Delilah...

Subject: Delilah... Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:55 pm

I haven't quite got around to editing this one, but I wanted to post it anyways. I wrote up to chapter nine, I believe, and I'm still trying to post more, but yeah. Hopefully this'll be one that I don't give up on. haha.
BTW, this is chapter one and two, they look kind of lengthy, so sorry.

Chapter one.

The alarm penetrated Delilah's dreams, and she jerked upright in her bed. Oh crud, she thought. I can't be late again! She tossed her sheets off her bed and ran towards the bathroom, not noticing her calendar which pointed out that it was Saturday. She was never good with memory, if her alarm went off, it meant there was school.

Delilah examined herself in the mirror and ran a brush through her matted brunette hair. She shook her head slowly, she could have sworn that yesterday was Friday. They had played dodge ball in gym. It was Friday. She widened her eyes and dropped her brush, stomping over to her calendar, and then proceeding to curse under her breath, upon the recognition that it was in fact Saturday.

"Delilah!" Her head whipped around, causing her half-brushed hair to smack her lightly in the face. She examined her brother, standing in front of her door, with a wide grin spread across his dirt-caked face. "Stop with the racket! I'm trying to get some sleep! It's Saturday, you know? Why are you up so early anyways?" He tried not to, but his grin got wider and he almost started to giggle in front of her face.

Her eyes pierced into his and she stomped her foot again. "How do you even know how to work my alarm? Aren't you like... Five or something?" She shook her head, disregarding the fact that her brother was almost seven, not much of a difference, but he was pretty smart for his age, unlike most of his classmates and friends.

Her glared at her and mimicked her annoyed attitude by stomping his foot and placing a dirty hand on his hip. "Ohmygod!" He slurred, mocking her. "You like, totally interrupted my beauty sleeeeeep! And I like needed it!!! Because, I'm like... UGLY!!!!" He whined, walking down the stairs, mumbling some other words that Delilah couldn't quite catch. She glared again and lay back down in her bed. Though, it wouldn't do her any good. Once she was up, she was up for good.

After about an hour of silence, laying in her bed, she finally stood back up. No point in wasting her entire day in bed. As she slowly emerged out of her door, she could hear her parents screaming at each other. Even though, their rooms were in the basement, and she was on the top floor, she could hear them loud and clearly. They did this every morning, and if her alarm didn't wake her up, they did.

She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, pouring herself a bowl of cereal, and walked closer to the basement door. She noticed her brother hunched over by it, his ear pressed against it, and his still dirty hand clutching the door she he wouldn't fall over on his side. She shook her head, and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the door. Even though she was about to do the same exact thing, she decided to yell at him for doing it before her.

"Don't be a retard, either one of them will storm up here, any minute now, and you would have gotten slammed by the door and yelled at by them." Delilah sighed and jammed a spoon into her cereal bowl, causing some milk and some froot loops to splatter down to the floor. Her brother simply stared after her, apparently confused by what she had said.

He also seemed to find no reasoning in her words because he walked right back over to the door, crouching down to the same position as before. Delilah rolled her eyes. "Alex, you're going to get hurt!" She yelled, slamming down her cereal and jogging back over to him. She tugged at his arm just as her father stormed out of the door.

His hazy eyes flew over both of them once before he grimaced and ran out the front door. Delilah noticed a suitcase in his hand, and she had no recollection of him going on a business trip. Of course not, she frowned, he's leaving us for good this time.

Her mom emerged from the basement at that moment, her face smeared with make up from all of her crying. The tears kept pouring down her face as she ran outside after him. "Rich, come on. Please! You can't leave us!" She pleaded.

Rich grimaced at her as well, who was she to plead him to stay? She was the one who kept fighting with him! She was the one who was pushing him out of the door further and further. She was the one who was cheating on him. "Josephine, I'm not staying her any longer with you. I need out. It's better this way." He muttered, jaw clenched tight and eyes shut.

Josephine let out a quiet whimper as he climbed into his car and drove away. She stayed out there for a while, bawling her eyes out. And when neighbors or Delilah and/or Alex walked over to her, with comforting words she shooed them away. She wouldn't be able to explain it to them, why exactly their father had just run out the door. She wouldn't be able to fess up about her affair, it was pointless to her. He was already gone, she didn't need to explain things anymore.

Chapter two.

It rained that night. Almost all night long, as the Anderson's sat in the living room silently, they heard the pitter patter of rain hitting their rooftop. Delilah couldn't stand the noise. She thought about turning on the tv, or possibly going upstairs, hating how silent the house felt, but she knew that her mom wouldn't be too happy with either of those choices.

Alex sat in the corner of the living room, his knees pulled up to his chest and his face wet from the tears he had let out after the whole incident. No, no one had told him about what had happened, but he wasn't a stupid kid. He knew. He didn't know as to why his father had left, unlike his sister who was the one to tell him, but he knew that he was gone. He was never coming back.

