Chapter 2: Where is she?

Delilah licked her lips as the princess slender formed passed through her throat. She could almost feel the elf land in the pit of her stomach, as a warm and fuller filling slowly rippled through her abdomen. She burped slightly, smacked her lips, and smiled………..then she came back to reality. What the fuck had she just done!?

“Oh no!” she screamed! “I just-I just-” She couldn’t even say it! She could actually feel the princess’ squirming inside her gut, her tiny hands pressing against the inner walls of her stomach. She had just..eat-eaten a living person. She had just kill-” No. There was still time. Delilah pushed herself off the floor with her still burning hands. She had to find a bathroom and reverse this situation now before it was too late! She scurried down the hallway as fast as her stumpy legs could carry her to the nearest women’s restroom. She gave herself a once over in the mirror, a truly pathetic sight, face scorched and covered in black ash, hair wild, eyes red, she hardly even recognized herself.

“Okay!” She said giving her face a slap. Then she pushed her index finger down her throat and gagged. Nothing came up. It wasn’t that easy to just vomit on command, she tried again and again slowly building a wave a nausea as she dry heaved over and over into the sink, generating more saliva that dripped into the bowl. A pain started forming in the pit of her stomach and she couldn’t tell if it was from her own efforts or the princess”. She lurched forward and finally expelled a small eruption of brownish-green, gooey bile into the sink.

“Princess!” she cried. She sifted through her own regurgitation with her pained fingers trying to find the small body of the princess, but there was none. She would have to try again.

Delilah slowly opened her eyes as the memory repeated over and over in her head with crystal clarity. That had been four hours ago. She hadn’t thrown up the princess. Not at the school not when she’d stopped on the side of the road while fleeing her crime scene, and not that night as she forced herself to expel multiple times in her own bathroom to the point of nearly fainting. The princess was gone, and she had killed her. She let that thought linger as she stared through the darkness at her ceiling. She tried to run through the logic, replay the scenario in her head. In a fit of anger and grief, she had swallowed princess Elixsana Mara Evercrest and failed to vomit her back up? How? It had been less than a minute between her consuming the princess and her attempt to undo her crime. She can’t digest something that fast, can you? She wasn’t a biologist, but she had to remember that the princess was part of an entirely different species. Perhaps her body literally couldn’t withstand the digestive power of her stomach acids.

“Just a sign of her own weakness.” Delilah gasped as that thought passed through her mind. How could she still be so bitter and hateful to someone whose life she’d taken? This wasn’t really her was it? She wanted to deny it but there was a certain, satisfaction in the realization that she could take a life, and in such a unique fashion. Eating someone. It was a power rush. The pure, animalistic instinct of taking satisfaction in eating something else. Princess Elixsana had been her prey, consumed for her nourishment. She had to smile at the fact that right now the princess was providing her with energy and nutrition, that the princess was literally a part of her, her smooth skin the color of powdered snow, her honey gold hair, and even traits that were intangible, her elegance and grace, her quiet and pure voice that projected so far, her genuine kindness, they were all now a part of Delilah Carne, and too her own surprise, she was happy about that, and that horrified her.

As the sun rose Delilah found herself having a surprising amount of energy despite the fact that she hadn’t slept a wink. The guilt coupled with the fact that she’d be going to jail soon gave her insomnia. She wasn’t an idiot, Elixsana was a princess, people would be looking for her. Everyone had witnessed the debacle at school yesterday. It was only a matter of time before people realized the precious princess was missing and Delilah would be the prime suspect. The only real question was how much time she had. A day? Maybe two? The police could be on their way right now, or perhaps they’d wait until she went to school on Monday and bust her in front of the entire campus just to make a scene. If she wasn’t hated already what little good reputation she possibly had would be shattered with her carted away for murdering someone in front of the entire student body. Wouldn’t that be great!?

