⋘ 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦... ⋙

Drapetomania
|noun|
The overwhelming urge to run away.

"You need to take your pills! This isn't up for negotiation." Raina yelled at her daughter as she once again barricaded herself in the bathroom, locking the door and staying in there for hours, making sure Raina had no chance of getting in—so she would be left alone with the few hours they shared together.

"They make me feel like shit! I don't need them!" Delilah yelled through the door, not caring for what her mother had to say since it was all the same every time she went through one of these 'episodes' as her mother liked to call them. "It's not like they do shit!" She yells out again once the banging on the door grew louder.

"We've been through this same routine before Delilah, open the fucking door and take your meds before I force them down your throat," Raina yells, slamming her hand against the door one last time before she goes silent, expecting Delilah to walk straight out just as she had asked.

But Delilah never did what her mother wanted to. "Go fuck yourself you old whiny bitch." Delilah spits out, banging her head back against the door repeatedly, not caring for the pain that shoots through her skull as everything begins to feel numb like it has so many times before.

"Fine! But you're asking for this you insolent child!" Raina says in finalisation before she's storming away from the door and giving Delilah what she had been trying to archive peace.

It didn't last long though. It never lasted long.

Something hash was shoved against the door, the loud bang rattling through Delilah's bones as she sat up, lightly crawling away from the door as slight fear rose up in her chest, not initially prepared for the violent shake of the door. But it didn't stop there as a second hit followed straight after, blustering its way through the door as the end of some wooden stick came through the bathroom door.

"What the fuck?" Delilah yelled out, staring in horror at the door as the wooden stick was lodged out of the door, only for it to come smashing back through it seconds later, damaging the door more as the crack it had created only grew, chunks of wood dropping from the door. "Your crazy!" Delilah said, backing up as far as she could in the small bathroom as an arm fit through the hole that Raina created, grabbing onto the handle and undoing the lock before pulling her arm out and pushing the door open.

"I said you had to take your medicine, I'm not wasting all this money on pills just for you to never take a single one of them," Raina said, seething with a barely concealed answer as she held one of Delilah's prescription bottles in her hand.

Delilah's eyes darted down to the bottle, watching as Raina unscrewed the lid and emptied two into her hand, clutching it into a fist as she walked towards her daughter. "Screw you," Delilah said, holding her head up high as she prepared herself for whatever her mother was about to do.

Raina barely wasted a second before she was charging forward, reaching her free hand out as she shoved Delilah back, pressing her harshly against the wall. Of course, Delilah tried to fight her way out. Twisting and turning to try and loosen the grip her mother had on her.

Throwing both her arms up, Delilah tried to shove the woman off of her but Raina just shoved her back into the wall harder, winding her as she tries to take a gasp of breath. Raina used this time to shove the two pills into Delilah's mouth, grabbing her jaw and pushing her head up so she would swallow them.

When Delilah tried to spit the pills out, Raina grabbed one of the cups on the side of the sink, filling it up with water quickly before pouring it down Delilah's throat, pressing down hard on her nose so she could breathe until she swallowed the water—and pills—so she could take a much need breath of air.

Once that was done, Raina let go of her daughter, letting her collapse in on herself and fall to the floor as she continued to struggle to breathe. "I told you you needed to take those pills. I was only helping you." Raina said, justifying her actions as she dusted her hands off quickly, crouching down in front of her daughter and grabbing onto her face. "Don't try and make me the bad guy."

Delilah was vibrating with anger, shaking where she sat as her mother laid her hands on her. She felt like she was going to be sick as her mother patted her cheek and stood. "You're going to burn in hell," Delilah whispered to herself, watching as her mother walked out of the destroyed door.

"What was that honey?" Raina asked, looking over her shoulder and down at the girl, hearing the muttered slurs but not quite making out what she had said. Raina looked down at her daughter like their whole interaction had never occurred and that this was a completely normal thing for a mother and daughter to go through.

Staring up at her mother definitely, Delilah pushes herself up, storming past the destroyed bathroom door and shoving her way past her mother. "Burn in hell!" She yells, slamming her bedroom door behind herself, not caring if this act broke the fragile calm Raina found herself resting in.

But alas, no one came barging through her door for a while, leaving her to sit in her room, blaring music as loud as she could to drown out any thoughts as she sat on the floor next to her record player, listening to whatever song was spun without a single care in the world for what was actually playing.

It felt like hours that this went on, going through multiple records as Delilah sat on the floor, completely detached from the reality she found herself in as she willed her mother to leave the house and disappear off to work, or some outing with friends, or where ever the fuck she found herself these days.

