Soulful Rage

Chapter 1

Delilah Cunningham, she was what you could call a 'normal' 20-year-old women or as normal as she was going to get for a lack of better words. She was an only child, growing up her mother worked 80+ hours a week, and her father was always so drugged up, not that things would be any different if he was around or not, besides maybe making her life a little bit better that is. As for family, her mother was an only child as well, so she only had her grandparents who had passed at this point. On her father's side, she had no family but an aunt and uncle, the aunt being lesbian with no children and her uncle was born sterile, never marrying and when she was 12, he moved to Australia.

With no cousins or close family, Delilah was a pretty isolated person which was by her own choice since people made her anxiety peek. Jaclin, her mother, though could be a pretty toxic person in her life she somehow managed to be one of the people she cared about the most. Ryan, her father, was more of a negative presence in her life, every time he was around it always ended in tears and screaming matches between everyone. normally at some point in their arguments he would mention that Delilah 'wasn't even his daughter.' which her mother always denied and later on explained to her that 'it was just the drugs.', not that it ever really managed to ease her mind.

Delilah was 13 when her father fell off the deep end, having been struggling with pills her entire life, at 13 he got hooked on heroin. That was an entirely new experience to her, a hell she had never known before. The normal Saturday night screaming matches turned into daily beatings and traumas she had never had to deal with; Delilah was starting to experience and look at life in a new way entirely. By 17 her father had bailed on them after spending a year in prison for some drug charges, they both went to pick him up only to find out he had been released a month earlier, she hadn't seen him since. Now the young women was 20, her mother was overseas at the moment working on a new project for her company, leaving Delilah alone in their three-bedroom house for maybe two weeks, three max. The young women had trouble keeping track of all the time her mother spent away, but on the brightside Delilah could have Derek over when her mother was gone like this; not that she couldn't when her mother was home, but she had a way of ruining the mood every time. Derek Miller, a 22-year-old man she had grown up with since Jr. High and had been dating since freshman year of high school. They had been together for almost 6 years now, and at this point in their relationship Delilah was waiting for a proposal or maybe to move in together. 6 years was a long time to be with someone, and in her eyes it only made things worse that he hadn't made any real moves to be with her in a mature adult relationship; but everything was going to get upturned soon.

Delilah sat at the diner she worked at talking with an older gentleman named John, he was a regular at her work and often spent time just chatting with her. The young women appreciated his company, he had always had a way of making her smile no matter how she was feeling.

"So, is a proposal coming soon?" John asked bringing his mug up to his lips to take a slow sip, glancing up at her curiously. Delilah smiled some and shrugged "I'm not sure, but I'm hopeful. I'm going over to surprise him after work tonight. Today is our 7 year anniversary."

John smiled more at her as he placed his cup down "7 years is quite an accomplishment at your age, I was with my late wife for 42 years... it was the highlight of my life, love is a powerful thing." Delilah couldn't help but grin at him, glancing at the clock to see it was time for her to go. She leaned over and placed her hand on him kindly "you couldn't be more correct. Enjoy your meal John, I'm gonna get out of here."

John nodded and waved her off with a squeeze to her hand before she walked off, stalking to the back to gather her things. Delilah lived in a small town called hollycrest in Maine, a one light town with 2 stores and a diner. It almost always was raining here, but she loved it. After clocking out and saying her goodbyes, she walked out to her 2002 Mitsubishi eclipse, hurrying inside so she didn't get soaked.
With a soft sigh she started the car and backed out, making her way to her boyfriend's house.

The ride was short, only 10 minutes if that. When she pulled up to Derek's house her heart sank seeing a familiar pink charger in the driveway. It was Kailyn's car, her best friend. Delilah took a small breath, trying to come up with a reason as to why her best friend would be here. Maybe they were putting something together for her? A surprise for their anniversary? For some reason she doubted that. Without thinking she got out of her car and walked up to the door, opening it immediately since it was never locked. Derek's mother worked third shift so she was gone by now, as Delilah made her way up the stairs to the second floor the sound of muffled moans grew louder,

Her heart sank as she stood outside of the door to his bedroom, her hand hovering over the doorknob.

"Oh my god, yes, oh fuck baby harder~" she could hear Kailyn's voice moaning, along with the soft thumping of the bed against the the wall. Her heart ached as she contemplated just walking away and pretending she didn't know anything about this. As she turned to leave something came over her, causing the women to turn around and throw the door open before she realized what she was doing. The sight before her made tears well in her eyes seeing her best friend on top of her boyfriend naked.

Hearing her entrance, they both jumped apart covering themselves. Derek looked at Delilah in shock, clearly at a loss for words. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Delilah said shaking her head, Derek hurried up off the bed, grabbing his pants "I can explain D, just wait a second" he mumbled trying to quickly put his pants on while Kailyn sat on the bed watching them like a deer in headlights "no need." Was all Delilah said turning and walking out of the room.

By the time she reached the front door Derek had caught up, lightly grabbing her arm. Feeling him touching her she jerked away and turned around "DONT EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!" She screamed at him making the man flinch away from her "DONT EVER TALK YO ME AGAIN, DONT EVEN LOOK IN MY FUCKING DIRECTION!"

Before he could reply she opened the front door and left slamming it behind her. As she reached her car and got inside, the tears finally started to flow. The ride home was a bit of a blur, she didn't recall how she got to her room

—TRIGGER WARNING!!!!! SELF HARM! I WILL PUT ANOTHER NOTICE WHEN IT IS OVER SO PLEASE DONT READ IF YOURE SENSITIVE TO THESE TOPICS!!!—

before Delilah had come back to her senses, she was laying against the wall in her bathroom holding her arm that bleed slowly onto the floor, tears streaming down her face while she silently cried. Doing this to herself wasn't something she was proud of, in a weird way the pain helped her ground herself. The slight stinging made her tears flow more as she processed everything that was happening. She had relapsed after almost a year, her boyfriend, not ex boyfriend, had cheated on her with her best friend. It felt like her life was imploding on her and this was the one way she could gain control again.

After an about half an hour, Delilah had cried as much as she thought possible. Slowly rising to her feet she removed the wash cloth from her arm and used some butterfly bandaids to patch herself up, wrapping it lightly with gauze before sliding a sweater on that she had on the bathroom floor before walking back into her bedroom and laying down on her bed.

— END OF TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!—