⋘ 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦... ⋙

Lacuna
|noun|
A blank space; a missing part.

          It was late when Delilah decided to leave the house. Well past midnight, nearing the early mornings after a night where she had gotten no sleep, instead laying in her bed, twisting and turning like there would be no tomorrow.

She had sat up in her bed and stared out her window for what felt like hours, the idea of climbing out and going for a walk plaguing her mind for many nights before now, but she never had the will to go through with the idea. That was until now of course.

Throwing her covers off her body for the last time, she walks over to her closet, silently going through it until she found a hoodie that would keep her warm throughout the night. Pulling it over her head, she decides at that moment that her flannel pants will have to do since she didn't feel like getting into jeans at this time of night. Sliding on a pair of socks before quickly putting on a pair of white shoes, Delilah stalks her way over to one of the windows that face the road.

Pausing in front of it, she listens closely throughout the rest of the house. Not a sound could be heard, not even a distant creak as she waited for any sign that this could be a terrible idea and it would all go to shit. But when the house was eerily silent for over a minute, Delilah took it as a go-ahead.

Pulling the window up, she keeps pushing until there is a large enough gap to fit her body through. Once that had been accomplished, she climbed out the window, steadying herself on the tiles before pushing the window back down slightly, leaving a small gap so she would be able to reopen it once she returned in a bit.

Moving across the rooftop, Delilah walked to the edge, very slowly peeking over to see how big the drop was even though she had gone through this process once before. It wasn't so large that she would break something or die, but if she fell wrong, Delilah was expecting to feel the sting of this night for a while.

"Come on Delilah, you've faced worse," Delilah said, slowly hyping herself up for the drop as she lowered herself down, getting ready to slip off the side and land on her feet. Taking one deep breath, she slides forward, letting herself fall to the ground quickly. "I definitely have not faced worse." Delilah whisper-shouts to herself as she braces for landing, feeling much better about the activity when she had Bruce by her side.

Her feet come in contact with the ground quickly, sending her doubling over as vibrations go shooting up her legs. "Ow." She drawls out, curling up into a small ball as she lies on the floor. "I should just stay here and accept my fate." She says to herself, letting her body relax as she lies on the grass that stood out in front of her house.

"No! I must go on." Delilah whispers, pushing herself up onto her feet once the vibrations had stopped and her legs didn't feel like they were going to fall off anymore.

Jumping up, Delilah places her hands on her hips, staring forward into the dark night. She hadn't thought this far ahead. "Where to, where to..." She muttered to herself, taking quiet steps forward.

Once she reached the pavement, she looked to the left, staring at the dark abyss as there seemed to be no working street lights that way. The house next to hers seemed eerie in the dark, standing too short as not a motion came from it.

Turning the other way, Delilah quickly walked in the opposite direction. She could never stand to be near that house. It always sent chills down her spine and made her head spin, even if she knew who lived there. So the next best option was to get as far away from it as possible before the sun rose.

The further she walked, the dawning of how much of a bad idea this was hit her as she strode in the complete darkness. But she had come too far now to just turn back and go home... no that was still a possibility.

Soon, a park started to appear. Two swings, a slide, a seesaw and a monkey bar, surrounded by dirt. It wasn't much, but Delilah found herself speed-walking towards it.

"Next time I do this, I need to come up with a game plan or I'm going to be wandering around at night like this again," Delilah mutters to herself, kicking a stray pebble in front of her before a low creak caught her attention.

Snapping her head to the side, a small park stood in the dark, the wind rattling the swings as it knocked them back and forth slightly. Delilah's brows furrowed as a small frown took over her face.

"There is most definitely going to be someone hiding in the bushes waiting to stab me." She mumbled, standing dead still as she watched the park, searching for any movement—any at all. But when none came, she whispered, "Fuck it."

Stepping off of the sidewalk and into some long patches of grass, Delilah walks towards the small park. In her mind, she could think of hundreds of things that could go wrong, like some killer waiting in the bushes to kill her or creeps lurching around the corner, but she was so bored and had been kept sleeplessly awake for many nights that she would just have to deal with the risk.

Walking through the park slowly, she passed this roundabout thing that spins. Hopping onto it carefully, she kicks it off the ground, sending it spiralling quickly as she zips round and round. The wind kept hitting against her face as her hair gets blown into the air around her head.

But Delilah doesn't stay on it long because as soon as she slows down she is stepping off and walking to the next set of equipment. Two lone swings stood isolated from the rest of the park, so, naturally, Delilah was drawn towards them.

Taking a seat on one of the swings, she kicks herself back harshly, letting the swing fall and carry her weight as she is propelled back and forth a number of times before the swing begins to slow down once more. Once she grew bored of the wind smacking against her face and sitting in silence, the only noise being the squeaks from the chains that connected the swing seat.