Reality felt detached and the music flooded her ears, spinning her head round and round like the vinyl on her record player. Music twined in and out of her ears as eventually the words disappeared and only the soft beats were left behind, the brash beats were left behind. Until nothing was left behind.

"I need to go to the store Delilah, would you come with me?" Raina asked, peeking her head through Delilah's door, looking to Delilah's bed, startled to find her not there and instead on the floor by her desk. "What are you doing down there wasting away? Come on, get up. Maybe this outing will help you."

A small sniffle lefts Delilah's nose as she rose from her spot on the floor, making sure to turn off her record player before she followed after her mother, knowing if she denied the woman it would be blown up into a huge fight. Maybe not as harsh as what had just happened, but still something nowhere near as pleasant.

Walking out of her room and down the stairs, Delilah faces her mother as she loads things into her bag, not paying too much attention to Delilah as she get ready to leave the house. Instead of waiting for her mother, Delilah opens the front door and leaves the house, waiting by the passenger side of their car.

It didn't take long for Raina to come out of her house, catching Delilah swinging on her feet as she waited by the vehicle. Clicking the car keys, the doors quickly got unlocked and Delilah wasted no time getting into the car, staring out the window as she puts her seatbelt on. Raina gets in shortly after, doing the same before she drives out of their driveway and finally gets onto the street.

"You could try being in a good mood for once in your life," Raina said, looking briefly at Delilah before she turns around a corner, going onto a street Delilah hadn't come across before.

"Maybe if my life wasn't thrown in a gutter, I'd be a better person to be around," Delilah said annoyed, refusing to look away from her window as they drove past.

Raina's hands tightened around the steering wheel, her foot being pressed down harshly on the pedal as the car begins to pick up speed. There weren't any cars out on the street just yet, but there was a boy riding a bike not too far up. "Mum, slow down." Delilah quickly said, her nails digging into the leather of her seat.

"I'm trying very hard to make this work, but if you're going to continue to be a little bitch and complain about everything in life, we're going to have some problems," Raina spoke lowly, her eyebrows furrowed as she continued to hurtle down the street, only speeding up with every second that Delilah didn't answer her.

"Okay, whatever. Just slow the fuck down." Delilah spoke louder, looking at her mother before she looks forward in horror as they near the boy riding his bike. The boy had turned to look at the car, his face morphing with fear as he quickly tries to cycle to one side of the road, leaving plenty on the other side for the car.

With a quick swerve, Raina manoeuvres the car around the boy before she is speeding down the road once again, not as fast as before for some reason, maybe because Delilah had said what she said. Craning her head back, Delilah tries to look back at the cycler, to see if they were okay after nearly getting hit by Raina's maniac driving.

When she saw the boy looking back at her with a wheezing chest, Delilah whirled back on her mother. "You nearly just hit that boy!" She yelled at her, pressing herself as far away from the older woman as possible in the small space between them.

"He'll live. We didn't even scratch him." Raina dismissed, taking a sharp turn around a corner.

"We?" Delilah questions in disbelief, staring at her mother with her jaw slightly slack. "I didn't do anything! It was all you, you crazy bitch!" Delilah sneered, staring over at her mother in disgust.

"Don't talk to me like that," Raina said, growing more frustrated.

Delilah should have learnt by now not to say anything. Should have learnt by now that nothing good ever came when she opened her mouth to respond to her mother. Whenever she tried to defend herself or set the slate clear.

So instead of trying to respond, she sat in silence, letting Raina drive in silence until they arrived at the grocery store, her words left hanging in the air.

The rest of the car drive felt tense as they both sat there, not saying a word. Delilah was still pressed as far away from her mother as humanly possible, staring straight forward out the window as she watched the road. Her grip on the chair still hadn't loosened. Raina calmed down as the seconds ticked by her mood lifting largely as she relaxed into her seat.

Raina parked swiftly into one of the parking spots, killing her car's engine quickly before she is getting out of the car, waiting patiently for Delilah to follow. Delilah moved much slower, purposely drawing out all her movements like she always did, trying to silently inconvenience her mother.

When the car doors were locked, Raina led the two of them into the store where she grabbed a shopping trolly and a basket, handing the basket to Delilah so she could send her off on her own to get groceries.

"Can you go off and get some milk, butter and cheese? You know the brands we use it shouldn't be too hard to spot them." Raina said, turning to her daughter as she hands the basket over, pointing vaguely to the back of the store where most of the freezers are kept.

"Sure," Delilah muttered as she walked off, walking down different aisles randomly whenever she spotted something she liked, making a mental note to come back here one day either by herself or if she was able to force Bruce to come along with her so she could get it.

