Tell no one

Delilah was a rugged-looking girl. The hot sun and traveling many miles by foot through an uncharted wood can do that to ya. The only possession she had was a tattered brown satchel and the clothes on her back. That bag had only the things she could quickly grab before leaving home. A small bottle of alcohol in case of injury, a kitchen knife smeared in blood, and a nearly empty bottle of water. There may have been a few coins as well, but they were useless in the dense forest. A few coins would not be enough to buy salvation.

With little rest, she had been running through the night as the sounds of the hounds were closing in. The sun was coming up though, allowing her to see better. Even with a day advantage, Delilah was falling behind. Being young and spry did nothing because her legs were not used to being chased. The girl could not stop though, less she wanted to be caught. Mauled by police dogs and thrown in prison for her crimes. 

The murder of her family. 

Her capture would surely be her demise as the police would peg her for every blood splatter in that old house. They wouldn't be wrong. Still, she would much rather her freedom than being in the slammer. 

The fear and adrenaline were wearing off. Delilah noticed her energy fading as her feet became heavy and the tips of her shoes caught on rocks, roots, or vines. "Keep goin’." She growled to herself. Self-encouragement only worked for a few moments more because soon Delilah was flying through the air. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable impact with the ground, but it never came. At first, she was disoriented as her vision adjusted to the world upside down. Delilah had stepped in a trapping loop and was hanging from a tree, her ankle encircled by a rope. She grimaced at the pain from the pressure of the rope and her weight. "I'll just cut myself free." She reassured herself, knowing she was not able to conjure up any energy to do otherwise. 

Delilah reached for her satchel but it was not there. Scouring her body and the ground, it appeared the bag had been flung off when she had been flipped. "Damn." She said silently to herself as she stared at the brown leather that sat just below her as if teasing her to try and retrieve it. With a reach of a hand and many grunts of effort, the handle of the bag did a small dance but came no closer. Dirty blonde hair dejectedly hung around her face. It was already matted with sweat, leaves, and twigs, and a dark red substance. Blood. An unknowing person would think that the blood was her own, but it was not. That blood belonged to her younger sister. She had fought back the hardest. She had also been the one that alerted the police. 

~~ A day ago

"Can I tell you somethin'?" That's how it started. Delilah opening’ her big trap.

...

"Watch this." She had done a simple trick, making a feather float in the air, and her sister had been shocked, maybe even scared. Delilah mistook it for amazement. 

...

"How long you been doin’ that? How much can ya do?" Delilah perceived those questions as excitement, not investigative or malicious. 

~~

"Look like yer in a pickle there." A masculine voice called out

Delilah cautiously swung around to see the speaker. It was an older man, probably closer to the age of her father. He appeared to be non-threatening and definitely not a part of the police unit on the search for her. "Would appear so." She replied after scrutinizing the man with her eyes. "This yer trap here sir? Mind helping me out?" The blood rushing to her head was giving her a headache. 

"Sure. Mind if I ask what yer doing in my trap in the first place?" He pulled out his own knife but briefly paused to make sure Delilah did not have a weapon. 

"I won't hurtcha, you can check my satchel there to see my only weapon," Delilah claimed, seeing suspicion in the man's eyes. She really was no harm now, the energy she would need to muster for an attack was long gone. He did just as she said and fished through her bag, pulling out the bloodied kitchen knife, examining it carefully before pocketing it.

The hounds started calling again. It would seem they had caught her scent once more and were hot on the trail. "Sir, would ya please cut me down. I seemed to have caught the attention of some hounds and they have been chasin' me for quite some time." 

He also appeared alerted by the dogs and with swift action, stood and cut the rope. Letting Delilah fall heavily on the ground with a yelp. "Not gentle, I see." She remarked, rolling over and loosening the rope from her ankle. The joint was swollen and tender. 

"Hurry, get up."  He seemed urgent to leave and doused a sweaty handkerchief in musk of some sort from his trouser pocket, swiping it across her neck and arms "This will help with yer smell.”

“What is that?” Delilah gagged, sure she would rather be attacked by dogs than be smeared by that stuff “And, why ya so concerned with them dogs smellin’ me?”

“Well, yer tryna loos’em ain’t ya?” The man helped Delilah stand as she was unsteady with her now hurt ankle "I have a cabin just up yonder we can go to and I can see what I can do about yer ankle. I was just finishing up a stew too, you can have some." 