Delilah walked slowly to the bathroom, the guilt was building up inside of her. Did her mother know? If she did know, then why hadn't she said anything yet? Yeah, Alex was in the room, but she could ask him to leave, right? But maybe there was another reason. There just had to be. "Or maybe she doesn't know." She mumbled, shaking her head. Why would her father utter those words? Tell the woman who had never truly loved Delilah, that the reason he had left was because she had spilled the beans. He wouldn't do that, unless by force. "Stop." She muttered to herself, looking into the mirror of the bathroom. She was right. She needed to stop thinking about all of this or she would go crazy with guilt and wonder.

She stayed in there for quite a long time, simply debating and wondering about what exactly had happened down in that basement. She should have paid more attention to it, but no. Thinking it was wrong, she tried the best she could to ignore it, and that got her absolutely nowhere. She yawned and stood up, oblivious to the fact that she had stayed in the bathroom for almost an hour. When she walked out Josephine gave her a glare, one she had never seen before.

Sure, her mom gave her plenty of glares, but none like this. This was a serious, wishing-you-were-dead, glare. Delilah swallowed hard and crouched next to Alex, glancing over at the clock. "Hey," she said, stroking his back comfortingly. "Maybe you should go to sleep." She expected him to put up a fight like he normally did, she also expected Josephine to help out the cause, but neither of that happened. He stood up slowly and walked like a zombie towards the stairs. He groaned when he reached them and looked back at the two girls, hoping one would carry him up, but they both seemed to ignore him. He wasn't the only one with a rough day, he didn't even know the reasoning. Though, Delilah thought that it might make it worse. You would just be wondering what the hell had happened instead of the guilt that was rising up to both of their hearts at the moment. But Delilah couldn't quite bring herself to think about which one would be worse, they were both equally in pain, but she would like to have thought that she was in deeper crud than her brother was.

She gulped and started to walk upstairs but her mom called out her name, her voice cracked as she muttered; "Deh-" She coughed a little, trying to clear her throat, but it still cracked as she spoke. "Delilah. Stay." She froze in her tracks and didn't turn around. She was almost positive at that instant that she had found out. She shook her head, trying to stay optimistic, but she just couldn't. Alex looked behind his back, almost to the top of the stairs at that point, simply waiting for Delilah to come upstairs with him. Josephine shook her head at him. "No, Alex. Go to bed." She smiled a little, trying to act like it would all be okay if they just slept it out. As if, Alex went to sleep and was a good little boy for mommy, daddy would come back. Alex nodded weakly and walked to his room. Crawling into bed, and as he shut his eyes, he almost immediately fell into a world of dreams.

Delilah turned around slowly and looked at her mom, her eyes wide, with the hope that she would look innocent. Josephine shook her head. "Don't tell your brother what happened. Please. Just, let him think that your father will come home, soon. I mean, it might.... It might happen, right?" She began to cry then. Loud sobs erupted from her throat and she began gagging a little from her tears. Delilah nodded and walked upstairs before she herself, began to burst into hysterics over this.

She crawled into her own bed, but unlike her innocent brother he was too young to understand just how cruel life can be, she couldn't fall asleep. Instead she spent the entire night thinking about everything, just as she had done in the bathroom. She was worn-out, but again, the guilt kept preventing her from falling asleep. She sighed and walked downstairs, only to find her mom passed out on the couch, with an open and empty bottle of Jack Daniels clutched in her hands. Of course she was drinking, she thought, shaking her head. What else does she do to numb the pain away? She slowly walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of ice-cold water. As she walked back into the living room she took the bottle out of her drunk mothers hands and set it on the table next to her. She shook her head again and walked upstairs to lay down for another few hours until the sun rose up, then she might just try to fall asleep again.

Posts : 18 Join date : 2010-10-16

Nice. Why don't you just post the other eight now, though? I can't remember if I even read em all.. And lengthy chapters are good, especially in the case of someone who knows how to write well; it's more likely to get published.

Subject: Re: Delilah... Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:12 pm

o;
I was waiting for at least one person to comment before posting all the other shit, you know? but i think i'll post the next two.. i'll post 'em by two's, yeah.
:3

Subject: Re: Delilah... Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:30 pm

Chapter three.

The sunlight beamed through Delilah's open window. That, along with the chirping of birds and the sound of sizzling bacon, caused her eyelids to flutter open. It was a little too bright for comfort in her room, but she tried to ignore it. She stood up and walked, like she was drunk, towards her bathroom. She didn't get much sleep, about an hour or so, which explained why she was walking that way. She ran a comb through her long tangled mess and set it back down, looking at her face. She was paler than usual. Her skin usually had some color, but today she realized that she was white as a ghost. She stared at her reflection for a while longer, touching her face with two fingers, as if she didn't believe it was real. She walked out of the bathroom, not wanting to look at it anymore.

Delilah stood before her door for a while, simply thinking. The only reason she began to walk was because of the smell of bacon, which kept getting stronger and stronger with each step she took. Alex was already in the kitchen, his face smeared with maple syrup. She smiled and looked around for her mom. She had heard the bacon sizzling just a while ago, she couldn't have left just as she walked down stairs, could she? But as Delilah heard her mom's old car start up, she realized that she had been quick. Maybe she was avoiding Delilah, maybe she had heard her footsteps, so in return she had ran away, not being able to face the girl that broke apart a twenty three year old marriage.

