The Angel in Hell

H E L L

Turning Tables by Adele<3

~ 

The night felt long. Delilah came too a couple of times, briefly, in hopes to see that gorgeous, blue eyed boy sleeping next to her. Time must be going slowly tonight, she sleepily thought before being overcome with slumber again. She did this a few times, each time feeling hope, then disappointment and then falling asleep before she could check the time.

~

'Wake up. Wake up. Wake fucking up, Delilah! Venetia screamed into Delilah's ear, forcing a wave of panic to wake her from her sleep. 'Where's Felix!' She half screamed, half almost cried.

Delilah was so fucking confused- 'He's right-' Delilah looked over to his side of the bed. His neatly folded pyjamas and her handwritten note lay untouched. 'Oh' she said, still confused but rather more confused about Venetias weird behaviour, standing above Delilah, ams gripped onto the covers and a stress rash creeping onto her chest.

'Nobody can find him.' She shook.

'What?' Delilah sat up, grabbing hold of Venetia trying to comprehend the situation.

'Nobody can fucking find Felix' She cried, 'Nobodys seen him since like midnight.'

'I was with him-' Delilah began

Venetia cut her off immediately, 'Where?' She snapped.

Suddenly Farleigh, who'd apparently come back to the manor unannounced. 'The lake' He said, almost numb, 'We haven't checked the lake.'

Venetia sprang to her feet, forgetting what Delilah had said, sprinting out of the room, feet thudding against the old wood floors.

Delilah ran out after her with Farleigh, gripping onto the winding bannisters of the staircase as she stumbled down the steps, desperate to get to the bottom. She was still confused, still misunderstanding the situation- Felix was missing in Saltburn? Is it possible to be lost in your own home? Either way, the tension in the air was thick with fear as everyone who was anyone opened and closed cupboards in a hurry, unlocked every forbidden door, calling out the youngest Catton child's name.

After what felt like seconds, Delilah was submerged within the khaki green water of the pond, reeds and stray leaves brushing against her skin as she gripped at the water. She half hoped to find him, mostly wished not to because if he was in this disgusting, most likely vomit, cigarette butt and decomposed party streamer water, he wasn't coming out- not like himself. The three of them scoured the lake floor, rarely coming up for air, pushing themselves to the limit as to leave no inch unsearched. There was nothing but empty bottles to pull to the surface.

Finally they all emerged to the top, gasping for air slightly but barely noticing it through the dangerous amounts of adrenaline pumping through every vein in their body. They panted gently, murky water dripping from their hair on their foreheads, soaked clothes making it harder to dread the depths.

'No-no this is good' Venetia shook, sort of maniacally, laughing gently. 'No this is great actually.'

'We'll find him, V' Farleigh comforted

'I want to check again.' She demanded, before disappearing back into the cool water.

Farleigh and Delilah followed without hesitation, beginning the search all over again, turning over stones they knew wouldn't be hiding anything but mud. He wasn't there. They rose to the surface again. Venetia said it was fine. Again. They looked again. And again. And again. He. Was. Not. There.

And then she screamed. Elsbeth screamed from within the maze. A guttural, broken, horrified scream that pierced every square inch of air for miles. Everything stopped and everybody looked toward the maze. Nobody moved, nobody could because it was that sort of scream that provokes your fight or flight mechanism and nobody wanted to fight. Nobody wanted to know. They wanted to stay put, in blissful ignorance. Nobody wanted to see what made Elsbeth scream because they thought they knew. They knew what they would find when they got to her, when they got to him.

Delilah felt differently. Delilah immediately sprung out of the water, clawing at the muddy grass of the banks, pulling herself up and stumbled to her now running feet. Everything was automatic in her body, everything instinctual and out of control. She'd never run this fast in her life. She got a few paces into the maze and everything came crashing down on her. She couldn't figure out the route to the centre. For the first time since she was fucking six years old, she coulnd't figure this stupid maze out. She couldn't do the one thing she needed to do to get to Felix. Then, like the angel she was, Venetia ran past Delilah, grabbing her forearm and dragging her the right way. The two ran hand in hand through the bushes that now looked dead and decaying. They didn't even stop to think, to slow down and proceed with any ounce of caution, no thought of self-protection crossed their minds before suddenly they were in the centre of the Labyrinth.

They saw Elsbeth. She was supporting herself on the stone of the statue, one hand on her stomach as she suppressed her wretches. She shook violently, head to the floor, silent tears running from her eyes and staining her black, silk nightgown. She spat onto the grass, removing the sour bile and saliva mix that formed in her mouth as she tried to contain the bubbling, desperate to input, emotions that sat heavy in every morsel of her body. The girls grabbed each other's hands tighter, Farleigh running up behind them, stopping in his tracks as well.

The three slowly turned to their right, knowing what they were about to see but desperately hoping it was some sort of optical illusion, some sort of collectively bad trip. Maybe it was still Oliver's party, maybe they all took something and maybe that meant this was all just imaginary. Maybe Delilah was going to wake up in a minute and Felix would be in the pyjamas she laid out for him, the note she wrote sitting protected somewhere on his bedside table, his hand on her stomach as she had imagined. Delilah shakily inhaled, closing her eyes as her body halted from turning. She exhaled. She paused. She opened her eyes.

'Oh my god' Farleigh slapped his hand to his mouth in disgusted shock.

Venetia let go of Delilah's hand, falling to the side of the body laying on the ground. Delilah clutched at her stomach, sickness rising into her mouth. She leant to the side, the contents of her digestion coming up all over the blood stained grass. She wiped her mouth, rigidly standing straight once again. The sight of him was like nothing she'd ever seen before. His eyes were screwed shut as if he'd passed terrified of whoever had done this to him. He was cold, he had been like this for a long time. Blood ribboned down his face from a glass-filled gash on the side of his head, pooling on the grass behind him. His left cheek was puffy, coloured in blues, purples and pinks in swollen bruises.

Venetia stroked at his hair, ripping off part of her soaked shirt and removing the blood stains from his face. She leant her ear down to his mouth a few times, desperately hoping to hear the small whistle of a breath, a croak in the back of his throat, but there was nothing. Delilah knelt beside her best friend, pulling the sleeve of his hoodie over her fingers and using the damp material to help Venetia clean him up. No matter how much they wiped at his grey skin, nothing removed the pinkish stain of his own blood. The glass sticking out from the side of his head glistened in the afternoon sun, making it appear more vicious, more deadly, as if it could fly out of his flesh and dive straight into somebody else.

'C-call an ambulance, mum.' Venetia exclaimed through her sobs. Elsbeths said nothing. 'Mum?' she said again. 'Mum!' she was screaming now, 'Call a fucking ambulance m-maybe we can save him.'

'I can't' Elsbeth replied, in a monotone, dark sort of voice.

Delilah took a hold of Venetia, cradling her into her chest, rubbing her back in circles in a soothing attempt. Delilah couldn't quite process what was happening as she rocked her best friend. She couldn't quite understand how she was sitting beside Oliver. And he was dead. A glass-filled gash in his head and Felix nowhere to be seen.

A cloud of fog smothered Delilah's brain. She couldn't speak, she couldn't think. It was a defence mechanism in a way. Because if she could think, she would only think about Felix and if she could think she would be able to talk. And if she could talk the only thing that would come out is...

'Did fucking Felix do this?'

~ 

AN: I listened you guys xxxx

Stay safe, you are loved<3