But that silence was interrupted by a large rustling not too far away from the swings. Delilah couldn't see past the pitch black of night, whatever was making that noise being shielded by it. The rustling didn't stop, however, only growing louder and closer. No way in hell was Delilah about to call out to the noise, instead, she was getting ready to run as fast and as far as she could at even the smallest glance of movement.

But when a small head of blonde curly hair peaked through the darkness, the fear inside of Delilah died down instantly.

Vance momentarily froze after he surveyed the park, checking to see if there was anyone there, stopping once he spotted Delilah. "Why the fuck are you out here?" The boy asked as he climbed out of the bushes,

"Going for a midnight stroll?" Delilah offered, shrugging her shoulders helplessly as she looked over at the blonde.

He took her words in carefully, still very cautious as he walked slowly towards her with his shoulders tensed and arms slightly flexed, trying to ward off any miss-intent from the girl—even though she didn't think she would be able to do much. "Yeah right. You hang out with Golden Boy Bruce Yamada. What makes you think I'd believe you sneak out at night?"

"What can I say? I must be going through a rebellious phase." Delilah muttered as she slowly kicked herself back and forth on the swing once again, this time not going as high as before.

"And why's that?" Vance asked, staring over at Delilah with a small grin, trying to hide it by turning his head away and shielding his face with his curly blonde hair.

Delilah pretended to think about it, throwing her hand up to tap her chin gently. "I'm not sure. It might have been Bruce who made me like this when he forced me to jump out of my window and run away for a day." She said with a grin, offering it towards Vance.

Vance stared at her oddly before letting out a soft huff and walking over to her, sitting on the swing next to hers and pushing back slightly, letting it swing just like hers. He sat there silently for a few seconds, staring at Delilah from the corner of his eye before he decided to speak. "You were there at the Grab n Go the other day."

"Yeah, what about it?" Delilah asks, not really looking over at Vance as she sagged in her seat, continuing to push the swing back and forth as the chilly air blew through her hair and smacked across her face.

This reaction got a small rise out of Vance as he turned to face her more, his face scrunching together. "What? Do I not scare you? Has no one warned you to stay away from me? Has no one told you of what I've done? What I'm capable of?" He asks in a small angered frenzy, the movements of his swing coming to a dead halt.

Delilah copied his action, slowly her swing down by dragging her white shoes across the ground. "I've heard a few rumours." She states, looking up at the blonde boy for a few seconds, squinting her eyes as she studies him, taking him to his fullest. "But you don't scare me, Vance. And I don't think anything you do will ever make me afraid of you."

Vance's frown slowly deepens as he turns his head away, looking in front of him once more as he stares into the dark abyss. He was turning Delilah's words over in his mind, looking for lies or hidden meanings that she was able to shuffle behind her words. "Are you on something?" He settles on asking instead of accepting it.

"The opposite actually. Was able to get out of taking my pills today. You know, the whole pretend to swallow then flush 'em act." Delilah says, shrugging her shoulders as she leans back, pushing the swing higher as she kicks her legs back.

That answer didn't settle that much better with Vance, but other than the fact the girl was out at 2 am and was spending this time in some creepy park—which he was also doing—there didn't seem to be anything off about her. He would even go as far as to say she was acting the same as she was when he first met her while he was playing pinball at the Grab n Go.

"I don't know why I'm telling you that," Delilah spoke up when Vance didn't respond to her current statement.

Her words effectively brought the blonde out of his thoughts, bringing his attention back to Delilah as she slowed down her swing once more by dragging her shoes across the cement floor.

"I can do that sometimes. Overshare when I don't know the other person at all. Or when the other person doesn't like me." Delilah trailed off, staring at the ground for a few seconds before she glares at the floor. "Like now. I'm rambling."

Vance realises pretty quickly that she's mad at herself and not him. And he realises pretty quickly the assumptions she had made about Vance's opinion about herself. It made him glower at the floor as well, that she was making the wrong kind of assumptions about him. Vance didn't know why it was ticking him off that she didn't immediately think that Vance was going to jump her but instead that he didn't fucking like her. He didn't even know her, why wouldn't he like her?

"Look, I don't care about any of that. Shit- that makes me sound like a dick. Delilah-" Vance tries to spit out, growing frustrated with himself as he can't seem to find the right words. Everything that he says comes out wrong, the right intentions falling behind the shitty words.

"How do you know my name?" Delilah cut him off, looking away from the floor as her face falls blank, waiting for Vance's answer. "Have you been asking about me?"

And Vance didn't know what to say to that because obviously, he had asked about the girl. Literally, no one in Denver has the guts to walk up to him and comment about his pinball skills. And if they did, Vance would probably yell at them for the thought alone. But here, out of the blue, this girl he had never seen before just gives him a pointer on how to be better. Who does that?

