CALAMITY
omnikron.
15.
( a calling )
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ALTHOUGH SHE WAS still shaken from her talk with Jughead's dad, Delilah had developed a new found determination that spread throughout her body and filled the empty spaces in her heart. She was consumed by a new desire to find the truth; to discover who had ripped all happiness from her, and get her revenge.
If it came to it; if she found him and she had the opportunity to kill him for what he had done, she feared what would become of her. Because she knew, ultimately, that if she had a gun to his head, she would pull the trigger. Did that make her a bad person? Probably. That wasn't her problem at the moment though - she could think about that later. Delilah's first move was to actually find him - whoever he may be.
"Delilah, mom wants you!" Delilah stood from her seat at her desk at the sound of Betty's voice, and trudged downstairs to where Alice was standing with her phone pressed firmly to her ear.
"Yeah she's here..." Delilah hesitantly took the phone as Alice passed it over - putting it to her ear as she let silence ensue for a few seconds. The line crackled slightly, then a voice rang out.
"Delilah, is that you?" The connection was weak, therefore the voice faint, but there was no mistaking who was on the other end.
"Oh my god," Delilah looked to Alice, who nodded respectfully then left the living room to give her some privacy. Delilah sank down onto the sofa, resisting the urge to bury her head into one of the cushions as she let out a feeble reply. "Kasey..."
"Del, you still there?" Kasey asked, concerned when Delilah didn't speak for a few moments.
"Y-yes, yes! I just, I can't believe I'm hearing you. They told me you weren't allowed to contact me after I left."
"Strictly speaking, I'm not. But Alice called. I heard you wound up in the hospital a few days ago and I managed to pull a few strings and get a call back through to you." As Kasey spoke, Delilah gradually felt the tears well up and the familiar sense of overwhelming emotion start to take over. "Are you okay?" Those words were ones that Delilah had heard so often in the past few weeks, empty, hollow words that held no meaning - no sincere empathy... until now.
"Not really," Delilah took a deep breath as she began to explain to Kasey all that had happened since she had left England.
"Oh honey, I wish I could just hug you right now." Delilah could almost picture Kasey's face as she said that; forehead wrinkled as she frowned, her mouth turned down, a finger playing with a loose curl of her unruly red hair.
"Me too," Delilah held back a sob as hot tears ran down her face. Oh, how she ached to be held by understanding arms once more. Sure, Alice and Betty were as close as Delilah was going to get to family - people who cared for her like no one else in a time when the rest of the world seemed to turn their backs - but Kasey knew. Kasey understood. And most of all, Kasey had been the unfailing anchor to hold Delilah down when she had been at risk of flinging herself into the storm. And right now, Delilah needed her anchor more than anything. "I miss you."
"I miss you too, Del, more than you know," she sighed, her London accent ringing through the phone. "Thelma's still being a right pain in the arse - she's gotten even more bitchy since you've gone, and I didn't think that were possible!" Delilah laughed as she remembered the grumpy silver-haired carer who had never once had a good word to say about anybody.
"Maybe she misses me?" Delilah joked, - and despite the sadness hanging over her, she couldn't deny that just hearing the bubbly nurse's voice eased the pain. If only a little.
"Maybe," Kasey chuckled. "Hey, I'm going to have to go soon, my lunch break finishes in a minute."
"Do you really have to?" The innocence and raw emotion in those words made Kasey's heart break from around the world. The nurse sat at her desk, anxiously watching the clock, but wanting nothing more than to wrap her arms around the blonde haired girl - who, throughout her stay in England, had become like a little sister to Kasey Clairmont. She had watched her grow from a vulnerable, shattered soul to a thriving and confident young woman again: but she knew that during the time that Delilah had been away, her confidence has worn down again until it was barely there at all. Kasey heard it in the way Delilah's voice trembled slightly, almost crying out - save me.
The clock struck 1pm and Kasey knew her time was up. She watched Thelma amble down the corridor, her steely
eyes burning holes into her own, and she wished she could stay on the phone just a little longer, just so Delilah would know she wasn't alone in that moment. But alas, she could not.
"I have to go now," Kasey said quietly, pulling the phone away and hovering over the 'end call' button.
"Goodbye," Delilah called from the other end, and Kasey sent a prayer to whoever may be listening. Keep her safe. Please.
"Goodbye Del, and good luck," Kasey said finally, putting the phone down with a sigh. If what Delilah had said was true, that her parents and little brother had been murdered, and that she was going to try and track down their killer - then Delilah was going to need all the luck she could get.