When she did finally reach the correct aisle, it took her a minute to locate the different kinds of milk, them being hidden at the very edge of the store. Walking up to the different types, her hand loosely grips the door's handle, leaving it shut until she found the correct brand.

Pulling open the door when she did find it, Delilah reached in to grab it, a very similar feeling washing over her body. A feeling she had somehow come accustomed to. Looking to the left, she saw a man turn to face her. The same man that she had seen the second time she and Bruce had hung out.

"Hi?" Delilah asked once the man didn't look away, instead openly watching Delilah now that she had noticed him.

"Hi." He said, tilting his head to the side as he studied the girl. The man took a hesitant step forward, nearly backing up as Delilah's eyes tracked the moment, not letting the man out of her sight. "I know you."

"No, you don't," Delilah said, pulling the milk quickly from the fridge and placing it in her basket before slamming the fridge door, staring at the man with a scowl.  The man's own eyes watched the moment, staring in complete wonder at what Delilah was doing. "We've never met. You are my neighbour though." She corrected him.

The man stares at her, his face scarily blank as Delilah harshly spoke to him. "Yes." He said slowly, nodding his head at her words. "I saw you the other day."

"Yeah, and it was fucking creepy having you watch me and my friend from across the lawn." Delilah spat, glaring at the taller man as she felt bile rise up her throat. She didn't care if she came off as rude or aggressive, or what the man could do if she upset him. Her mother had ruined her day enough that she couldn't give a shit what this fucker would do if anything at all.

The man didn't seem to care for Delilah's words as he moved slightly closer to her. The thought of taking a step back crossed Delilah's mind but instead of doing that, instead of giving him the satisfaction of showing him that he scared her, Delilah rose her chin, choosing to take the man head on as her eyes became cold, colder then they were before.

"I'm Albert." The man said instead, offering his free hand to Delilah with a crooked smile.

That's when Delilah's fight-or-flight instincts kicked in.

She stared at the hand in front of her, her hackles raised as she moved her shopping basket in front of her, acting as a small barrier as she studied Alberts's hand. She didn't know if she could trust this man, everything about him raised alarms in Delilah's head but despite herself, she saw herself reaching her hand forward and latching onto his.

"Delilah." She said sceptically, making sure to keep her voice level as they shook hands.

His hands were stark cold, sending chills up Delilah's spine as he gripped her hand harshly. It wasn't like his hold hurt, it was just a shock at how fierce he held onto her, his fingers lightly digging into her skin.

"It's nice to meet you, Delilah," Albert said with a grin, his head bowed a little as he looked down at her. "I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself to you and your family sooner. I've just found myself so busy with getting my house renovated." He explained with a wary grin like Delilah was the creepy one in this situation and not him.

"What did you have changed?" Delilah brought herself to ask, pulling her hand away from Albert as he continued to latch onto it. Maybe it was a subconscious mistake of his that he had grabbed onto Delilah for so long as he wiped his hand on his wool sweater once Delilah had freed herself.

Albert's face dropped in a second as everything about his deminer changed. For the first time since she had started speaking to Albert, Delilah genuinely felt worried about what would happen next as a deep frown pulled at Alberts's lips, his face twisting as the aura around him turned dark.

He seemed to no longer be shrunk in on himself, taking up more space around himself that Delilah didn't realise he could. He also looked to be taller now, his head no longer bowed as he stared down at her. "What's that to you?" He asked, his voice dropping as it came out deeper than his previous words.

Delilah's mind blanked quickly as she took in his tone, her immediate instinct to say something back that would make the man think again, would make him drop the sudden offence he had taken on and either yell at her, go back to how he was moments before or to end the conversation with her completely.

"Sorry," Albert said after a few seconds of silence on Delilah's part, her brain working overtime as she tried to think of something to say or how she wanted to say it. But now she didn't have to as Albert visibly calmed down, staring at Delilah the same as he had when he first started talking to her. "I don't know what came over me."

"Okay," Delilah muttered, slowly nodding her head as she only felt confused now. Albert's behaviour was rash, something she couldn't really figure out as every word that left his mouth made Delilah unsure of herself.

"I had the basement redone." He said, looking far too proud of himself for something like that. "It didn't fit the needs I have been wanting for it, so I had to redo a lot of it. Even soundproofed it myself." He lifted his chin at his words, his eery smile coming back as he explained it to Delilah.

"That's good." She said shortly after. Delilah tried not to press more, not wanting another outburst from the man in front of her. "Have you lived in Denver long?" She tried to switch the subject, hoping not to offend Albert again.

He didn't seem to mind the sudden change in conversation, taking it on with a stride. "I've lived here since I was a boy. The same house as well."