She wouldn’t worry about it, or more accurately it felt like she couldn’t worry about it. After spending all night crying and laughing as her anguish and satisfaction warred with each other perhaps she was too mentally spent to fear for her future. She just, couldn’t care at that moment. Maybe she would when she was behind bars. She went to the bathroom to shower. She hadn’t actually washed since the explosion. She’d wiped her face, but black metallic soot still clung to her skin. Some of it reflected light and sparkled like glitter on her skin. She regarded herself in the mirror. She sighed at the wild mess that was her hair. The frizzles and curls shot out in every direction. She looked like a maniac. She resolved herself to forever have completely unmanageable hair, well except?.What? A tuft of hair above her forehead curled forward and swayed in front of her face like a leaf in the wind. Just great! Delilah licked her thumb and pressed it back. If bounced back in front of her face. She could just barely make out the shadow of it in front of her eye. She found herself laughing at this.

“Go, down silly!” she giggled. She hesitated. Why did she even care about this? She disrobed and hopped into the shower.

Twenty minutes later, Delilah emerged from the bathroom with a large beach towel wrapped around her waist. Then she screamed.

“Woah!” Byson screeched. “What the fuck!”

“Stop swearing!” Delilah yelled at her youngest brother. He was thin with short dreads and a Drake T-shirt on. Was Drake even still popular? “You’re ten...and get the fuck out of my room you perv!”

“Like anyone wants to see your fat ass!” Her brother taunted. “Dad said to come downstairs…..the cops are here.”

“What?!”

“Someone’s in troubllleee!” Byson teased.

“Get out!” Delilah screamed.

“Byson! Get your scrawny ass down here boy!” The voice of their father shouted eclipsing them both. Her brother visibly shook and darted away.

Delilah rushed to her window and sure enough a black and white was parked in her driveway. “Shit!” It was over already. For a brief moment she contemplated trying to make a run for it. Maybe she could crawl out the window and then climb down the wall and-. Yeah right? She lived on the second floor and had never climbed a day in her life. Even if she was an athlete which she wasn’t what were the odds of her escaping the pursuit of  a cop car? Then where would she go? She had nothing without her family. No that was a dumb idea, besides despite what she’d done she still felt like she was a good person, and good people took responsibility for their actions. Time to face the music.

Delilah walked downstairs ready to be cuffed and taken away from her life and family forever. She saw the uniformed officer in the room talking to her father of all people. The tall bald black man shook his head and turned toward her with a scowl.

“What have you done, girl?!” he  chastised. “You’re supposed to be the good one!”

“I’m sorry daddy?!” Delilah cried as she instantly broke down. “I didn’t mean to!”

“Joseph!” her mom’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “Don’t you put this on her!”

“It’s all that science shit, woman!” he barked. “Get’s people in trouble!”

“What?!” Delilah hiccuped. What about science?

“It ain’t her fault!” Her mother barked back. “Drew was there and he told me it didn’t even work!”

“Her older brother? What did he have to do with this?”

“We’re not trying to place blame.” The officer said clearing his throat. He was a well built man with short hair and a dusty black beard. She recognized him from that day in class when princess Elixsana first appeared. “We just want to ask her a few questions.”

“I ain’t letting you haul my baby away because of some science experiment!”

“Please, Ms. Calm down. We’re just trying to figure out what happened to the princess.”

Delilah jumped. This was about Elixsana! Of course it was.

The officer turned toward her. “The princess disappeared after the event yesterday. We’ve launched an investigation and we’ve found a few things.” The officer presented a plastic bag with a silver coil inside. It was glowing brightly much like the flowers from that mysterious field. “This is from your machine right?” The officer asked.

“Yes.” Delilah admitted. What did they know? Surely they didn’t guess that she ate the princess, right?

“We need you to come with us.” Officer Hendrickson said.

“No!” her mother shrieked.

“Relax, woman!” her father bellowed. “They can’t arrest her, right?” He shot the cop a look like he might attack him if he so much as reached for handcuffs.

“No we are not arresting your daughter Mr. Carne.” The officer assured. “We just need her to look at her device and see if she can get it working.”

Was that it? Delilah had to wonder what they were up to. So they thought her machine had something to do with Elixsana’s disappearance. Not her specifically. She wanted to sigh with relief but suppressed it to not look guilty.

“I-I’ll go with you.” she said. “I’ll try to get it working but I don’t know if I can. It didn’t even work the first time.”