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"Delilah, wake up!" The blonde haired girl shot up in bed to see Betty standing over her, a terrified look on her face.
"What's the matter?"
"Someone's in the house," Betty whispered back. Delilah glanced at the alarm clock by her bed, which read fifteen minutes past midnight. She gingerly pulled the covers off herself and got out off bed, hesitantly following Betty out into the hallway, where they both met Alice holding a gun. Delilah's eyes widened but she and Betty both crept behind the older woman as she snuck downstairs, ready to attack whoever had broken into their home.
They got to the kitchen and saw an ominous shadow looming in the corner before Alice yelled "Don't move!" and flicked on the light, revealing a man who squinted and raised his hand to shield his eyes from the brightness.
"Hal?" Alice exclaimed angrily. "What the hell are you doing?"
Hal saw Betty and Delilah step out from behind his wife, and sighed. "Put down the gun, Alice."
Alice ignored him. "Answer the question, Hal. What the hell are you doing?"
He moved to the dining table as Alice lowered her gun, then proceeded to place a stack of files across the wooden surface. Delilah looked to Betty warily, but she slowly eased into a chair opposite her father so Delilah followed suit. Alice reluctantly sat in the chair next to Betty, facing her husband with a frown.
"These are Sherrif Keller's files on the murder investigation," Hal explained and they were all immediately confused.
"How did you even get these, dad?" Betty asked, leafing through a few of the pages.
"I broke into his house the night of the last drive-in and took them," Hal
explained calmly.
"Well that's impossible," Alice scoffed. "FP already confessed to that."
"Well I have no idea why he would do that, because it was me. That's why I'm here. I had to destroy any evidence that lead back to me, to this family."
"Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Why would FP confess to something he didn't do?" Betty questioned, looking to her dad for answers.
"That's not important right now," Alice dismissed Betty. "I want to know why your father is stealing and destroying files in a murder investigation."
Hall sighed. "I was worried that it would all come back to Polly, somehow... to us. And that Sheriff Keller would realise the connection between our family and the Blossoms. He would think there was a motive."
"Wait, you mean about Great-granddaddy Cooper being killed by Great-granddaddy Blossom?" Delilah cut in. She knew the story, as did most people in the town. The cause of the rift between the two families went way, way back.
"Delilah... He wasn't just murdered by a Blossom," Hal paused, as if his next few words would cause the whole world to be sent spinning out of orbit. And by the look on his face, they very well might. "He was murdered by his brother. He was a Blossom."
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Barely twenty minutes later the Coopers and Delilah stood trembling - in their pyjamas no less - in the cold night air as Alice rapped vigorously on the huge front door of Thornhill. It swung open to reveal a dissatisfied Penelope, clutching her dressing gown to her with white, spindly hands. "No need to call the cops, we won't be staying long," Alice barged in, her family following behind. "Polly!" She called for her eldest daughter, who appeared almost on command at the top of the huge staircase.
"What the hell's going on, Alice? It's the middle of the night?!" Clifford Blossom demanded angrily.
"Oh I'm sorry to disturb the witching hour at Thornhill," Alice replied sarcastically, moving to where Polly still stood looking shocked next to Cheryl at the top of the staircase.
"Are you ok, honey?" Hal asked, reaching for the pregnant blonde.
Polly glanced at her dad confusedly. "Yeah I'm fine." Then she looked at her sister for answers. "Betty, what's going on?"
"We're here to bring you home, Pol," Betty said in her reassuring voice - the one that had even Delilah believing that everything would turn out ok.
"She's not leaving us!" Cheryl grabbed onto Polly's arm.
"She chose to live here, with a mentally stable family," Penelope sneered. Delilah noticed the woman did that a lot.
"I know all about your family, Penelope," Alice bit back, as the two ladies went head to head. "And the incest." Even Delilah was taken aback by that. The what now?
"What?" Polly cried. "What incest?"
"Your great grandfather wasn't just great grandad Blossom's murder victim," Alice's voice held disgust as she explained. "He was his brother. Meaning he was a Blossom."
"So what?" Clifford shrugged.
"So everything!" Alice yelled. "Starting with the fact that FP's confession has a few gaping holes in it!"
"He's being used by someone with a crazy motive. Like hiding incest," Betty stared down Penelope.
"You were disgusted at the fact that Polly and Jason were dating, because they were related," Alice accused.