Though, Delilah had always known, that her father was not a big believer in marriage. He had gotten her mom knocked up, forcing them to get married. Josephine's parents were very strict when it came to things like that, and so they really had no other choice. Shortly before the wedding she had lost the baby, but she never told Rich that. After the wedding she did, however. And he threw a fit about it. That kid was the only reason they got married, and it never even existed.

It did make sense that the marriage was over. Hell, the marriage was over before it was officially done with. Rich never loved Josephine, he only married her for the sake of his life. He only married her for the kid, There was no kid. There was no marriage. Just a lie. On top of a lie. On top of some more lies. Who knew what else Josephine was keeping from him. Not just the cheating, there was more than than that. So really, it wasn't Delilah's fault that it was ending, though it wouldn't be that easy to explain it to other people. It wasn't like her mom would tell people though, unless she told them that Delilah had told him that she was having an affair, and that it was a lie, no one would put the blame on her.

Her head pounded a little more as each thought processed in her mind, all the while her brother kept staring at her with a puzzling glance. What exactly was she doing. Delilah was holding up the coffee pot and grasping her forehead. She dropped it on the linoleum floor as an image crossed through her mind. It wasn't a very pleasant one. It was her mom, but something was different. She was... fatter? No, she was pregnant.

Her eyes jerked awake. Sweat ran down her face, leaving wet tracks all over. Her breathing stopped for a moment, but her heart raced. Where is she? What happened? Why the hell is it so dark?! "It was a dream. That's all." She told herself. Standing up, she walked towards the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. "Just a dream." She nodded, and walked back out. It was only four o'clock. So she had about one hour before her mom woke up. If she even decided to go to work.

She shook her head, forgetting that it was Sunday. "She doesn't work Sunday's. Idiot." She thought aloud. Why had she been doing that so frequently all of a sudden? She used to think that people, which of whom, did that weird stuff, were freaks. She yawned and took a deep soothing breath. And what was with that dream? The last part had all seemed so real.

"Go. To. Sleep." She commanded herself, shutting of the lamp she had turned on before walking into the bathroom. She looked around one more time, and then shut her eyes. Surprisingly, she fell asleep once her head hit down on the pillow, and she didn't wake up until the next morning.

Chapter four.

When she woke up, just like in her dream, it was to the sunlight that shone brightly through her open window, the sound of small birds chirping in the trees, and the sound of sizzling bacon. She smiled a little at the thought of food. Her stomach had been killing her ever since her father had left them, and she wasn't sure why. At that moment, though, she was almost certain that it was the lack of food and energy in her system. And just to prove her point as much as she could, her stomach growled. She frowned, the familiar sound always used to make her crack up, her dad always told her that there was an alien in her stomach, slurping out her insides and if she didn't eat soon, the alien would eat her. Instead of making her laugh and say "That's not true!" or when she wasn't in the best of moods, simply grin and look down, it made her want to cry.

The reality of everything that had happened seemed to just keep weighing down on her, she just couldn't think straight at all anymore. And as she walked into the kitchen to see her brother gone, probably at the park, and her mother with some mystery guy, she was just reminded even more of the entire thing. He was one of the guys she was cheating with, Delilah was almost certain of that. Who else could he be?

The weirdest part, was that Josephine looked... happy? Her husband had just walked out of the door, she had been sobbing and drinking all of last night, but now.. she's... happy? It just didn't add up. Delilah glared at her mother, grabbed a water from the fridge and a couple slices of bacon, then walked outside. She refused to be in the same room as her mother, especially while she's on a date.

Cursing under her breath, she climbed atop of her rooftop to spy on them, she walked over to where the kitchen was below, and hung her head, dangling it just over the window. Since it was open, it made it all the easier for her to listen in on them.

"I don't know about this. I mean... I don't even know the guy. I'm usually not up for killing strangers." It was the man speaking, Delilah's breathing had stopped, and she forced herself of the roof and into the rose bushes below. Luckily, she fell to the side, so her mom and the man couldn't see her yet.

Ignoring the thorns that jabbed her in every exposed part of her body, she slowly made her way towards the window, then looked in, only to see her mother frowning and holding out a wad of cash. "Look. I don't have a lot of money, but I'm willing to pay you extra for this. And don't worry about who he is. Alright? He's a stupid retard, no one'll miss him anyways." She jabbed the wad into his arm and stood up. "That's all I can offer though, if it isn't enough than you can give it back, and leave." She glared at him, waiting for a response.

The man began counting the money, Josephine was getting impatient and simply told him there was thirty thousand there. Delilah froze yet again. How did her mom have thirty thousand dollars? And who exactly was worth that kind of money? Though, Delilah had a very sick feeling, that she already knew the answers to both of those questions.

Perhaps before her father had left, he had forgotten all of his money. It didn't seem too likely, but it might have been true. The last question, though she would never admit to it, had been obvious from first realization of what her mother was doing with the man. Not only had she been having an affair with him, she had also been planning to kill her husband with him. It made sense. The man didn't feel like killing him anymore, simply because he felt guilty about everything. Though, if Rich had never found anything out, the man would have no problem sending a bullet through his brain. There wouldn't be anything to stop him from doing it, no guilt, no conscience, no feelings at all.

