by Winter, Eden
The arrow was headed straight for Delilah.
Chapter Eight
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
I was awakened by the sound of pounding on my door. Rather, someone had been knocking on my door for a long enough period of time that it upset my cat. Tangerine pounced on my stomach and started meowing wildly. I woke up to her squishing my tummy.
I had been thrust out of my dream so quickly that I was already beginning to forget what had happened in it.
Delilah.
“Delilah,” I said out loud. I was so tired that I didn’t realize I was talking, but I hadn’t made any effort to stand up and answer the door. I tried to put the pieces of my dream together while I stood and went to answer the front door.
Since I wasn’t expecting any company, my natural instinct was to look through the keyhole to see who was standing outside. But I was still half asleep and didn’t even think about doing that. I opened the door at the same time I opened my mouth to yawn. I was halfway through my yawn when my jaw almost collapsed.
Malcolm was standing in my doorway. He smiled, but it seemed disingenuous. I knew I was making every excuse in my mind to demonize him, but I really could see in his smile that there was something wrong.
We stood there in silence for a few moments just sizing each other up. My eyes darted around and tried to see behind him, but he was big enough to be hiding most of my view.
Where was my sister? Did he come alone?
I swallowed and my heart skipped several beats. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this at all. The last time one of my sister’s boyfriends came to me when she wasn’t around, my whole life changed. And it didn’t change for the better.
I didn’t invite Malcolm in. There was a part of me that wanted to hear what he had to say first. It was easier to kick someone out if they were already outside.
“Hi, Samantha,” Malcolm said. His voice was pleasant and had an almost musical tone to it.
“Hi, Malcolm,” I said. I gave him a smile that disappeared just as it had formed on my face.
“Are you okay?” he asked. His face changed from fake happy to genuinely concerned. “Is this a bad time? If this is a bad time then I don’t mind coming back.”
“No, it’s not… I just woke up and wasn’t expecting you is all,” I said. I was getting less groggy by the second, but it was being replaced with grumpiness.
“I was just checking on you to see how you were doing after our almost-accident the other day. Isabelle said you were doing okay but you seemed a bit distant. I don’t want to overstep or get into your business, but I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help,” he said.
I noticed my body was tensed up, but after he said that, I let my shoulders and my abdominals soften. I had to remember that he was a good guy. The heightened sense of paranoia could have very well just been my anxiety. I had to separate that one instance from the person my sister loved.
“It was just a scary incident. I’m feeling much better now, especially because I saw Isabelle today,” I said. He nodded to let me know he knew that already.
“Thank you for the offer, but I think I’ll be fine,” I added.
“Are…” Malcolm’s expression had changed again. He looked like he was trying to let the fact that he was upset not show on his face. He wasn’t doing that good of a job of it. “Are you upset with me?”
I stood in my doorway and blinked at him. I couldn’t imagine what could have made me mad at him. I just knew that something had changed when I swore I heard him call me by a nickname my shitty ex had given me.
I moved over to the side and invited him in. It was clear that he wasn’t going to go away for now, and standing in the doorway was too awkward for both of us.
I directed Malcolm to my living room couch, and he literally waited for me to offer him a seat before he sat down.
“I’m not upset with you,” I said.
“Who’s Delilah?” he asked.
That question caught me off guard. How did he hear me say her name from all the way outside? I had to remind myself that he was a full fairy by blood and therefore had heightened senses. But even still, it weirded me out that he thought that was the right question to ask me.
“I was just on the phone with a friend,” I said.
“Oh. I thought you just woke up.”
“I did. But I missed the call. Just missed it, that is. I answered it right when she hung up, and I was saying her name to see if she was still there. Weird tired brain,” I said. I laughed it off and Malcolm chuckled too.
“But you’re absolutely certain you’re not upset with me? It just felt like things changed between us after that day. I didn’t want you to be mad at me or think that something like that would happen again.”
“I really don’t,” I said. I was becoming impatient, but then I thought better of it. I needed time to get over my anxiety, and I had no idea if the anxiety was something I would ever recover from. It was something that I had to manage and keep getting better at day by day. It was very possible Malcolm had a form of anxiety himself. He might have just needed to be reassured that I wasn’t mad at him or believed he had almost killed us all on purpose.
Whatever his reasoning, he was such a weird individual. He had all this confidence, and he still was desperate to make sure I liked him. I hoped it was because he really cared about my sister and he wanted our family to be close with him because he was getting closer to her.
“I promise I’m not mad. I just like being by myself sometimes,” I said. This time I smiled, and it was much more sincere than the last few times.
Tangerine wandered into the living room ignoring us entirely. She walked like she was stalking some prey in the far corner of the room.
Malcolm smiled and called out to her. Tangerine stood stiff as a board with one paw raised in mid stride, and her blue eyes wide and fixated on us. She gently placed her paw down, and the hair all over her back stood up and her ears folded back.
“What’s the matter with you, TanTan?” I asked. She wasn’t looking at me. She stared at Malcolm for another few seconds and raced out of the living room like a bat out of hell.
