DELILAH
Sitting on the stairs outside the church, I take a deep breath. There is no one here near me. There is a main road away from the church, due to which there is not much noise here. There are also many trees around the church, due to which there is a lot of coolness here. There are also trees on the side of the stairs, due to which there is a shadow on my head. I am glad that I did not need to roast under the sun in this rotting heat.
After running for a long time, I found a better place where I would be able to keep myself safe for a while.
I can't thank the Lord more for the refuge this city church has given me. I am blessed to be here outside the Lord's temple right now. I am not completely alone.
I sigh and pull the mobile out of my jeans pocket. I dial dad and he picks up the call on the first ring.
"Delilah, how are you?" He asks as soon as I put the screen near my ear.
"I'm safe, dad. For now," I whisper the last two words, looking down. Another sigh escapes my lips and I feel tired.
"Good." He also sighs over the call. "I've talked to my friend and he said—"
"We can discuss it later, dad. Now, I want to know what you've done to them so that they're after you. Dad, you know, they said you've deceived them, that's why they want to know your location and I don't know next!" I almost yell due to frustration and the next, I sigh heavily, asking, "I'd that true? Did you really—"
"I'm sorry, Del, you have gone through it, though it's all my fault," he cuts off me, admitting he deceived those gangsters. They were not lying.
"Dad… why did you do that?" I am more than worried now. We are a normal family, wanting everything normal and these gangsters are not normal at all.
"They're dangerous, you know?!" My eyes widen as I yell over the call. I wish he was right in front of me so I could scold him in a better way. "They had guns! They pointed that gun at me, dad! They looked murderous! What would you do about that?!"
I hear him sighing over the call while I reach to caress my temple.
"I didn't know they'd come to the address —"
"God! Dad, please! The thing is why did you do that? I don't think they were normal citizens. They even refused to tell me about their identities."
"They did?"
"Yes, they did! Now care to tell me, who are they, and what's wrong you did to them? And how are you going to solve this mess?"
"Um…"
"Dad!" I cannot believe it. "You need to be serious!"
"I'm sorry, Del. You know my problem," he says apologetically and I nod, though he cannot look at me.
"Del, as I said, I contacted my friend there. He'll be there at any moment to take you to his place. You'll be safe there and you have to stay there until I get back, okay?"
"And my studies?" This is the first thing I care about the most. After dad, of course.
"You can't go out, Del. They'll be chasing you everywhere. And I request, give you mobile to—"
"Oh no, dad, wait!" I whisper and quickly get up as I spot a car that is a few meters away from me. I gulp hard, thinking if the car belongs to Mad, Carlos, or Morris — that was his name, right?
"Del, is everything okay?" I hear my dad asking through the call.
"There's a car, dad. What if it's those gangsters?" I start taking steps back, ready to run for my life.
"Maybe it's my friend, Del. I saw his message. He said he has traced your location!" This is… creepy. "You can check," he adds and I decide to do it.
Clutching the mobile near my chest, I take slow steps ahead, reaching for the road laid in front of me, which leads to the main road of the city. I take a deep breath when the car reaches me and I can feel the loud thump of my heart against my chest.
What if… just a 'what if' has to control my fear. I just wish it was my father's friend.
The expensive-looking black car stops and the door opens. I keep my legs steady in order to run away if I spot one of those gangsters coming out of the car but no.
I exhale in relief when I see a handsome — dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt, tall guy leaving the car. He does not look like a threat at all. He looks like a casual, easy-going guy. He even passes me a small smile of assurance when he catches me involuntarily taking a step back.
"Hi, I'm Waqas Salazar, the son of your father's friend. And you're Delilah, right?" He asks with that smile not leaving his lips and extending his hand.
I slightly nod, mumbling, "Hi," while accepting his hand. Surprisingly, I find his hand warm which comforts me as my hand is cold. Probably because of running sweat through them.
He chuckles. "You don't have to be afraid, okay? You're safe now," he tries to reassure me.
I stare at him blankly, nodding my head. I quickly reach my mobile as the call is still ongoing. I press the screen firmly against my ear and ask, "Dad, your friend is Salazar?"
"Yes, Del. He's the one. You can go with him." It is like he has heard what Waqas said to me.
"Okay, dad." I cut the line and gave him a nod of agreement. All the time, he is looking at me, amused. I blame those gangsters if I am looking funny. They made me run aimlessly and I bet I would be looking like a mess.
"Come." He moves to his car, opening the passenger seat door for me. I slide inside, keeping the mobile in my lap. He follows the other side and gets inside.
