C H A P T E R   F I V E
The Window

"I guess we should get home now." Laurie mumbled, nibbling on his bottom lip.

     "I guess so too." Delia looked at him again, her head was no longer rested on his shoulder but she was able to stare longingly at him, fluttering her eyelashes delicately, trying not to look starstruck, her eyes slowly dropped to his neck and then rested back in her own lap.

     "I'll take you home," Laurie stood up and reached his hand out for Delia to take as she stood up as well. Their legs carried them along down on the grass filled with bugs but they didn't care.

     "My house first or yours?" Delia asked, they were fast approaching Laurie's house at that point and it was the point of no return from there on out.

     "Yours, of course." He said it dubiously but it seemed that he was sure with his decision in the end.

     "Laurie, are you sure? I can walk alone, I don't want to bother you." He shook his head profusely and insisted on walking with the hesitating girl.

     "W-why do you do that?" Delia questioned after walking only a few steps away from where they were moments ago. "Do what exactly?"

     "You walk with me, you're too nice... to everyone." Delia uttered and he grinned.

     "Because that's what a gentleman does." Laurie glanced at her for a split second, glancing at Delia's blue eyes, then to her long blonde hair that cascaded down her shoulders and back. She let out a little titter as she processed what Laurie said.

     "What's so funny, Lia?"

     "You're calling yourself a... gentleman?" She snickered and Laurie rolled his eyes in a sarcastic way.

     "I am a gentleman and you... are a fine lady." They both let out huffs of laughter, their cheeks burning.

     "Why thank you, kind nobleman." The blonde girl curtsied, facing her friend as he started bending over from laughter, "Of course, m'lady." They both continued to laugh continuously until they couldn't breathe for much longer, breathing heavily, the two had tumbled down the hill as they neared Delia's home.

     She could see the lights still on although they were soon to be put out. She was glad to have apologized to Laurie, she wouldn't have stopped thinking about it if she hadn't, maybe she would've started to have nightmares but about him.

     "Will you come to find me tomorrow?" Delia mumbled a questioned, grasping his wrist which stopped Laurie from walking, he stared straight at her, right into her eyes, though it felt as though he were staring to her soul.

     "Of course," he finally let out an answer, inhaling sharply as he nodded to make sure Delia got his answer clearly. Laurie then looked down at her hand still holding onto his wrist as if it was for dear life. His fingers untangled Delia's fingers from his wrist, finally letting his wrist free with a bit of lost blood circulation.

     "Uhm..." her cheeks started to turn a dark reddish-pink but it was dark, Laurie hopefully couldn't tell.

     "Are you blushing, Lia?" He smirked.

     Wrong again, Delia.

     "You're very straightforward sometimes." Delia sighed, she then beamed and wrapped one arm around his shoulder. The gesture seemed to startled Laurie as he had jumped.

     "Thank you..." Laurie cleared his throat and Delia started walking again, although it was kind of uncomfortable with her arm still around Laurie's shoulder. Delia felt strange...? Nevertheless, the awkwardness ended soon enough when she arrived at her house. They were nearly at the front door when Delia heard loud bickering coming from inside the large home.

     "I guess this is the—"

     "Wait!" Delia stopped Laurie from finishing his final goodbye for the night with a halt as the girl huddled close to the door where she could hear her Aunt Marie and Uncle Daryl... arguing?

     "Why did you agree in the first place?" Delia heard her Uncle yell at the top of his lungs. She averted her eyes to look back at Laurie, he had huddled behind her, looking back on it now, it seemed like an excuse to stand close to Delia. His face said it all, he was nervous.

     "This is all apart of your plan to make your sister love you again! And you're going to ruin this child's time while trying to do so!" Her heart ached and soared for Uncle Daryl's nice words but Delia's heart was quickly shattered again when Aunt Marie began talking once more.

     "Oh, stop acting as if you care for the girl! You and I know very well that all you said was pure garbage!" She screamed at him, Delia could almost hear her Uncle's whimpering through the wall separating them. Aunt Marie must've looked so horrifying at that moment, but greedily, Delia made a mistake, her face bumped against the door with a loud thump as she had tried not to hit her head against the front door. She quickly lifted her head off the door and turned to Laurie.

     "Run, Laurie, run." Delia ordered him in a husky tone, he hesitated, staying a few more moments to say, "I-I..."