“We appreciate your cooperation.” The officer said.

She waited in the auditorium behind a perimeter of yellow tape as no less than six officers searched the stage area. It seemed a little excessive for one missing person but Delilah supposed the princess deserved special treatment. She wondered if this many people would look for her if she’d vanished. Delilah slapped herself. She had to stop competing with a dead girl. She gave her machine an inspection. It was completely dead. The explosion had dislodged the bolts that held the metal rings in place.They were warped and bent and most likely wouldn’t spin the same way again. She doubted it even turned on at this point. She couldn’t repair it here, it would take time and money for replacement parts to get it working again.

“Can you fix it?” The officer asked.

“I..I’m not sure.” Delilah stuttered to him. “It’s broken, and I think some of the parts are missing. I don’t even half enough bolts here to put it together.”

Officer Hendrickson sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Knew this was a longshot.” he muttered under his breath.

“I-I’m sure I can fix it if I can take it back home!” Delilah offered.

The officer gave her a questioning look. He didn’t seem to believe her.

“Sure.” he eventually said. “I’ll see what we can recover first.”

Impossible! It shouldn’t have been that easy. It dawned on Delilah that they really didn’t think she was responsible. To the police, perhaps to everyone she was just a plain girl who had been embarrassed at the fair. Her device was just an improbable gamble. They didn’t believe her responsible or even capable of the princess disappearance. Hmmph! If only they knew. Actually? Why hadn’t she confessed yet? She wasn’t a cold blooded killer, just this morning she was struggling to even cope with her crime. She didn’t want to go to prison but she knew she was guilty and didn’t deserve to get away scott free. Now that feeling was starting to vanish, like maybe she was proving something to the world by escaping any repercussions. Little Delilah had gotten away with murder! That would show everyone! She kind of liked that idea.

She sat on a bench outside of the auditorium. Having nothing to offer at the moment Delilah was escorted out of the police’s quarantined area. She had her head down and shoulders slumped as she waited for them to scavenge as much of her device as they could. She sighed and let a small tear leak out. She hated herself. How could she even think such vile thoughts. She didn’t want to get away with murder or even be one at all. She’d eaten someone, killed them! She shouldn’t be happy about it or revel in the idea of being some secret criminal mastermind. Elixsana was gone, she probably had friends, family who cared about her. How worried must her parents be? Delilah sat in self loathing as she flip flopped back and forth about whether she should reveal the truth. Would they even believe her? How would she even prove that? All the evidence was literally down the drain by now or within her body itself. The disgusting thought of sifting through her own fecal matter for a corpse crossed her mind. She’d have to at least do that. Elixsana deserved to be given back to her family in whatever way possible. The dead should be honored.

“Gross.” Delilah cringed at the very thought. Doing something like that would just be the start of her punishment for this. She heard footsteps. She looked up to see Rocky of all people jogging toward her.

“Delilah?” He stopped jogging in place in front of her. He was dressed in a football uniform with cleats. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same thing.” she retorted sharply.

“Practice, duh.” He grinned. “You hear about what happened to that elf girl?”

“Not just an elf girl, ogre!” Delilah heard. That’s when she noticed a small being perched on Rocky’s shoulder. An elf. A boy elf. “She’s a princess, you savage!”

“Excuse, me!” Rocky snapped with his hands up in defense.

“Who’s that?” Delilah asked.

“Duke of Montgrad, Dartex Cavengold the third!” He announced. “First cousin to princess Elixsana!”

“Oh crap!” Delilah screamed internally. Someone directly related to Elixsana! What was he doing with Rocky.

“Before you say anything this isn’t my idea. He came here with Omar but the idiot got busted for joyriding and no one else wants to watch this asshole.”

“Watch your tongue, street trash!” Dartrex said. “My family can buy and sell yours a thousand times over. I’ve eaten meals more expensive than what your father makes in a month!”

“Rocky I don’t have time for this!” Delilah snapped. “The cops are-”

“They don’t think you had anything to do with that do they?” Rocky gasped.

“Why do you care?” Delilah asked with narrowed eyes.