"Nothing could be more purely Blossom than those babies," Penelope sniffed, referring to the twins Polly
would shortly have to give birth to - and Delilah thought she might throw up there and then. She wanted nothing more than to get out of that wretched house and be free of the dispicable people who owned it.
Polly was frozen on the stairs, staring down at her belly in mild disgust. "That's it Polly, we're getting out of here," Alice moved to grab the blonde.
As Delilah followed the Coopers out of the mansion, Penelope grabbed her arm and hissed into her ear. "You've made a grave error, little girl."
She tore away from the crazed woman's vice-like grip and grimaced. "No, I don't think so. And I'm not going to stop until I prove it." And then she was out; she was free and into the cold night air, and she didn't think she'd ever felt more relieved.
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The next day Delilah was still feeling weighed down by the previous night; a cold had crept over her skin ever since she'd walked into that house, and it was still sitting on her like an itchy blanket more than twelve hours later.
Tapping her fingers nervously on the table, Delilah anxiously glanced around the inside of Pop's, eyes scanning the other customers for any sign of a grey hat. Then the bell on top of the door rung, signalling that the someone new had entered, and in strode Jughead - his expression as cloudy as ever.
He slipped into the seat opposite her without a word, adding to the bundle of nerves tightening around Delilah's stomach; not to mention her heart.
"I didn't think you were going to show up," Delilah said first, not looking up.
"If we're going to do this, you can at least look at me."
Trying to maintain her angry attitude - she was still angry, wasn't she? - she looked up to meet his stormy green eyes.
"Last I heard you were on your way to live with your mom and sister. What changed your mind?"
"Well there's the small matter of my dad being locked up for a crime that he didn't commit."
"So you agree, he didn't do it?"
"I've heard my father lie enough times to know that he didn't kill Jason."
Delilah finally built up the courage to say what she needed to. "I went to see him yesterday."
"You what?"
Delilah squirmed under Jughead's angry gaze, shrinking low into her seat as his eyes cut like daggers through her own. "You heard me," she mumbled.
"Yeah, I heard you. I'm just wondering what the hell possessed you to go and speak to my dad!"
Suddenly angered by Jughead's response, Delilah stood up ready to walk out. "You know what, I came here to have a civil conversation with you - to explain myself and apologise, not be shouted at because you can't go five minutes without having a go at me!"
"Delilah, come back." She had made it half way through the diner before she relented and came marching back to the booth. "I'm sorry, ok," Jughead sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "What exactly did my dad have to say to you?"
Here was the part that Delilah actually came to say. "The night of homecoming last year, Olivia Evans, Peter Evans and Eli Evans all perished in a house fire which started from a gas leak in the living room. At least, that's what the reports say," Delilah paused to look at Jughead, who had a confused expression on his face as she spoke.
"When I was led on the stretcher, after they brought Eli's unmoving body onto the grass... I thought I saw something- someone slip away in the shadows. I could've been wrong but-"
"Where are you going with this, Del?" Jughead interrupted softly. He wasn't being rude, but he could tell talking about the topic was making her upset and couldn't understand why she was bringing it up all of a sudden.
"When I talked to your dad, he said that -" she paused. Would telling Jughead what FP said make things better?
"He said what?" Jughead urged impatiently.
"That a he killed my parents, to keep a secret," she settled on saying. Lying wouldn't get her anywhere.
"Why didn't he just tell you the name outright?"
"I don't know," Delilah shrugged. "But I'm determined to find out who did it. Will you help me?" Her question shocked him. "If not to get justice for my family, but to clear your father of a crime he didn't commit?"
Her eyes held such hope, such dispair, that it was hard for Jughead to say no.
He may not love her anymore - he may love Betty more than he ever thought he could - but there was no denying that he had felt conflicted for a long time on his feelings for Delilah Evans; despite the way she had treated him for years. Despite her slowly tearing him to pieces over a long period of time, despite her lighting him up when she kissed him back that fateful night, despite her leaving without another word then waltzing back a year later.
Despite all of this, a candle burned deep inside of Jughead, lesser than the one for Betty, but still bright, and it was setting him alight - calling out with its firey breath to help her.
So that's how he found himself nodding, restraining from putting a hand on hers in an attempt to banish the tears forming like crystals in her sapphire eyes. "Whatever it takes."
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N O T E
I'm supposed to be going on a trip in less than three hours and I should be sleeping but I legit just stayed up to write this. what am I even doing? sorry if it sucks.