Delilah’s days had been mixing together. In an endless stream of agony. As her school beat her down with assignment after assignment. With her only time of peace was her walk home. That beautiful walk. The cherry blossom tree’s in full bloom, raining down pink and white flowers as delicately as fallen sand. Between home and school, this was the only moment that wasn’t filled with chaos. The early summer breeze glided through her hair as if her strands were the strings of a harp. The music of the summer air soothed Delilah’s soul. Only a few more weeks, and she would be done with school. Done with the people, the teachers, the endless piles of papers.
This walk has always been perfect. Blissful. The mark that day had left on this moment had begun to fade. Her body didn’t shiver when she passed Old Creak Road anymore. The weather same as that day, the sun beaming down. The sky was a blue so captivating it made you stop and stare. The trees danced with the wind leading them. Delilah breathed it all in. The moment she did it all seemed to fade. The once blue sky turned a lonely grey. The rustle of the trees and the approaching footsteps, all became too real too close to what had happened last year.
The air became bitter. Delilah looked around in terror. She couldn’t live through this again. A demanding voice rang out from behind her. She recognized it. The slur of the syllables. The rasp beneath the words. Delilah swung around, facing him face to face. This moment rang in her head, as she had been through this before. His smiling conniving and rigid, his grip on her arm tightened. He began to drag her to his car. She closed her eyes. That fuzzy feeling melted in her mind. This oh-too-familiar moment stung at her.
She opens her eyes, grabbing his hand. The energy rushing through her veins. As she pushes him away, she jets off in a sprint. His pounding footsteps followed closely behind. The wind pushed her back. Her face is red with memories floating through her head. She darts behind a tree, catching her breath. This couldn’t be happening, this can not be happening once again. Her ex-boyfriend energy radiated off of him. Dark looming energy. Last year after Delilah had broken up with him, he had shown up in that exact spot, claiming he just wanted to talk with her, just wanted her back. After months of abuse, she couldn’t let herself back into that space. She wasn’t strong enough to fight him off. She remembers the feeling of his hands around her wrists. Of how he shoved her into his car and locked the doors. The clicking sound still plays in her head.
Delilah kept repeating in her mind, you’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe. His screams come from behind her. She shoots her hand over her mouth, too scared to look back. She could hear his approaching footsteps. She catches her breath, trying to not make a sound. The overwhelming roar of her heart and the rapid swing of the branches bathe in the wind shook her into a spiral. Clenching her eyes, wishing for it all to disappear, to go away.
She shuffles in her bag, searching through old receipts and lip gloss. Digiggng deeper and deeper, until she felt it graze her fingertips. She stands up slowly, turning her head to see him only a few feet away. She glides out from behind the tree. The fear once in her eyes was no replaced by rage. His eyes widened, his smirk faded as delilah whipped out a tozor. One she had bought after last time. She toldherselff she would never experience this again, and that’s a promise she was determined to keep to herself.
He lunged forward. Immediately the teeth of the tazor stunned him. As Delilah motioned the police over to her, a smirk emerged on her face. When the cop asked what was so funny, all she could answer with was “ Deja Vu”.