"You totally did, didn't you?" Delilah says upon Vance's silence, a soft smile gracing her face as she rests her cheek against the metal chain holding her seat up to the bar above their heads. The chain pushed against her skin harshly as she lent fully into it, slightly digging into her flesh as she watched the blonde with a newfound joy. "The Vance Hopper—Pinball Vance—has been asking around about me?"

"I had to find out what fucker was dumb enough to talk to me. Don't let it get to your head." Vance huffed, staring down at Delilah with a glare, however, the girl only continued to grin up at Vance, none of his heated stares doing anything to deter her mood.

"That's so sweet." She determined, not bothered by any of his comments. "Who'd you have to talk to? It's not like I know anyone here. Just Bruce and Gwen Blake." Delilah asked, genuinely intrigued about what lengths Vance had to go to even to get a smidgen of information about her.

Vance thought about not telling her. Just outright refusing to share a single detail about the topic, but he knew she would only press. And if he was able to find out who she was in a day or so, she could probably find out who he had talked to do so.

"Gwen Blake runs her mouth a lot. Tells Bruce's sister everything-"

Vance was yet again cut off by Delilah. This was starting to become a bad habit of hers. "Bruce has a sister?" She asked quickly, her jaw slack as the news sent a shock through her body as she had never realised the boy had a sibling of any sort.

"Yes, now let me finish," Vance says with a small eye roll, for some odd reason not actually being that annoyed by being interrupted but deciding to play it up anyway. "It wasn't that long until Gwen was bragging about you to some of her friends, stating how she had met the new girl before anyone else and how you were cool or some shit. Of course, Amy decided to object to that and say Bruce was closer friends to her."

"Gwen thinks I'm cool?" Delilah asks, seeming to be one of the only things she had gotten from Vance when another question quickly follows the first. "Bruce's sister's name is Amy?"

"You seem to pick up all the wrong things whenever I speak," Vance stated, readjusting himself in his seat—swing—as he glares lightly at Delilah.

"You seem to like gossiping about me." Delilah shot back quickly, sending her own glare Vance's way even though a smile threatened to break across her face. "Eavesdropping isn't very nice." She scolded jokingly, staring over at Vance with a grin plastered on her face, a laugh ready to ripple through her throat. Maybe the sleep deprivation had started to catch up to her.

"You not very nice," Vance said with a small frown that was bordering a pout. "Gwen said you were nice. Am I getting some sort of special treatment?" He asked, sending some sort of wry smile Delilah's way.

Delilah didn't answer, just stared at Vance with some distant look in her eyes before she stood from her swing, a small indent left on her cheek from where she had been leaning on the metal chain. "Let's go do something." She says instead of answering Vance. "I'm guessing we both didn't come out here to just sit down. We could have stayed in our rooms if we wanted to do that."

"And what do you suggest we do genius?" Vance asked with his brows raised, even as he stood from his own swing and walked over to Delilah so they were standing next to each other.

Delilah was only now realising that Vance wasn't that much taller than her. He still had a good half a head on her, but he was probably the same height as Bruce, maybe shorter even. He just held a lot of muscle on his body so it made him appear taller than he actually was.

"Why don't we just walk?" She asked plainly, looking around herself briefly. "We could go in the direction of your house if you wanted." She offers.

"What makes you think I want to go anywhere with you?" Vance sharply asks, his voice cutting through the air like a knife as they do the same with Delilah's hopes, plunging straight into it.

She lets out a soft "Oh." A frown crosses her face as she slumps her shoulders forward and readies herself to take a step back and away from Vance when a heavy hand lands on her shoulder.

"I was kidding, Jeez." Vance rolls his eyes before he is pulling Delilah forward and back to his side so they can walk next to each other on the footpath. "Which way do you live? We'll go that way instead." He counters as he looks in the different directions the path takes them.

Looking up at him for a few seconds, Delilah points in the direction she had originally come from. The street was barely lit by the street lamps looming over them.

Vance turns his head to face the same direction before he gives one nod of affirmation. "We live in the same direction then." He states as he starts walking, using his hand to guide Delilah alongside him.

"Why'd you come out of a bush on the other side of a park then?" Delilah asks, following after Vance with quick steps since his strides were larger than hers.

"'Cause I was doing shit in that direction. Why does it matter?" Vance asked slightly defensive as he looks over at Delilah, a frown settling onto his face even though he tried to get rid of it, to loosen his features so he didn't seem so annoyed all the time.

"Because it's weird," Delilah says in the same tone, deciding at that moment that if Vance was going to continue to have mood swings with her, she'd play the same game and get just as aggressive.

