aftermath

CHAPTER ONE - First Encounter

After my mom and Tyler had left, I started making my way towards the dorms. I could see people walking around with their bags, despite it being a Saturday. After everything sad that happened earlier, it was still a beautiful day. Birds were chirping, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, and people were chatting with one another. Ding! Oh, my phone went off, guess I better check it. I continued to walk while checking the message. That's my specialty.

Unknown

Click the link below to win a free iPhone!!

Stupid scammers. I clicked the block button and deleted the message from my phone. I rolled my eyes at the fact and decided to forget about it and go on Instagram. I see all of these pretty girls, and wish that I looked more like them. I sigh, and like a few posts on my explore page. I put my phone away and then-

Thump.

"What the hell? Watch where you're- oh, sorry about that," the unknown person said. My box fell to the ground and I heard a shatter of some kind. I gasp as I fall to my knees, opening the box as quickly as possible. The girl in front of me stared at me like I was crazy. I dug through the box trying to find what was broken. A shard of glass cut my finger, but I still searched through the box.

"Oh no, please don't be the picture!" I say, digging through the box.

"What picture?" the girl asked, kneeling down to help me look. She sounded sincere, but I knew if I were to talk to her right now, I'd be yelling at the top of my lungs. I ignored her, still searching through the box. At this point, everything was strung out against the concrete path. Both of us were looking until she stopped, picking up the picture of me and my mom with the glass broken. Some pieces were still intact, but everything else had shattered.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do?" the girl asked. I didn't respond, and took the picture out of her hands. I put everything back in the box and finally said something to her.

"Thank you, for helping me," I say, staring at her. She smiled.

"Of course! I wasn't just going to let you dig through glass yourself."

I laughed and thanked her once again.

"So, are you new here?" she asked. "I've never seen you around campus before."

"Yeah I am, I just got here like ten minutes ago. Oh, and that picture is of me and my mom. Not that you asked or anything-"

"I thought so. My name is Delilah, what about you?" she smiled. Delilah stuck her hand out for me to shake. My hand was covered in blood, so I politely turned down her handshake.

"I'm Lillian, but everyone calls me Lilli for short," I responded. "I was actually just heading to my dorm."

"Oh, which building is it in? I can help you look for it if you want," Delilah offered.

"Um yeah, it's in Building C."

"Oh shit, we're in the same building! What's your dorm number?"

"A-15," I responded.

"Aw that sucks, guess we aren't dorm mates then. I'm on C-10, but you can always visit if you want to. Weird question, but do you have a boyfriend?"

The question felt so out of place, especially since I just broke up with Tyler. I answered the question reluctantly.

"No, not anymore actually. I used to but we broke up because we decided long distance would be too hard on us. He came with my mom to bring my things with me and to say goodbye, but they're on their way to the airport to go back home to South Carolina, Charleston specifically."

"Wow, sorry about that," Delilah said, fixing her nose ring. I never really noticed her appearance until just now. She had beautiful wavy black hair that flowed evenly with her shoulders. Her eyes were a whimsical blue color. She had a silver nose ring pierced through her right nostril. Delilah was gorgeous if I was being honest. She was dressed in a short, black lacy dress that matched perfectly with her hair. Delilah was wearing black high top converse and wore a cross necklace and heart earrings.

"Yeah, but it's okay though. I'm sorta glad. We had some trouble in the past-"

"Hey, you don't have to talk about this in front of a complete stranger you know. We should get to know each other more first, right?" she interrupted.

"Oh yeah you're right. Do you want my snap?" I asked, hoping she would say yes. I don't really ask people for their "snap". I'm not all that popular anyway, so I barely use the app. Sounds stupid for a college girl, right? But I thought I'd ask anyway, since she seems pretty cool and wants to talk more.

"Oh yeah for sure! It's delilahh-69"

I entered her username into my phone. A bitmoji that looked just like her popped up, and I pressed add.

"Sick! Okay miss Lillian, let's talk later tonight? There's a party tonight and I thought maybe you'd wanna go? By the way, a lot of hot guys go here, so this is your chance to find a totally hot boyfriend," Delilah smiled, and winked.

I laughed at her last sentence.

"I don't really go to parties though-"

"Well, you do tonight! Here's my number."

I heard a Snapchat notification on my phone and noticed that it was from her. I opened it and saw an attachment for a phone number. Saving it to my phone, I made the contact name "delilah" and turned my phone off.

"Thanks! I guess I'll call you at... 9? Or is that too late?" I asked.

"No, that's perfect actually. Meet me in front of the building at ten okay? See you later!"

Delilah flashed a smile at me and made her way in the direction she was already heading in. I checked my phone to see that it was only four, so I had plenty of time to settle in my new dorm. I picked up all of the glass pieces from the picture frame (carefully this time) and threw them away in the nearest garbage can. Picking up my box of belongings, I made my way towards Building C, A-15.

The elevator ride was short, thank God. I did not like elevators, the idea of them scared me. There are only three stories, A, B, and C. Delilah said she lived on C, right? I continued walking all the way until I got to the door leading inside of my dorm. I inhaled, then exhaled slowly. I opened the door and I got immediately hit with the smell of marijuana.

What the hell?

I coughed and fanned the air in front of my face, almost dropping my box again. Suddenly, my eyes were met with another pair of eyes, staring at me directly.

"Who the hell are you?"