Alex came down the street at that moment, riding his bike, trying to impress his friends by doing a wheelie. But he fell backwards and the bike came tumbling down as well. Delilah groaned, crawled a little away from the window, and sprinted over to help her brother, all the while hoping that Josphine had no idea at all that she had been watched.

Josephine walked out of the house a few moments later, and peeking into the house Delilah noticed that the man was gone. So Alex hadn't known about him? She shook her head and helped her brother up, noticing that his left knee was bleeding, nothing too serious. Josephine ran over, acting over-dramatic and fake. "Oh my poor thing! Let's get you a band-aid!" Alex's friends snickered in the background as Delilah was shoved away from her brother who simply wanted his mom to stop treating him like he was two.

"I-I'm fine mom." He said, struggling to get out of her circulation-stopping grip. He groaned. "Really. Let me go." She shook her head and dragged him inside, putting on some creams, which never seemed to do anything but make the cut worse. She then placed a bandage on his knee and smiled.

"Stay inside for the rest of the day." She told him, though she said it coldly. Completely different than how she was talking outside. Then, she was simply giving him baby talk, now he had aged thirty years and he had done wrong. She seemed to be warning him as well, as if he did walk outside he would get hurt.

Delilah watched them from afar, wondering what the hell was going on with her mother. Ever since yesterday she had been acting like she was on her period. Mood swings here and there, and it was ticking Delilah off. She was bawling one minute, and planning her mischievous revenge the next.

At the thought of her mother getting revenge, she let out a small chuckle. As if Josephine would get away with this. Sure, she had a professional, or at least he seemed to be, killer on her side, but she also had a lonely and partially annoyed teenage daughter against her.

Delilah smiled with conviction. No way would her mother win this war. No, Delilah had been ignored and down-right irritated by her for far too long. She wouldn't stand for it any longer. She wouldn't stand in the background while she was being yelled at any longer. She wouldn't let her mother blame her for stupid things that she didn't take any part in. And she sure as hell, wouldn't let her mom get away with killing someone, especially if that someone just so happened to be the only person in the world that had showed love towards her. "Game on." She mumbled, walking away.

Subject: Re: Delilah... Thu Oct 21, 2010 7:03 pm

Chapter five.

She awoke late that day, around noon. By then, the mail had come, and her mother had left for work, of course. Luckily for Delilah, her mother had not taken a sick day and had left at five in the morning, meaning she had not been able to see who had been writing to Delilah.

Delilah was a bit surprised by the note herself, why would he be writing to her? Though, he was her father, he had every right in the world to send her a letter. Oh boy, would her mother be pissed off by this. Delilah grinned evilly and opened the letter, not noticing Alex, who was standing in front of her with wide-eyes, wondering what was going on. Apparently, upon first view of the letter, she had been mumbling something about her father. And it hadn't been very quiet, so Alex had heard it and wandered over to her.

She smiled as she read the letter, over and over. Absorbing each of his words with a smile, oh all the great things she could write him back. Hmm, first she would write about what her mother was planning, then she could add in a few lies about how she had been abusive to Alex. He had cut up his knee, maybe Delilah could pass that off as Josephine pushing him down on the concrete or something of the sort.

Oh yes, she would have much fun in responding to him. Alex glanced up at her. "What does it say?" He asked softly. And despite how soft he had spoken, Delilah had managed to jump.

"Oh. You scared me." She mumbled and handed him the letter, knowing he couldn't read yet. Especially not her fathers sloppy hand-writing. Alex shook his head, handed it back, and gave her a look that forced her to read it aloud to him;

"Dear Delilah and Alex,
By now you might have figured out what's going on, if you haven't, well I wouldn't want to anger your mother anymore by telling you, so just wait and see what happens. I'm sorry that I had to leave you two, but I knew that she wouldn't be too happy if I took you with, now I've been talking with a lawyer, and I'm going to sue for custody. I know you two aren't having much fun there, but if you would rather stay there, then tell me. I only want the best for you guys. You have to know that I didn't want to leave, I was forced to. If you don't reply, I'll take it as a hint that you want me to come and pick you up, and you don't want your mother to find out about the note that you write me, because there will be a way for her to find it, and she will.
Love, your father, Rich."

Delilah did however skip over a part of the note, which she wasn't supposed to read aloud. Scribbled in her father's handwriting it said;
"Delilah, I know you're probably reading this aloud to Alex, so please stop for a second and read this to yourself. There's something not right about your mother, lately she's been acting a little strange. Crazy, almost. It's the reason that I'm picking you up. I know that you found out about her affair, and so you know why I desperatley had to leave her. She thinks she can do whatever she wants all of a sudden, and it just got me too ticked off. I hope you understand. Call me when you get the chance, my cell hasn't changed. And whatever you do, no matter how much you want to; Please, for the sake of my life, don't show this to her.
Thanks, Rich."

Delilah cringed a little at the letter and crumpled it up. She stuffed it into her pocket, deciding to shred it instead of merely throwing it out. She walked over to where Josephine kept the shredder, ruffling Alex's hair on the way over to it. He grimaced and smoothed it out, his gaze still following her. "What are you doing?" He questioned, they weren't supposed to touch the shredder. Well, at least Alex wasn't. He would "get hurt" as Josephine had put it.

