Chapter 4: Gentle Beginnings
1463 Words
Delia
"Stop it, Carter. Stop!" Mother yelled, dragging him away from me. The blows stopped and I tasted copper.
I coughed, and spit out red.
My mother gasped. "Stop it, Delia, you're staining my carpet with blood." She rushed to me and yanked at my arm. I winced and cried out as the pain ran through me at the jostling. "Get up and get out. Go! Go to your room. No one wants you here!"
She yanked me to my feet and when I almost fell again, she put an arm under my arm and helped me to the staircase. "Hold on to the railing and just get out of here. Go, before your father kills you."
I stumbled all the way upstairs, the tears blurring my eyes all the way. I collapsed on the bed and cried until I felt numb.
And then fell asleep.
~
Twelve years ago
I ran down the stairs of the orphanage, he was leaving, he was going to leave and I'd miss my chance to return home with him.
"Grandpa! Grandpa, please don't leave me here anymore." I stood at the front of the building, desperately pleading with my eyes that he didn't leave me.
He removed the foot he already had in the car and stepped down. I watched him as he rapidly crossed the parking lot and came over to me.
I sniffled and he placed both hands on my shoulders to look down at me. I could see the little grey in his hair from this close.
"Delia, it is not yet time for you to return. Now I've told you, that very soon, I'll come back for you, and then you will go home."
Tears flooded my eyes at his words. I was going to be stuck here forever. "No! I don't like it here. Please, please take me with you."
He shook his head and his grip on me tightened. "Listen to me Delia,I will bring you home. Understand? But for now, you'll have to stay here."
I didn't like to disobey grandpa, he was the only one who ever came to see me. So I swallowed and nodded, even though the tears kept falling.
He wiped at my face with his hands. "Stop crying now, Delia. And go inside."
"Wi…will you tell Dennis I love her? And Daddy and… Mommy too?"
"Yes, I will, Delia. Now off you go."
I waved at him and then turned back to the gloomy building where I lived. I didn't understand why I couldn't just live with my Mommy and Daddy and sister in the big house where we all used to live in, together.
Still crying and hiccuping, I stepped into the passageway and walked smack into someone.
I fell back on the floor and that only increased the volume of my crying. I wailed as if the world was ending.
"Hey, hey. Stop it. Why are you crying so hard? It was just a little bump."
I cried even harder.
"And it was you who bumped into me!"
I didn't care who bumped into who. I felt alone and abandoned, and whoever this boy was, he just didn't understand.
"Okay, come on." He pulled me to my feet and removed a black handkerchief from his jacket pocket.
He wiped my face and I brought my own hands up, holding the handkerchief closer to my face as I blew into it.
My nose was all blocked and I wasn't breathing well enough to keep crying.
He pulled me with him to the back door and we went out into the open space. Turning the corner, we sat on stone steps away from the orphanage main building.
I sniffled again and finally looked at him.
He was handsome.
He was taller than me and had golden eyes that looked so much like sunset.
"Well thank the Goddess, you've finally stopped crying."
Goddess? Didn't people usually say God?
I blinked at him, suddenly feeling shy. "What Goddess? And I wasn't crying, I was just…"
"Bawling out your eyes like a little baby."
"No! I'm not a baby, and I was just sad."
I definitely didn't want a handsome boy like that thinking I was a little cry baby.
"Why were you sad?" He asked.
"Cause I miss my sister and my mommy and daddy." I sniffled again, and then stopped when I would have done it again.
I wasn't a cry baby.
I looked at his face and the sun was directly behind him, giving him a sort of glow.
"Why don't you live with them?" He asked again.
I shrugged. I don't know why I don't live with them either. "We used to live together in this big house, with a beautiful garden in the back, but daddy and mommy brought me here."
He looked away and then stood. "Are you hungry?"
I stood with him and nodded. I was always hungry here.
"Come on then."
I dusted off my trousers and tried to match his steps. He had long long legs and was a lot taller than me.
I kept staring up at him, and I realized I'd never see the top of his head, like I could sometimes see grandpa's.
"What's your name?" I asked him, slipping my hand into his as we walked down the corridor and out the front door.
He wouldn't answer me and I pulled at his hand harder.
"What's your name?"
We stopped in front of a hot dog cart and he looked down, his beautiful golden eyes hooking mine.
"It's Logan."
~
I woke up with a banging pain in my head worse than the one in my entire body.
I sat up, and stood to my feet, crossing the little space in my room to the bathroom.
I held myself against the counter and looked into the mirror.
My blonde hair was matted with blood and my eyes were all swollen. I lifted my right hand to feel my head, and found a bump high on the side of my head.
The bleeding had stopped though.
Images of Logan and Dennis sitting together came flooding back to me and I shut my eyes tight, fighting to keep them away from me but they wouldn't stop. He'd had his hands on her lap, all cozied up together.
I inhaled at the sharp burst of pain, my strength faltering as I slid down the counter and sat on the cold bathroom tiles.
I was the only one suffering for what they'd asked me, begged me, to do.
I washed away what blood I could from my body, and changed into a dry pair of sweatpants. I found painkillers in the drawers, and took them, before gingerly heading downstairs.
Could Logan still be here?
He wouldn't do anything else to me, right? I couldn't answer that. He hadn't cared when Father almost beat me to death, something told me he didn't care one bit now.
I went out the back door, into the garden and sat on the bench, feeling the cool evening breeze.
The lonely ache that was never far away from my chest came again, this time making my heart hurt.
I got up to leave the garden and went back inside the house. I walked down the hallway, heading to the kitchen for a glass of water when I heard voices coming from the study.
I could easily make out Dennis' voice in the conversation.
Normally, I would make my presence known, but this time, something stopped me. I tiptoed to the doorway, and held my breath as I listened.
"...I hate her, mom. She couldn't even do something as simple as deceive Logan and keep the truth from him. Now he wants me again. What if he finds out?"
My mother sighed, "He won't, Dennis. Your father said he would do something about it, don't worry."
"Can't we just throw her out? Must she live in the same house as us? She's not even of any use to us now."
Throw who out?
"I would happily do that, Dennis, you know I would. But we still need the shares your grandfather was stupid enough to give her. You know we need her to sign them over before we can throw her out."
"I don't understand why grandfather did that. It's not like she was ever a part of this family anyway.*
My heart beat wildly. They were talking about me. They didn't love me. They didn't even feel sorry about what had happened with Logan. Even though it had been all their plan. After making me do it, they wanted to throw me out?
Anger boiled in me as I flung the study doors open and rushed in, staring down the two of them.
- Writer