This fellow was strange but what could she do, he was offering her a getaway and a place to hide, rest, and even a meal. All sounded heavenly to her at this point. "Fine, let's go." She slung the satchel across her body once more, it was lighter without the knife and she felt cautious now that she didn't have it.

He helped her hobble through the woods, which seemed to only get thicker. How one managed to build a house in this was a wonder to Delilah. Who would want to live in this was another question too. The isolation was convenient though. She didn't attempt any small talk, not even to find out this man's name. Mostly she didn't want to reveal anything about herself either. It would be safer to be mysterious. 

"Whose blood is that?" He referred to the red thickness in her hair, probably smeared across parts of her body too. 

Surprise crossed her face as he seemed to know that blood was not hers. He offered no explanation to his wisdom. "A dog's." A bitch to be more exact. A traitor of a sister named Lena. Delilah had been dumb enough to let on a secret to her. 

~~ 

After revealing herself to Lena, her sister seemed urgent to get somewhere.

"I forgot, I need to get the clothes off the line. Meet you for dinner in a sec." Lena had said. But when Delilah walked down the hall a few minutes later, she saw that there was already a pile of clothes on the bed. What could Lena be doin’? 

In the kitchen, there was no one. Dinner sat on the table, pipin' hot, yet Mama was not yellin' for them to come to eat. Hushed tones came from the porch. What could they be talkin' about? 

A peek out the window showed Ma and Pop discussing something serious. "What do we do about her?" She knew instantly that Lena had spilled the beans. So fast and sly as a fox. Delilah was frightened to see her dad reaching for his gun on his hip. Would her own father kill her?

~~ 

"Alright now you can take it easy." Delilah sat on a seat in the kitchen. Stew smells swirled in the air and she shoulda been droolin’ but instead, it gave her terrible knots in her stomach. It brought back that terrible moment, still fresh in her mind, of how the last dinner she had with her family was filled with deceit and death.

“I’ll just have water for now.” Delilah requested, lifting her leg onto another chair in the kitchen.

“Here ya go. There’s some ice on the table too for yer joint.” Delilah turned to get the water and ice but paused for a moment. When did the man put it on the table? He was on the other side of the kitchen. Maybe she just didn’t hear him. Delilah would believe she was missing details as her exhaustion kept catching up with her. She iced her ankle and hoped for the swelling to go down quickly, not wanting to stay here too long, less the man hears news of her crime.

 A look around the cabin showed that there was no technology though, not even a radio. “Uh, don’t ya have a phone or somethin’?” Delilah asked, craning her neck over her shoulder to see the man.

“No, I don’t have any of that crap out here. I don’t care for it.” The house was outdated and Delilah had seen no driveway, heck not even a mailbox when they had approached the house.  “There ain’t nobody that means to contact me anyhow.” The man was somber in his response like maybe he wished someone did want to hear from him

Delilah had never heard of anyone living out in these woods before, maybe it wasn't talked about much. Maybe no one knew. Whoever this guy was, he wanted to be unseen. “Alright, eat up. Ya ain’t gonna feel much better with an empty stomach.” The man offered her a bowl of stew and she accepted it. She forced a few bites down, fighting against that bad feeling in her stomach. What she did was an accident. If only Lena had kept her little secret.

~~

“Pa, you ain’t gotta do nothin’ to me.” Delilah had decided to confront her parents. Maybe she could calm them, show them she meant to harm. “I ain’t gonna hurtcha.”

But there was no going back. 

Her Pa had promised no harm would come to her “Lilah, dear. We ain’t gonna harm ya either.” He had brought her in for a hug. Patted her hair. Kissed her on the head. Stroked her face. “Go back inside, dinner is ready. Everythings going to be okay.”

Delilah turned to walk back inside. She had felt comforted by her Pa, even though Ma still seemed leary. As she reached for the door, a familiar click of the safety told her enough to know what was to happen next. Though she couldn’t see it, her father aimed that gun at her. “I love ya. Please know that.”

BANG 

~~

Bang Bang Bang

The sudden knocks at the door made Delilah jump. Tension and fear clung to her heart. She was sure she was going to throw up. “Get in the closet.” The man told her and pointed to a small pantry in the kitchen.

Delilah did as she was told, surprised when the door seemed to shut behind her by itself. If it was the police, she certainly wanted to be hidden. Why this man was so willing to make that happen was still uncertain. The wood on the bottom of the door was slatted so she could see a little of what was happening.

“Hello, how may I help ya?” She heard the man say once he opened the door.