It probably was a shitty thing to do. Scratch that, it was definitely a shitty thing to do to someone you were trying to be friends with. Or someone who was putting the effort into being your friend. But Delilah knew if she didn't speak up now and react in some way to his rude changing behaviour, it would either get worse in the future or just continue to happen.

Vance went silent again at her words. He looked ready to say something back in response but he bit his tongue. He could see that she was copying his actions and not choosing to act like this just for the fun of it. "I was just going for a walk. I have trouble sleeping at night so I walk around. That's a go-to spot where I came from earlier." He explained, pushing the two of them forward down the street.

"Do you do this often?" Delilah asked, her voice returning to what it had been prior, much more calm and easygoing. Vance had removed his hand from her shoulder now, leaving her to follow after him as his pace seemed to change every once in a while.

"A few times a week." Vance supplied, ending the conversation then and there instead of dragging it on like Delilah was currently doing. "So you said Bruce made you jump out of a window?" He asked instead, a wry smirk on his face as he turns to look at Delilah, waiting to gauge her reaction.

Delilah's whole expression must have morphed about fifty times before it settles into a grimace. "Yup, he forced me—against my will—to jump out of my second-story window and then to climb on top of another building." She said as if she was ranting, throwing her hands around as she recalled her first interactions with the other boy. "And we call him Golden Boy."

"He definitely has a bad bone in him. Who would have thought?" Vance mutters to himself, grinning at the implication for some odd reason that Delilah couldn't figure out, so instead, she just let the boy be. If he wanted to grin at the thought of Bruce jumping out the windows, she'd let him.

"I wonder what the time is?" Delilah spoke aloud as she looked up at the moon peaking through some clouds. Could you tell the time with the moon the same way you could with the sun? Not like Delilah could do that anyway. But she did know you could tell the day based on the moon. Or was it the month? No, the stars were the month and the moon was the days, she was right.

"Probably two or three. The latest I stay out till is four so I've gotten pretty good at measuring the time I've been out." Vance justified, looking around where they currently were.

Delilah realised that they weren't too far away from her house, so wherever Vance lived must have been only a block or so away from her own home. "What time did you leave?"

"Eleven. My mum goes to bed pretty early so I don't need to worry about waiting until she's asleep. Then my dad is not home tonight." Vance said, becoming a lot more aware of their surroundings for some reason as they walked down the street.

Thinking it was a good idea to do the same thing, Delilah made sure to keep an eye out for any movement or noise that seemed out of the ordinary. "That's lucky. My mum is like a crazy woman. I don't know if she was even properly asleep when I left, but I couldn't spend another second in my room."

"And your dad?" Vance asks slowly, feeling as if he was stepping into uneasy territory with the question.

"Never met him, or maybe I did but I don't remember him. I don't really care that much since it's not like he's had a big impact on my life." Delilah explained, deciding that there was no point in keeping it to herself when the man never had an effect on her and never would. It's not like it was some big secret that she was trying to keep under wraps and away from all her friends.

"Do you have a lighter?" Delilah asked Vance out of the blue a few seconds later, not waiting for a response on what she had just said as she threw their previous conversation to the wind as she spotted a dandelion poking out of some grass.

Vance watched the girl as she picked the weed from the ground. "Yeah, why?" He questions as he digs through his pockets, handing the item to the girl once he found it without waiting to receive her answer.

Without so much as a word, Delilah lights the flame and brings the dandelion down to it, watching as the stem and the white buds lit ablaze, burning out quickly before he settled to just a green stem. "Because they don't burn for very long." She grinned before tossing the lighter back over at Vance.

"You're a strange one," Vance spoke up, pocketing his lighter quickly. "But your not that bad." He admitted lowly, his voice coming out scratchy as his eyes jumped away, not making eye contact with Delilah.

"Thank you?" Delilah questioned slowly, unsure of what she was meant to say.

"There are some total creeps that like to hang out at night Delilah. Be careful." Vance warned Delilah randomly as he broke off from her side, crossing the road carelessly as there were no cars out so he could get to the other side and over to what she presumed was his house where he would sneak through the window to get back inside, hoping to not wake his mother up as she didn't know he was out at this time of night. Or at least she pretended she didn't know.

Delilah looked over at Vance with a raised eyebrow. Was he worried about her? "Of course Vance, wouldn't want to get kidnapped and leave you all alone in this big world."

‧͙ ⁺˚* ･ ༓ ☾ 　　 ☽ ༓ ･ *˚⁺ ‧͙

A/N

I think I got the stuff about the stars and moon right but I might be wrong since I was doing it based off memory and wasn't bothered to look it up.

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I just wasn't bothered to edit this chapter in advance and then at the end of the day I was too tired to really do anything so it's going up now which is pretty early in the morning.