DELILAH"Delilah, switch off your mobile and remove the sim card. Even if they don't have your contacts, they can still trace your location." I do as he says. I switch it off and then remove the sim cards. He extends his palm and I know I have to put them there. "What will you do to them?" I ask while giving them to him. He glances at me over his shoulder before he speaks, "I'll make it harmless so you could use it. You know that gadgets are a boon and they can also become a curse as well." Oh, I know that. I give him the mobile as well which he puts in the drawer and the ride after that is silent. I do not talk to him on the way and he also does not say anything after that. Well, this is fine for me because my mind is still thinking about my father. It means they told the truth that my father deceived them. But still, I am not ready to leave his side. Who does? I mean I know this is wrong, standing for wrong is wrong but he is my father. I will inform him of every possible thing
DELILAHIt is eleven o'clock at the night and I still can't sleep. I have been working tirelessly to sleep and I never thought I would need to put in a lot of effort to sleep. Sleeping was never a very difficult thing for a person like me. I am one of the most tired girls in this world at night. I can beat even Nobita in sleeping but not tonight. For a moment I thought that maybe I did not work hard enough today, while I ran for about one and a half hours and even after coming to Salazar's residence, I could not comfortably stay in one place in the house but started inspecting this house. I still have pain in my legs but my brain does not even have time to think of the pain. I am thinking only of my father. He said that he will come here soon but I am very scared. My father is a simple man and we have not even seen guns anywhere except in the hands of the police. In such a situation, how will we be able to face those goons? Police! Oh yes! We can take the help of the police. But
DELILAHThere is a twinge in my head as I try to open my eyes. My eyes feel heavy and my head starts spinning wildly. It feels like someone just cracked my skull and a cracking sound can be heard through it. It makes a current run inside my head, affecting my nerves deeply and then finally attacking my eyes so I find more difficulty in opening them. A whimper escapes my lips and I feel the corners of my eyes getting wet. It hurts like hell, so bad that it almost takes more than five minutes to open my eyes, I do not count the time running, but I can guess because of the intensity. Maybe the pain made me count it like water droplets dripping leisurely. I palm the side of my head and try to get up, ignoring the comfort covering my body. I crawl back, leaning against what I have behind me and holding my throbbing head in my hands. I again close my eyes, breathing peacefully before I peer open my eyelids, my sticky eyelashes parting slowly, carefully. I stay like that for a minute, my
DELILAH"And now, it's time for your treatment!" He says with that wicked grin plastered on his lips. He starts taking steps in my direction while I keep retrieving mine back. I do not realize my legs are trembling until I stumble lightly but quickly take a hold of myself and decide to run away from him. A panic cry leaves me as I rush to nowhere but away from him. He chases me to the bedside but I jump on it and rush to the door when he clutches my flying wrist and yanks me back. I barely can register anything when he starts wrapping something tight around both of my wrists. "What are you—" "Shut up! Just shut up!" He barks and I visibly flinch back. I shiver so badly that I notice the vibration in my wrists which he cages through a chain. I can't believe this is happening once again, and that too, with a metallic chain. His loud voice has already shut me up and I do not do anything except for mewling, suddenly feeling sorry for myself. "Hm, good girl!" He says and drags me to t
DELILAHI anxiously wait there because I cannot even do anything except do it. I am chained and whimpering silently. I am surprised that I am stuck in such a place, amid these criminals. I am sadder and less surprised at my luck. As I shed my tears sitting there, I did not realize when the door opened in that room and a man came and stood in front of me. I am so lost in my misery that I do not even realize anything unless he calls my name. "Del," he says, his voice coming soft. The small shaking movements in my body — especially my shoulders come to halt as I hear that soft and familiar voice. I can never forget that voice. I cannot count how many times he has called me by my name in such a sweet voice, in such an admiring manner, with such a longing depth. I slowly raise my head and look up at the person. My wet eyes widen as I stare at the person before I quietly mumble, "Nicholas?"That means I was not wrong. I can never go wrong in recognizing his face. I have looked many time
DELILAHNicholas — Nathaniel was never like this. From the time I met him until we broke up, I had never seen such madness in his eyes. In his green beautiful eyes, I only saw either emptiness or love and affection deeper than the ocean. But right now this madness was keeping me away from him. Despite being so close to him, I could not find my old Nicholas in him. It looks as if the person sitting in front of me is anyone but Nicholas — Nathaniel, I apologize. I still remember the day when we both met for the first time. Outside of my country, in the most famous art museum in Italy. I had come on a seven-day trip from my college with my classmates. In Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Standing inside that huge building, my classmates and I were watching the famous masterpiece of Sandro Botticelli, The Birth Of Venus. Many people were standing around us. Not only my classmates but also many strangers. While looking at that picture, many people were praising it and some people were reading
DELILAHI was sitting there still only thinking that it was not my imagination to see him at such a time. But as he came closer to me, I realized that this was not some naive imagination of mine. He was real. With the intention of apologizing to him and thanking him, I stood up in my place. He stopped in front of the door to my front room and took a look at me when I stood up. I would be lying if I say that I did not feel tickles all over my body after just one look by him. Just one look of him had held me to the alertness of the place I was standing, although there was no emotion in his eyes. There was no meaning of his gaze on me. Maybe he even looked at me by mistake. "Hi," I said and I was nervous. I knew he could sense my nervousness, that is why he scanned me down with nothingness in his emerald eyes. I won't forget to compliment his eyes. I had fallen in love with his green eyes at first sight. Without answering me, he only thought it necessary to look at me. He looked into
DELILAHAfter that the next morning, I took the key from my friend and I could go to my room. After that, I did not meet that man again. Anyway, it was the last day of my trip. The next morning we had to leave just after getting ready so that we could catch the flight. I thought he was sent into my life just for a moment. I never thought that I would meet him again, although it was nice to meet him again. Anyway, I wished that I could meet him one more time. It was early in the morning when my father told me that a guest was going to come to our house for dinner this evening. "Who, dad?" I asked him as I was curious to know. I was always a curious cat, ready to be killed by this curiosity someday. "My CEO," he answered, raising his brows, showing his surprise as well. Did he not expect his CEO to come over here? Because I always saw my father as a hardworking person and as he loved me so much, he always made time for me as well. "Cool! I'll wear something nice then," I said and c