all of the fun times that they had shared together.

Their talking stopped when Nick turned onto the familiar street. Many of the neighbors were outside with their kids and when they saw the familiar green Durango, they immediately stopped what they were doing and stared.

The police had placed yellow caution tags around the house and many police officers were already there.

Nick parked the car on the side of the road and took the keys out of the ignition. He looked over at Autumn and their eyes met as an understanding passed through to each other. He nodded once and they both opened their doors.

A police officer by the name of Jack Thraway walked over to the two of them and introduced himself.

"Ms. Conroy, you are very important in this investigation. We want you to try to remember as much as you can about that night. Can you do that for us?" Officer Thraway asked. She took a deep breath and nodded.

"I can try." "

"Wonderful. Now if you would kindly follow me." He led them passed the caution signs and onto their front lawn.

"I want you to start from that day. What did you do the day of the attack?" Autumn closed her eyes and thought back, long and hard. She remembered little bits and pieces of that night, but the more vivid pictures took place around 10:00 pm.

"I was sitting on our porch swing waiting for my boyfriend to come home," she said, taking a glance at Nick.

"How long do you think you were out here?"

"About an hour. After that I went inside."

"To do what?"

"Watch TV."

"Come on, we'll go inside." Officer Thraway said. He opened the door to the house and Autumn hesitated.

"I can't go in there, I can't," she whispered to Nick. Nick glanced at Officer Thraway and said to Autumn,

"Don't worry. I'll be right behind you."

They walked into the living room and Nick and Autumn surveyed the room quietly. It was just like they had left it.

"You said you were watching TV. Anything else you were doing while you were waiting for Nick to come home?" the officer asked. Autumn shook her head.

"All I did was look at pictures in the photo album," Autumn said.

"Do you remember putting the photo album back where it belongs?"

"No. I left it right on the couch," she said, and pointed to where she left it. To her dismay it was gone.

"He must have taken it when he came into the house," Officer Thraway said to another officer.

"Why would he want a photo album?" Nick asked curiously. Officer Thraway shrugged.

"Who knows. But as of right now, the only guess that we have is that the suspect did take it. Speaking of the suspect, do you have any idea of what he looked like? For example, height, weight, etc."

"No, I don't remember any of that. It was too dark. All I remember was waking up because I heard the front door open. I thought it was Nick so I went down the stairs, and that was when he grabbed me and brought me upstairs to my bedroom." Autumn said. Her eyes filled with tears and she quickly wiped them away.

"Whenever you're ready, Autumn, and we will go upstairs, ok?" the officer said. She nodded slowly and the officer let them be alone.

"This is a lot harder than I thought," Autumn said. She ran a hand through her brown hair and sighed. "I wanna leave. Take me home, please."

"I will. You just have to help the police a little bit. We'll just go upstairs to see some stuff and then we'll leave, ok? I promise," Nick offered. She nodded. He led her upstairs and tried to prepare her for what she was going to see.

"Oh my God," she said to herself as she noticed the blood that soaked the wall that led to her room. She walked into the room and collapsed against Nick's chest at what she saw. In the center of her room was the remnants of her attack.

Her blood caked the floor in a deep crimson color and she felt all the color drain out of her face. Her legs and her arms felt so weak that she closed her eyes and her world became black.