“Please. We all saw that contraption blow up in your face quite magnificently.” Dartrex scoffed blowing some of his dark hair out his face. “I don’t know why Elis even believed in you or that thing, humans know nothing beyond their own narrow scope of the world.”

Delilah instantly hated this man. She wished she’d eaten him instead of Elixsana.

“I’m with you girl!”

“What?!” Delilah looked at Rocky. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” He looked at her confused. “You okay?”

“I-uh..I’m fine.”

“Look don’t freak out about the cops. They know you didn’t do anything they’re just covering their bases. Everyone said the princess just vanished. Like into thin air.”

‘If that’s what you wanna call it.” Dartrex huffed.

“And ignore this guy!” Rocky added. “Not all elves are cool after all!”

“Rocky just-”

“I know, go away.” he said. Delilah flinched at his callback. “I like what you’ve done with your hair!” he said before running off.

“Huh?” Delilah watched him jog off slightly confused.

Delilah walked through her front door with a box full of scrap metal that the cops had recovered. Not nearly enough to rebuild her machine. She found her father busy hammering something into the wall. The house they had was old, from her grandmother and alway needed repairs. He looked at her with a brief expression of relief before it turned to his typical grimace. “Georgia, she’s back. I told you ain’t nothing happen! Girl even went and got her hair did!”

Her mom came rushing down the hall to hug her. “My baby!” she said giving her a kiss on the head. “You were taking so long I thought they’d put you behind bars!”

“They didn’t do a damn thing!” Her father growled. “She just went out dicking around instead a coming home and maybe keeping her parent from worrying.”

“I came straight home, daddy!” Delilah insisted. Why would he think she didn’t

“So you just gonna lie to my face, then?” He looked at her sharply. “You old enough for that already. Tryna be like Drew now? You gotta be slicker than that! I see your hair did, girl!”

“Nigga, that aint nothing but a bit a peroxide!” her mama shouted at her daddy. “You have a friend do that for ya?” she cooed. “My girl growing up a little, find a boy she likes?”

“You ain’t bringing no boys in my house!” her father roared. “I don’t need no more grandchildren yet!”

“Don’t listen to him, baby.” Her mama comforted. “He was more worried than anyone. Just remember to call next time okay.”

“Yes, mama.” Delilah said utterly baffled to what they were talking about.

When she got upstairs she knew. She stared at herself in her bathroom mirror. Her hair, the curl that she’d been having trouble with, it was now blonde. Light blonde, and not only that but more of it had fallen over her face during the day giving her a single blonde crescent shaped bang. How in the world had that happened? It needed to go. She searched her dresser drawers for a pair of scissors to just clip these strange locks. She didn’t know how it was possible. Had some of the glowing pollen gotten into her hair that time she’d went to the other world. She didn’t believe that as she’d meticulously collected all the samples. She checked to find them all still in a bottle under her bed. They glowed softly in the darkness. No it wasn’t the pollen. Then what? It didn’t matter. She just needed to get rid of it. She brought the scissor blades to her hair then stopped before cutting. On second thought it didn’t actually look that bad. Actually it gave her face a little contrast and maybe highlighted her few features she’d dare to call cute. She was cute afterall, not beautiful but cute. She was.

“How darling.” she said to herself with a chime in her voice. She curled the blonde follicles with her finger and let it bounce in a twirl. Yes she’d keep it.

That night after dinner Delilah stared up at her ceiling like she had the night before. She’d made a decision. She would confess. She would confess Monday morning, using the corpse she would “recover” from her next passing as proof and take whatever punishment fate decided for her.

“Are you sure you want to do that, dear?” she heard. “Especially since it involves something so...unsavory. Although I suppose it would be funny to watch regardless of whether you’d actually find anything.’

“What?!”

“Because it’s gone, dear.”She heard a laugh. Delilah looked for its source and found nothing. “You won’t find anything!” Delilah felt something on her chest. Then she saw it. n a hazy form, near indistinguishable in the darkness of her room, but it was there. Something? No. Someone. “Because you ate me!” cackled Princess Elixsana Mara Evercrest. “You ate me Delilah, dear! Don’t you remember? You bitch.”