Delilah shrugged. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm shredding a few things. You aren't going to tell mommy, right? If you do, then I might just have to tell all of your little friends that you still wet the bed." She laughed a little, and started shredding the note.

Alex groaned, "I DO NOT!" He screamed, trying to yell over the sound of the shredder. Delilah just shrugged again and unplugged the shredder, placing it back where she found it.

"Well, they don't know that. Now do they?" Alex frowned and nodded. Indicating that he would agree to the terms of her deal.

"You better not say anything!" He warned her, scurrying off to his room.

"Don't worry. As long as you keep your mouth shut, I'll keep mine shut." She grinned and looked at the clock. She had wasted an hour in there, and she was getting quite a bit hungry. Though she knew that her mother had no food around the house. She sighed and walked upstairs, looking into her jar in which she kept all of her money. She had more than enough to buy her and her brother some lunch. "Hey Alex!" She called behind her shoulder. "You wanna go out for lunch?"

She heard him running down the hall. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" She shook her head, watching him jump up and down like a bunny, and run down the stairs, nearly falling over his own clumsy two feet.

"Calm down, kiddo." She laughed, shaking her head a little. She hopped into her jeep, the one thing her father had left behind for her. He had bought it for her the year she had turned sixteen and had gotten her drivers' permit. Boy was her mother angry with him, like usual. They had argued for over three hours about the stupid thing.

Delilah frowned while remembering those days. The days when they were always fighting and never happy with each other. They sure were better off without each other, but she knew that her mom would never listen to any reasoning, and so she simply drove off towards Burger King and tried to think of something different, and possibly less depressing.

She pulled into the drive-through, ordering Alex a chicken nuggets meal, and a cheeseburger for herself. She wasn't a big fan of fast food, and never did seem to eat much when she did have to eat a restaurant of the sort. She sighed and handed her brother the bag, not even bothering to tell him not to eat in the car, she had a feeling she would just ignore her.

She pulled back into their drive-way with a slight frown, noticing that her mothers car had been parked in there. Why was she home already? Delilah sighed and grabbed Alex's arm, dragging him into the house. She entered to see Josephine standing in the living room, her arms were crossed over her chest and she didn't look the least bit happy.

Chapter six.

Josephine smiled upon seeing Alex. "Alex, be a doll and go up to your room. I have to have a little chat with your sister." She mumbled, still managing to keep the smile. Alex nodded and ran up the stairs, though he didn't go into his room. He crouched against the wall next to stairs, and placed his ear against it. Almost the same as the day he was eavesdropping on his parents when Rich had decided to leave them. Though, he didn't even notice the similarities.

And as he walked up the stairs, Josephine's smile faded. Her lips curled downwards, and her eyes became squinted in anger. Her hands were on her hips and she started barking questions at Delilah. "Where have you been? Why did you leave the house without my permission? Why did you take Alex with you? Why did you use my shredder!? And don't lie to me! I know you used it! What did your father say to you in that letter?"

Delilah's heartbeat sped up a little at the last question. How had she known about the letter? She had shredded it! Then again, how did she know about Delilah's usage of the shredder in the first place? Josephine shook her head and held up the envelope that used to keep her father's letter to her, and it all started to make sense. She had forgotten to shred that little piece of information as well. Stupid, stupid, stupid, girl.

"He just said that he misses us." She mumbled, keeping her head high and her gaze straight at her mother. In the past few days it had seemed easier and easier to lie to her mother. But like Josephine would believe that.

"Alright. Now tell me what he really said." She spoke between clenched teeth, getting a little fed up with her daughters actions lately. When would she learn that she couldn't play her mother? She would never win this war that she was waging. Though, she did find it quite funny that Delilah was even trying to beat her at her own game.

"I told you already." She mumbled. This time though, her gaze fell down to her feet, she knew it wouldn't work again, especially since she couldn't even look her in the eyes and tell her that.

Josephine smiled, grabbing her jaw and looking her in the eyes. "I'm giving you one more chance." She said, leaning in closer and whispering this time, having a feeling that Alex might be listening in on her. "You tell me what that ungrateful shitbag said, or else."

Delilah shook her head. "I. Already. Told. You." She mumbled again, this time she did manage to give her a stare. "Now. leave. me. The. Fuck. Alone. You. Stupid. Whore." She laughed a little when Josephine loosened her grip. Obviously in shock that he daughter had the nerve to talk to her like that. See, Josephine didn't know a lot of things about her daughter. She had always saw her as the innocent one. The one she would never ever have to worry about. The one that would always be on her side, no matter what. And honestly, if her mother had ever once shown appreciation towards her, Delilah just might have been that way. Of course, though, it couldn't be like that. Her mother thought she knew what was best for everyone, but she really didn't. She thought that what she knew was right, and anyone who corrected her could go to hell. That everyone who disagreed with her opinions were idiots.

Josephine smiled. "Oh honey. You're going to be very sorry that you said that to me." She chuckled a little and slapped her across the face. The blow knocked her to the floor, and her eyes welled up with tears.

"Oh no, YOU'RE going to be the sorry one." Delilah said, trying to force the tears back into her eyes. She didn't want to be showing weakness in front of her mother, but it was a little late now. She ran up to her room, not even stopping to comfort Alex who was still sitting by the wall confused as he would ever be in his life.