     "Find me tomorrow," She placed her hand in his shoulder, reassuring him before giving him a light push. He ran off as quickly as he stuttered. Thinking fast, Delia knocked a few more times on the door, pretending that she was knocking before. Their voices were quieter now but they continued their fight.

     "Auntie! Uncle?" Delia asked, knocking a few more times on the door. Their voices dropped to silence. Her aunt opened the door, surprised to see her niece.

     "Delia! My dear, I'm glad you're home! I didn't expect you to be back so early." She gulped, trying to hide the sweat that was growing on her forehead.

     "I didn't expect to either, but there wasn't anything else to do." Delia answered and stepped inside. Uncle Daryl was sat at the dining table trying to cool down.

     "Hi, Uncle Daryl." Delia waved and he looked at her for a split second, nodding coldly. Delia thought they knew she had heard at least a wink of their argument but they pretended they didn't know anything.

     She walked impatiently up to her bedroom, sighing briefly before breaking out in a full-on panic. Delia's chest started getting hot, red and heavy, she was breathing rapidly, up and down her chest went. Her breaths were quick and large like she was drowning and reaching for air. It was the feeling again, a small headache hit the girl, growing quickly as she couldn't sort through the tornado of thoughts. Her hands cradled her face and she sat there on her bed, rubbing her temples harshly, trying to ease the pain. It was dark outside and late, Delia heard her Aunt blow out all the lights in the house as she headed to her bedroom to sleep.

     Delia didn't want to be home, she didn't want to at all, not an ounce of her wanted to stay here, the longer she'd stay, the more the feeling would sink into her and drown her as she'd crawl on the floor. It made her feel nervous, which makes the feeling worse, it makes her queasy. Delia remembered the cool breeze of the wind from outside and she started to crave it, she wanted it, maybe it would make her feel better somehow, or worse. There was a small lock on the window but it was waiting for her to open it, it might stall her, but it won't stop her.

     Delia's hands played with it, checking all its nooks and crannies, and realized she was just being plain dumb. She flipped the old switch. A loud ear screeching creak coming once the window was opened. It was rusty and got stuck while Delia was flipping it but soon the cold breeze hit her face and it felt like the weight on her shoulders was being taken off one at a time. She breathed in the air with her mouth open, the coolness flew down to her throat which soothed her even more.

     Delia's head twisted back towards the door to her room and she saw Uncle Daryl standing there with a confused look on his face. Anxiousness washed over her again and she started to fidget with her fingernails.

     "Delia, what are you doing...?" He asked softly, he was certainly tired but it was nice he was checking up on her.

     "My room... it was getting a bit too warm to bare, I was just letting in some fresh air." Delia lied, the lie came out quite smooth and convincing, Uncle Daryl nodded and waved her goodnight before walking off.

     Delia let out a breath of relief and closed her door shut since her Uncle didn't. She wanted to sleep but not there, she wanted to lay in the cool prickling grass and stay there, maybe she would get bug bites on her pale skin and her Aunt would know something was up. That's when a dusty lightbulb turned on in Delia's head, she'd sneak out and go to Laurie's house. He is Delia's friend after all, and her only friend... surely he would help her and maybe she could tell him how she was feeling. But this was just a bad idea, he won't understand how she feels, he'll think she's crazy but Delia needed this. And she's will do something for herself just this once.

     Delia's window was set quite high, the girl had to reach her leg over the windowsill before getting a quarter of herself out. Her hands gripped onto the window frame tightly as she placed her other foot out. The rest of Delia's body followed which delighted her but terrified her at the same time. She felt a rush of adrenaline and excitement, yet a large amount of what she felt was fear. She was dangling from her window and hopefully, no one had seen. It was a long and deep fall but she let one hand fall to her side, then the other. While in the air Delia curled herself into a ball and felt bruises start to form immediately on her body whilst she hit the ground as softly as she could've. She groaned multiple times, trying to keep a tight record of her volume, she didn't want to wake anyone.

     With determination, Delia jabbed the fleshy palm of her hand into the ground. Lifting herself up slowly but surely, using her hand as support. There were spots of brown that stained her nightgown, she seemed to smear it more as she tried to wipe it off. Delia had a motive that night and it kept her moving through the star-filled night.