“Sorry about that. That’s my cat, Tangerine. She’s either super friendly or she keeps to herself. I think she’s just having a bad day today.”
Malcolm let me know that it was okay that my cat had reacted so negatively to him. I had to admit that there hadn’t been anyone else that Tangerine had responded to in that way. It could have been something to do with his scent and not related at all to who Malcolm was as a person.
But still. It was always important to pay attention to how animals behaved around certain people. There was something about Malcolm that frightened or angered her. Maybe my random instinct was right and there was something off about Malcolm. My mind was all over the place, and I couldn’t think of a way to push my thoughts either way. Whatever the case may be, I wanted to be absolutely sure about Malcolm. The way he was slightly off-putting was enough for me to distrust him, but I couldn’t allow one thing to put me off an entire person. There were so many great qualities about him.
Not everyone was Alex. I kept having to remind myself that.
“That’s fine. Maybe Tangerine will like me a little later on. Oh, what’s that book over there?” Malcolm said. He looked over my shoulder at the book on my console table.
“It’s just a book on certain mythical creatures,” I said. If he asked me anything else, I would just tell him it was a new hobby. I had told my sister almost a hundred times during the drive back from the park that afternoon that she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone… especially not Malcolm. I didn’t need to keep telling her because she was so incredibly trustworthy, but I knew how women could get around men they believed they loved. I shook that thought away because I knew it was going to bring up unwanted thoughts about Alex.
“Can I see it?” Malcolm asked. I took up the book and handed it over to him. He started to flip through the pa
ges when he noticed my bookmark dangling inside it close to the center. My heart jumped into my throat when he turned to that page, but I relaxed right after. It was just a random page in a book I was reading. There was nothing unusual about that, unless he knew what I was looking for and why. This was not something to be worried about.
“Oh, the fish of Cesar. I remember some stories about this from when I was a kid. Do you think it’s real?” Malcolm asked. He was speed reading through the page and flipping here and there to check out some of the folk songs associated with the fish of Cesar. When he finished asking his question, he looked up intently at me.
“Nah. It was just a fun tale we got taught as kids, you know? I didn’t know there were so many possible riddles it could ask if you caught it though. I’m going to try to memorize them so I can trick my friends,” I said. That sounded like a good enough excuse to me. He would more than likely ask about the other creatures in the book, which I was honestly hoping for. I had to draw as much attention away from the fish of Cesar as possible. If it was actually real then that meant it was also incredibly valuable. I didn’t want to be responsible for leading someone like Malcolm directly toward it. Of course, this was assuming that the fish needed my help instead of it just popping up in one of my dreams.
I was so sleepy now that my mind was spinning with thoughts of a mythical creature and a conspiracy theory that involved the people in my life. I couldn’t believe I allowed my thoughts to veer so far to the right.
It was stupid of me to think Malcolm had anything to do with my visions or dreams, or even the weird ghostly fish. I couldn’t believe how absurd it all was. Had I really gotten so paranoid about trusting anyone that one word could make or break how it was I associated with that person?
I couldn’t shake the weird feeling though. There was a heaviness in my house now that I only noticed when Malcolm had stepped foot inside. It didn’t get any better with the freaky behavior of my black cat. Whatever the case may have been, this weird way I was talking to Malcolm was going to have to stop.
I thought about telling him what I heard him say, but it was so irrelevant now that it might not have made sense. I was usually one to confront someone I felt had done me wrong, but now I was getting used to giving people the benefit of the doubt. Malcolm probably called everyone ‘bunny’. It could have been something he said often like how people call each other ‘sweetheart’.
“I wish I’d learned more about these stories when I was a kid. Some of them seem so interesting, like the story that you’re reading now. I like some of the songs about the fish. I wish there was more history about him. I’d like to know if the gold on his body was actually real gold,” said Malcolm.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind knowing more about that too. I just think mythology in general is very fascinating. It’s nice to see how cultures share their stories with others and some of those stories are altered based on the retelling of it. Or different regions have different eras of the same story,” I started.
“Yes,” he said with the same intent expression on his face. “The world and the beings in it have a way of surprising us.”
And there went that feeling again. That feeling that he was watching me beneath my surface, that anything I said or did was being studied. I thought it was probably best if Malcolm left. I didn’t deserve to feel so uneasy in my own home. He didn’t need to drive all this way to say he was worried that something had changed about our dynamic. He could have called me or texted me with his concerns. I was battling myself again about whether that was creepy or if he was just that swell of a guy to want to talk things through.
“Listen, I’m sorry to ask this of you, but I’m still so tired. I was gonna make something for myself to eat before going to bed early tonight. Is it all right if we reschedule a time we can really spend some time together?” I said. I yawned and even though it was clearly exaggerated, Malcolm understood.
He put the book of mythical creatures back where he’d found it and stood up from the couch.
“Remember, I’m here if you need anything, Sam. You’ve been through a lot, and it’s nice to have people who are on your side,” he said when we had walked to the front door.
I opened it and smiled at him.
“Yeah, I like knowing there are people in my life whom I can trust.”