Upon entering her room, she noticed the place was a mess. It had looked as though a tornado had gone through it, and she knew right then and there that her mom had rummaged through the plave. Probably looking for the note. She grabbed her cell phone and started packing her bags. "Alex." She heard her mom's now soothing voice. "I'm going to run to the store. I'll be right back." Delilah bit her lip, not notiving how hard, exactly, that she was biting down. It had begun to bleed, but she didn't even care.

She filled up a bag with her clothes and then ran downstairs to pack some food. She couldn't be in the same house as her. She REFUSED to be in the same house as her. She looked at Alex. "Hey kid." She mumbled, making sure her mother had already left to the store. "You wanna go visit dad?" He nodded excitedly, and smiled brightly. It made her smile just a little as well. "Get some clothes. 'kay?"

Alex nodded and filled his duffel bag that Delilah handed him, full. He could barely carry it himself, and so Delilah was forced to. She threw both bags into the back of her jeep and walked back into the house to grab a few more things; Her ipod, her chargers, and her camera. She didn't have anything else of value that resided in the house, and she asked Alex if any of his toys would be missed. He told her no, and she back out of the drive-way. Saying goodbye to her house for good. She wouldn't be back, maybe to drop off Alex if he insisted on it, but besides that, no. She wouldn't want to go back, so why should she?

She realized then, as she had started to drive off, that she had no idea whatsoever where her dad was living. She whipped out her cell phone and punched in his number, waiting impatiently for him to pick up. "Hello." He mumbled, the reception was bad and so his voice cracked.

"D-dad? It's Delilah. Look, I can't stand to be in that house anymore. Can me and Alex live with you, now?" She muttered, hoping it would be a yes. If not, she would have to find a friends house to stay at.

"Sure, it's fine with me. Want me to pick you up?"

Delilah shook her head. "No, I'm on my way. Where are you staying?" Their was a muffled scream and a voice that mumbled something about saying 'goodbye to your father' before the line went dead.

Alex, unaware of what was going on, continued to sip his juice box until Delilah came to halt, slamming on her brakes. She let out a scream, stomping as best as she could in her car, and pulled over to the side. What had just happened? Had he been... killed? She didn't want to admit to that, no way could he have been.... she wouldn't even let her brain think of the word. No, it hadn't of happened. This whole thing was a dream. It had to be.

She laid her head down on the wheel, her horn went off and Alex groaned, plugging his ears and telling her to stop. She ignored him until she heard her phone ring again. She jerked upright. Was it her dad? Maybe that whole thing was a joke? She sure the hell hoped it was. "Hello." She answered, in an up-beat and happy tone.

"Hello Delilah. I want you home. Now. And bring Alex back too." Her mothers voice spoke on the other line. She sneered and hung up the phone. She wouldn't be bringing either one of them home. She started driving again. Not exactly sure where she was going, she was just driving away from her psycho mother.

Subject: Re: Delilah... Thu Oct 21, 2010 7:09 pm

Chapter seven.

She drove a block further before realizing that she needed to get gas. She huffed as she drove off, looking for a gas station. She found the closest one, not even bothering to look at the prices, and filled up her tank. All the while, Alex was wondering what exactly was going on. Delilah sighed and hopped back into her old Jeep, wondering how everything had happened so quickly.

What had it been? Three days? Not even, she thought, shaking her head a little. Just short of three days, she sighed and turned on the radio, hoping there would be some decent music to lift her spirits a little. Though, she couldn't find anything decent, and so she decided to pop in a cd of hers, not even bothering to check what it was. Did it really matter? If she had it in her car, then it had ought to be good music.

She smiled as she heard the familiar sound of an electric guitar being played, she raised the volume a little more, which made Alex once again plug his ears. "Turn it off!" He screamed, she shushed him and sang along to the song softly aloud, still not knowing exactly where she was going. She frowned and thought of some other places that she could go to, but then again, how would she explain to Alex what had happened to her father? Delilah shook her head, it hadn't happened.

"It never happened, it never happened, it never happened." She mumbled a little, not realizing she was speaking until Alex tapped her on the shoulder to ask her what she was doing. "Nothing. Don't listen to me." She said reassuringly, he didn't have to know what happened, she could simply tell him that her dad was busy, and they could see him a different time.

"Alex, do you think you could go to one of your friends house? Just for a day, maybe two?" She asked him, keeping her gaze on the road and trying to think of a friend that she could go to for comfort. Someone that lived far away and who's parents weren't too fond of her mother. Her frown changed into a smile when she thought of the perfect person. They lived at least three miles away, and her mom hated their parents.

Alex shrugged. "I dunno." He mumbled.

Delilah handed him her phone, "Well call someone please. You need to go somewhere! We aren't going to dad's anymore, he's.. a little busy." Alex gave her a confused glance, one that seemed to be saying; "you expect me to remember their numbers by heart? Please, I can't even remember to put away my toys, and they're always right in front of me". Delilah groaned and grabbed the phone away from him, remembering where one of his friends lived, pretty close to where they were now. "Let's just hope he isn't busy." She muttered, making a u-turn and then speeding down the street.