     The walk to Laurie's house seemed to be quicker than before, maybe she was getting used to walking the long while there or maybe she was just too excited and walked faster. Delia thought hopefully that her aunt and uncle didn't notice was she gone.

     Finally, she arrived.

     Delia grabbed a pebble and threw a few at the rooms that seemed to be occupied by someone. She didn't want to throw too hard but with one slip of her hand, she managed to cause a crack in a windowpane. Her mind seemed hazy during that moment, she wasn't thinking about her actions and their consequences until she felt a gut feeling in her stomach.

     There, she heard some loud noises coming from inside, loud enough for her to hear it. Delia had to run away quickly, for if the person wasn't Laurie, she would be in deep trouble. A curly-haired boy threw his head and neck onto the window, trying to see who had damaged it. As Delia peeked out from her hiding spot, she then walking out from her hiding spot grinning.

     Delia saw his face light up with surprise and confusion. Laurie stared at her from his window and she saw him disappear from the window. A few moments later, there he was, standing in front of Delia huffing.

     "Surprised to see me?" Delia questioned, feeling the emotion of guilt as she realized what she had done. Laurie gave her an awkward grin and waved at her, walking towards Delia with his hands in his pant pockets.

     "I hope you're not going to rat me out for causing some cracks in your window." Delia commented once more, Laurie just shook his head lazily from side to side.

     "I'll tell my grandsire about this, that you did this on accident. What're you doing here so late in the night?" He inquired the girl, stopping right in front of Delia with his arms crossed. He tried having a stern look on his face but failed miserably.

     "What are you doing awake?" Delia perked an eyebrow at him, he laughed and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Well, because you threw a rock at my window. It was alarmingly loud, you know? Why're you here, Lia?"

     "I couldn't stay at my house. It was taunting me, I was dying."

     "That's exaggerating." He pointed out and Delia nodded lazily.

     "You seem to be the solution to all my problems ever since I've come here to Massachusetts." She mumbled shyly, Laurie grinned and gestured for her to follow him. Delia followed him quietly into his house, her hand brushed against the banister of the stairs that led up to his room. There was a chair that sat in front of a desk, Delia pulled the chair out and sat in it while Laurie creaked his way to his bed. And then... they started talking about way too many things to recall.

     The way the moonlight shone through the window in front of the desk and onto his face, Delia almost saw the little stars twinkle in his eyes. She wasn't sure how the night ended but she knew she had fallen asleep while she was looking at Laurie in silence, trying to come up with another conversation topic. The two stayed up way too late to be good and when Delia felt a tap on her shoulder, she jolted up from surprise.

     Her eyelids lifted almost immediately and she blinked multiple times to clear her blurry vision. Slowly, Delia could see clearly and focus on the things in front of her. She wasn't sitting on a chair as she had thought but laying on a soft mattress wrapped in a blanket. The girl hoisted herself up using her forearms and saw Laurie standing next to the bed staring at her with his chocolate brown eyes.

     With his right hand, he reached down and took a large bunch of strands of Delia's hair and tucked it behind her ear. She looked like a beautiful mess.

     "It's 6 in the morning, I'm scared your Aunt and Uncle woke up and are searching for you." He mumbled as Delia stepped off the bed and onto the floor.

     "Thanks, Laurie." Delia grinned slyly, rubbing her neck with her right hand embarrassingly. Delia didn't want him to see the red in her warm cheeks after his gesture.

     "I should be going now, and thank you, Theo... for everything." Delia turned back to him for just a moment, beaming brightly as she waved to him and walked down the stairs and out the door. Delia was actually surprised Laurie's grandsire didn't notice her, he was sitting at his desk in his room in which his door was left fully open.

     Delia tried to shut the door as quietly and quickly as she could and ran home. Sweat beads started forming at her hairline and the cold air was sure to give the girl a cold as she ran as fast as she could.

     "Aunt Marie? Uncle Daryl!" Delia practically screamed as she walked into the cozy house.

     "Delia? Where have you been?"

A U T H O R ' S   N O T E

So Delia's a bit crazy at the end, I mean, who can judge her. We all make strange decision in our
lives lol. Sorry for the grammatical errors you may find, whether it's in this chapter or all the rest!
This book is correctly unedited, though I try to
edit it a lot before I update. Let me
know what you guys think!