"Cool." Delilah broke off, not sure where to take the rest of this.

Albert seemed to sense her halt, quickly spewing something out. "You know, I do magic as a side job. Have some real fun with it too."

"Really?" She asked, kind of taken aback by the new knowledge as she hadn't taken Albert to be the type of guy to perform magic. Or even to enjoy the art of it.

"Yeah, I'll have to show you sometime." He sounded excited to share this with Delilah. It slightly made Delilah more comfortable with her neighbour. She had never known someone to perform magic, so meeting a magician and getting to see an act could be fun someday.

"That would be nice." She grinned up at the man, lowering her basket from in front of her back to her side.

Albert watched as she did this, staring at the movement intently. "You must be busy. I'll let you get back to your shopping." He said abruptly, sending Delilah one more grin before he turned and walked back down the aisle, disappearing off to somewhere.

The whole interaction left Delilah confused. Left her reeling as she looked around the aisle and noticed no one else taking it up. It was like they had been sealed off from the rest of the store. From the rest of humanity as they spoke to one another, finally putting a name to the face she had caught watching her and Bruce, and putting the feeling at bay.

Looking down at her basket, she looked at the milk, a reminder of what she had to fetch before returning back to her mother.

Continuing back down the aisle, she found the fridge that held all the butter, the one with the cheese right next to it as she scanned the selections through the glass, only opening the door when she found the one she wanted, repeating this all when it came to the butter.

With all three of the cold items in her basket—the milk having warmed down a bit until it was room temperature—Delilah made her way back to her mother, searching for her through the different aisles as she passed them.

When she didn't spot her mum in any of those, she made her way to the checkout stations, seeing her mother offloading all her items onto one of the conveyor belts while a worker started to scan them. Had she really been gone that long? Had Albert really taken up that much of her time?

Walking up to her mother's trolly, she places the basket in the trolly before picking up the three different items and putting them on the conveyor belt.

"You sure took your time," Raina said once she noticed it was Delilah standing next to her and not some stranger that would be waiting in line.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to. They just had a few different options that looked similar so I wanted to make sure I got the right one. Then I couldn't find you afterwards and went on a store-wide search." Delilah ranted slightly, pleading her case as best she could while trying to cover up for her conversation with Albert. Even though he was their neighbour, Raina would probably be opposed to her talking to him when they hadn't met just yet.

Raina stayed silent for a few seconds, her eyes glancing over at Delilah as she paused her ruffling through her wallet. Delilah can definitely see the disbelief in her eyes but internally lets out a sigh when her mother doesn't press any further, instead pulling out a few bills and handing them over to the worker once they had finished scanning all of their soon-to-be groceries and had put the final price up on display.

"Put the trolly and basket away then come find me at the car." Raina decided as she started to collect the shopping bags. "And take these with you." She said after offloading a few bags back into the trolly.

"Okay," Delilah said as she began to push the trolly towards the basket station, choosing to get rid of that first before she would put the trolly away.

After getting rid of the basket and putting the trolly away, the shopping bags now in her hands, Delilah makes her way out of the store with the paper bags clutched tightly in her hands. As she walked through the late afternoon parking lot, a certain black van caught her attention as a familiar person stood behind it, dropping some groceries off into the back.

Delilah couldn't tell if she was glad to see the man or if she wanted to walk past it without drawing any attention to herself. But as she walked past, her eyes glued to the van and its driver, Albert turned and saw the girl quickly, a grin spreading itself across his face.

Instead of saying anything, he rose one of his hands, a white handkerchief quickly following with the other. He spread it out across a closed fist, the action confusing Delilah a lot as she stared intently at the covered fist.

After a few seconds, Albert pulled the handkerchief away with a large arch of his hand, a rose standing in its place as he held it up to the sky, showing it off to the world. A small smile graced Delilah's face as she saw the illusion, not quite sure yet where he had hidden the rose, but impressed nonetheless.

Albert offered it over to Delilah, ready to walk over to her to hand the red flower over when a loud horn cut through the air. Turning to face the sound, Delilah spotted her mother sitting impatiently in her car, watching Delilah like a hawk as she cradled their groceries in her arms.

Delilah quickly started walking towards her mother, ready to get in the car and drive home. She didn't turn back as she made her way over to her mother, not catching the annoyed look from Albert that was aimed at a tired Raina.

‧͙ ⁺˚* ･ ༓ ☾ 　　 ☽ ༓ ･ *˚⁺ ‧͙

A/N

I know this is a shorter chapter but the next few chapters are much more light-hearted, and maybe a bit longer than expected.