She drove a bit slower as she reached the street were he lived on, she looked at every house, trying to find the one with a mess in the front of it. Which wasn't that hard to find, most of the other lawns were nice, green, and tidy. This one was filthy, yellow, and a complete disaster. She pulled up to the house and looked at Alex, "now I'm going to go with you and talk to the kid's mother. What's his name again?" She said, more to herself then Alex, but he answered her anyways.

"Eli." He muttered with a frown. "But I don't like Eli! I don't want to stay here for two days! Can't I go somewhere else?" He whined, giving her the same "puppy-dog" face that she had often used as a kid when asking he father for something. Delilah groaned and shook her head.

"Do you know where any of your other friends live? Or any of their numbers?" She questioned him, which he responded to with a shake of his head and the beginning of a "but!" She cut him off though. "But nothing! You're staying here. Deal with it, kid." She hopped out of the car, grabbed his over-stuffed bag, and then walked around to his side of the car, opening his door. He shook his head and gripped the seat belt, thinking it would prevent him from leaving the car. She laughed, unbuckled him, and dragged him out. "Come on! It'll be better than staying with mom. She said she was going to ground you for a year!" She lied, knowing he would buy it without questioning her at all. He suddenly stopped struggling and walked up to the door. Delilah followed him with a smile.

She brought her fist up to the door, but before she even got the chance to knock someone opened it. Delilah widened her eyes a little but recomposed herself with a small sigh. It looked to be the kids mother, at least she hoped it was. "What do you want." The lady barked, spitting a little on her. She took a drag from her cancer stick and looked at Delilah with a cold and bitter expression on her face.

"Yes, uhm. You are Eli's mother, right?" Delilah muttered, wiping the woman's spit off of her cheek and trying her best to put on a fake smile. The woman merely nodded and flicked her cigarette, but before she could say "what's it to ya?" Delilah continued on with her speech. "My brother, Alex, was wondering if him and Eli could hang out for a while, possibly sleep over. If that's alright with you. Maybe even for more than a day."

The woman shook her head. "He can spend the night, but I ain't no goddamn babysitter, and even if I was, he isn't staying two days for free." Delilah nodded and reached into her purse, looking for her wallet.

"How much?" She muttered, pulling out a fifty. "Fifty alright?" She said, jumping a little when she ripped the fifty out of Delilah's hands, nearly tearing it in two. The woman smiled down at Alex and gestured him inside, taking his bag from Delilah.

"You better be here on Wednesday, or you're paying me more." Delilah smiled and nodded, waving as she walked away and got back into her Jeep. She didn't know if she would be there on Wednesday or not, but it didn't really matter. If she wasn't her mother would be. And if her mother was, then she wasn't exactly in the best position possible, but it really didn't matter. Josephine would only have Alex, she wouldn't have her.

Chapter eight.

Josephine sat in the kitchen, filing her nails. She had a feeling that Delilah wouldn't be home any time soon, but she still waited for her. Who was this girl? She was a mere eighteen and she had already gotten the feeling that she could do whatever she wanted. It made Josephine erupt into a fit of laughter as she stood up from her chair. She had already been in Delilah's room. She had known that she had brought bags with her, and apparently so had Alex. Unless she did something, they wouldn't be back for a while.

She had no plan as of right then, but she knew that in time one would come to her, just as they always did. She had a plan for almost everything, even the baby that was growing in her stomach was a part of some huge plan at revenge with the world. Though upon first hearing about having a child, Josephine wasn't too happy. Another little brat to raise. It just didn't seem appealing. She didn't even want the two kids she had, she definitely didn't want some crying infant in her hands as well.

But she found a way to place him into her plan. She would, however, have to wait a few years, and then it might just work. As long as Delilah was otu of the picture. Taking out Rich had been easy. He was never looking behind his back, never worrying about what was going on around him, never noticing the little things, unlike Delilah.

She would be a harder target to hit, but with the right training and practice, she could hit her straight and center. In the bulls-eye. Yes, it would take some time to master her aim, but it wasn't impossible, it would happen soon enough, as long as she didn't give up on herself. Delilah was smart, perhaps a little too smart for her own good. She shouldn't have gotten involved in the situation, then she wouldn't be a part of Josephine's plan. Maybe she would take a part of it later, but only to help her mother, but now it was a little too late for that. She wouldn't be helping Josephine anytime soon.

And what about Alex? What was he doing in this situation? Just sitting along in the sidelines, watching the action take place from a safe distance away. The boy was smart, maybe he was simply on the sidelines because if he wasn't he would have no clue what to do, or maybe he just had no idea what was going on with them then.

He wasn't old enough for any of this. he couldn't comprehend it, and so he would be left alone, until of course he took his sisters side, which if Josephine had any say in it, would never happen. She simply wouldn't allow her son to turn his back on her, it wasn't right. She had raised him better than that, she had shown love to him.

But what about Delilah. "I don't give two shits about Delilah." She muttered, grabbing a beer from the fridge. But was that really true? "Of course it is." She couldn't help but answer her own questions, if she didn't she might have thought about them for too long, and change her mind about some of them. Though she had done her best with Delilah, it wasn't her fault that she didn't feel loved.