“Have you seen a girl runnin’ through these woods anywhere?” An officer, who else woulda been looking for her out here. He must’ve had a photo or a wanted sign cause she heard rustling and it took a moment for the man to respond.

“A girl? Out here? Nah, I haven't seen ‘er. Don’t see much of anyone out there. Say, yer my first visitor in years.” To Delilah's relief, the man denied having known her.

“Mind if I come in and take a look around.” 

“Sure. If you don’t mind me stayin’ in the kitchen, I’m workin’ on a stew.” Heavy clad boots make their entrance. Delilah wondered if her hiding spot was enough to keep her safe. She could only wait and see. The cabin wasn’t much so the officer had little to look at. Eventually, he came to the kitchen and rustled through stuff, cabinets, the trash, even the oven before stopping in front of the pantry. She was sure to be caught but if it helped any, Delilah covered her mouth to hopefully contain the sound of her breathing’ while staring’ out of the slats. The boots were right in front of her, chunks of grass and leaves clung to the buckles around the ankles.

The movement drew her eyes to the man as he made a stop sign with his right hand, the officer could not see this. When the officer tried to open the pantry, the door didn't budge. He gave a little more effort and it seemed the man was fighting with an invisible force. “Ahh, that door is locked. I ain’t got no key for it neither.”

The officer seemed frustrated. “Fine, I will be on my way then” They left, shutting the door behind them.

Moments of silence passed before the man opened the pantry door. “You can come out now.”

Delilah only looked up at the man “What was that?” She asked instead of rising, the door easily swung open now. It was certainly not the work of her doing as Delilah had no energy left to do something like that.

“Don’t act surprised, yer like us, ain’t ya?” The man looked expectantly at her on the floor. “I think it’s time for you to get home.” Delilah shook her head at the notion.

“I ain’t got a home to go to.” That was all she could say

“Then tell me why those police folk is lookin’ for ya. Cause I can’t have ‘em snoopin’ round my place no more.” The man turned back to his stew, visibly upset by the notion of having an officer in his house.

“I..” Delilah didn’t know if she could say it “I killed ‘em.” She said in a shaky breath, picking at the edges of her shirt. “My family.” It was a hard pill to swallow, but the girl had no choice. “I had to, or they were gonna kill me, or report me and I would be in jail for no reason. Just for the way, I was born.” Delilah started to cry, the built-up anxiety, fear, and sadness coming out all at once.

“My father shot at me, but I stopped that bullet. I stopped it. And I was hurt that he would do that to me. He told me he wouldn't hurt me. So I launched that bullet right back at ‘im.” Delilah recalled what had happened, shaking’ and breathing’ unsteadily. “He was the first one to die.” More sobs. “But then mama tried to grab the gun too. I couldn’t let her do it. I had to protect myself. I had to. I used a shovel. I meant to just hit her with it but I’m not practiced at this. I couldn’t control it.” The man knelt beside Delilah and held her. Trying to comfort the tortured soul in front of him.

“So was this really dog's blood?” He asked, touching the blood in her hair

“No. It’s Lena’s. My sister.” Delilah recalled the last moments with her sister. She had run inside the house, terrified of her abilities and seeking Lena for help. “Lena called the police. And when I saw her on the phone, claiming I was a monster. That somethin’ was possessin’ her sister. That I needed to be killed. I couldn’t hold that rage in me anymore.” The man rocked the girl gently, consoling her in her misery. “I...” another pause as the horrors flashed in her mind. “I ripped the phone line clean off the wall with my mind. Lena didn’t even know I was standin’ there. Then one of the kitchen knives came to me. I was so angry. So betrayed.  I wanted to show her that she didn’t need to be afraid of me cause of my ability. She should be afraid of the monster she created. She did this to me. I thought I could trust her.” Delilah wailed.

“My family betrayed me too.” The man spoke “I’m out here barely living cause I’m afraid someone's gonna knows who I am. I didn’t kill ‘em of course, but some circumstances are different.” The man pulled away from Delilah, taking in her facial expression that was still in shock. The girl had obviously not been able to process the whole ordeal until now. “I know a place where you can go. You can’t stay here cause them police are sniffin’ real hard.” Delilah nodded, not able to fully respond yet. “For now, it’d be best to lay low but then I’ll show you the way.”

“Okay,” Delilah said. Watching as the man levitated a rag over to them, wiping the girl's face clean of tears.

“We will tell no one of this.” Delilah nodded

“No one.” She repeated.