He reached over and gave me a warm hug. He smiled and playfully poked my nose. I giggled and smiled wider when he did. I watched him as he got into his pickup truck and watched him as he drove away.
I kept the fake grin on my face long after I closed the door on Malcolm. I could still feel his energy in my house, and I had this strange thought that if I stopped smiling while the energy lingered, he would be on to me.
But after the visit, I noticed I was much more awake. My intuition had been put on high alert, and it helped me through that stage of fatigue.
I was awake enough now to remember that there was something I had to do. It was why I cut the talk with my sister short.
I grabbed my phone from inside my pocket and I texted Peter.
‘Hey, you. Can I have Reginald’s number?’ the text read. I should have asked for all his friend’s numbers so that it seemed less suspicious, but I couldn’t shake the thought that I was running out of time.
A few minutes later, my phone made the familiar chime of an incoming message. Peter had replied with Reginald’s number. I didn’t even save the number to my phone. The first thing I decided to do was to call the number, and that was exactly what I did.
I heard the buzzing sound of the phone ringing.
“Hello?” Reginald picked up after several rings.
“Hi Reginald, it’s Samantha. I need you to tell me everything that you know about the fish of Cesar.”
*
“I hope you don’t die today.”
“That would definitely put a damper on our plans.”
“Lay off her, okay?”
Delilah, Philomena, and Baylee were linking arms and standing beside me. Philomena offered to pick up all the girls to go to Peter’s house. He and Delilah were going to cook for us. It was nice to feel included, but it was less nice having to deal with Delilah’s snide remarks for most of the car ride over.
We ascended the stairs together, and that’s when they all linked arms. I missed that kind of camaraderie, and being on the outside of it made me feel a twinge of longing.
I was surprised that it had been Baylee who defended me. Philomena looked genuinely ashamed and apologized to me in her cat-like raspy voice.
“We were just teasing and trying to lighten the mood. We don’t want you to get hurt every time you’re with us,” she purred.
“Yeah. Maybe we’re the problem and not you,” Delilah said. She was standing the furthest from me. I was going to snap. One more stupid comment and I was going to unload on her. I had to breathe in deep and exhale all the air inside of me to prevent myself from responding. I hope they didn’t think I was weak or unable to defend myself. I got into a lot of my messes because I was too able to defend myself and I needed to calm down some of my fiery energy.
“That’s not what I meant, D,” Philo growled at Delilah and then turned to me with a sweet smile.
“But keep away from the stove if you can, ‘kay, hun?” she said. I couldn’t be mad at Philomena. She wasn’t saying any of this in an insincere tone. It occurred to me that she was a simpleton with a sweet energy, and some people may have confused that with being ditzy. I knew better. She had such a radiance about her. She wasn’t wearing a long dress, which surprised me. Her top was black lace and long-sleeved, and she wore a dull pink pair of harem pants.
Baylee was wearing a tunic dress that had so many different patterns and colors on it. She had on the same hat she’d worn the day I met them. Delilah was in tight jeans and a simple dark green top. It looked nice against her bright pink skin.
I didn’t feel out of place, and that was only because everyone was wearing something so different from one another.
I had on a black turtleneck crop top and faded black jeans. It was something I’d pulled out from my time capsule of a closet. I tried to incorporate more colors into my wardrobe, but ninety-five percent of what I owned was black.
“So, no one can take a joke, huh?” Delilah grumbled. Since she was on the far right, she was the one who knocked on Peter’s door when we arrived.
“Well, in order for it to be a joke, it would have to be funny,” I grumbled back. She shot me a look, but I stared blankly back at her. I was unfazed by her expression. She didn’t scare me, and I was starting to realize my anxiety consisted of worrying too much about what other people thought of me when I should have been only concerned about what I thought of me. Since I was becoming more and more aware of what Delilah thought about me, it was getting easier for me to stop caring.
“Hey, ladies.” Reginald was the one who answered the door. A sweet aroma came from the apartment, and I could hear the faint plunking of a guitar. Reginald hugged Delilah, and she stepped inside the apartment.
“Seriously, don’t worry about her. She’s just a natural grump,” Baylee said.
Philomena and Reginald both nodded to cosign what Baylee had just said.
“It took us all a long time to even get along with each other. She’s just a naturally catty soul,” Philomena said.
“Yeah, I think it was six months before she started to like me,” Reginald said.
“Same,” Philomena nodded again.
“The jury’s still out,” Baylee said flatly. That shouldn’t have made me smile, but I couldn’t help it. They didn’t hate her, nor were they saying anything awful about her. They knew the kind of energy Delilah brought to their circle, and they accepted her despite her sour demeanor. I was beginning to realize that this group was more accepting than I was giving them credit for.
“Don’t sweat it. D has a soft side, and maybe one day you’ll see it,” Reginald said.
“Yeah, if Eli can dig it out of her,” Baylee said. She hugged Reginald and walked into the apartment. I looked at Reginald, but he just shrugged. Apparently, there was something going on there that I had no idea about. I didn’t question it. It wasn’t my business.