Of course, Josephine had loved her, right? She told herself she did, but the truth was, in the little black hole that she substituted for a heart, love was not an emotion in which she shared with Delilah. She never would. Delilah had been ruining her marriage since her birth. Rich wanted a boy, and he blamed Josephine for loosing the first baby. The one that was supposed to be a boy. "There was no first baby." She mumbled, taking a chug of the beer.

And there wasn't. Never. She had lied about it, and then before she got too far into the so-called 'pregnancy' she had told everyone she lost the kid. Wasn't her fault. No one knew how, or why, for that matter, it had just happened.

Josephine shook her head, and Delilah had cost them a lot of money. Even at the young age of two she had managed to cost Rich and Josephine a fortune. With all the diapers and toys, the outfits which she had always seemed to outgrow after wearing one time. She was constantly losing or breaking their personal items, most of which weren't cheap.

Honestly, from the moment Josephine had become pregnant for the first time, she had known the kid wouldn't be good for them, though Rich seemed to think otherwise. After having Delilah, she was sure as hell not happy to have Alex. Though, their was something that she liked about the kid. Something that had stopped her from hating him as well.

Alex was a lot different than Delilah. A boy, finally what Rich had wanted. It had pleased him for the nine months of pregnancy, but after the first month of giving birth to the kid, he got... bored. He lost interest, and he started paying more attention to Delilah. He worked overtime on purpose, saying it was because of the money issues they were having, but she knew the real reason. He didn't want to be around the kid, he refused to do anything for him, or Josephine.

They had slowly drifted apart after the years, and it wasn't all Delilah's fault, of course she knew that. But she just thought that it was the best explanation that she could give to people who asked her, instead of revealing how she had managed to lie throughout the entire marriage. The affair especially, it was what had set Rich off the edge, and even now looking back at it, Josephine couldn't think of one good reason as to why she had done it in the first place.

It didn't do either one of them any good, she wasn't even attracted to the men she was having the affairs with. She had thought back then that it was because of Rich's absence. How he was always at work, but she was at work most of the time too, and the kids we with her the rest of the time, until Rich finally did stumble into the house.

Josephine finished the beer, dropping the empty bottle onto the floor, not even caring that it had broken and shattered into hundreds of pieces. She sauntered over to the door and yanked it open. She stood on her porch for a second, too much in thought to really move any further. She sighed took a couple of steps, right after she reached the pavement, she plopped down on it and looked up at the setting sky.

She had never noticed it before. How the sky looked purple, almost. Then it faded away, turning a nice pink color. That faded off as well, into an orange. Oh but the sun itself, that was the real beauty there. Though it had almost fallen completely into the ground, until morning, it was still a breathtaking, not to mention, bright as ever, yellow. The sight made her smile. It actual made her smile.

Josephine hadn't smiled since the day she turned sixteen, at least not a real smile. But this one, yes it was real. She began to cry as well, and she didn't even bother to force the tears back into her eyes, no she just let them free-fall down her face. What she was doing at that moment, well it would have been considered weakness if she was still her old self, but it seemed the sight had.... changed her? Now the fact that she was crying in front of the kids playing in the street, in front of her neighbors, most of which she never even got along with, and the most important-in front of herself. Oh yes, she actually had the nerve to cry in front of herself.

Usually she would have found fault in this, her old self had kept a watchful eye over itself, even since she was a little girl. She would never do anything bad then, nothing that would result in punishment from her parents, but lately it had been never doing anything that would show her weakness, she couldn't afford it. Especially not when she had Delilah against her.

And she also realized then how she had been acting towards her daughter. She shouldn't have been, it was surely not a strength of herself, so... could it really be a weakness? Oh how Josephine's head pounded with each thought, but she kept on smiling, smiling, crying, and now she started to laugh a little bit. She had been quite stupid, and if Delilah ever decided to come back home, she might just act differently.

She sat on the porch until the sun went low into the ground, and only little specks of orange were visible. Then she stood up and walked inside, the sight was no longer visible to anyone else, but it had been permanently engraved in her mind. She would try to change, she had to. She couldn't do any of this anymore, she was going to crack soon and tell someone, but it was a little to late to help Rich, she had guessed that John had paid him a little visit as she had told him to do, and he was now.. well, dead.

"Unless he had become a chicken-shit sleazebag like I knew he would." She mumbled, setting down her beer and walking towards the couch. Oh he hadn't done anything, or at least that's what she hoped. "He probably left evidence to, that idiot." She sighed and shook her head, she was not about to be placed in jail for this, but she didn't think she had another option. If he really had been... "Killed." she would have no other choice. "I'd have to.. to turn myself in." She mumbled, looking at the black tv with, once again, tear-filled eyes.

Oh how she had changed.

Subject: Re: Delilah... Fri Oct 22, 2010 8:02 pm

I guess I won't post the next part? D:
SARA, I love you for being my only reader<3

Subject: Re: Delilah... Tue Oct 26, 2010 10:14 pm

POST MORE!!! PLEAAAAASE!!!!! I LOVE THIS STORY!!!!! ITS MY FAVRIOTE!!!!!!!!!

Subject: Re: Delilah... Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:05 pm

I willl~