The Armory (First Look)

Chapter 1: Blessed are the Peacemakers

The Sword of the Spirit: Delaney Esther Grayson

Dedicated to

Marshall Hugh Dellaripa

You know, there's a funny thing about living in a tiny small town that should practically be called a village. You can't sneeze without someone knowing you offended some random person you didn't even realize you offended when they felt a small wet drizzle when you sneezed. Another funny thing about small towns is that everybody is either related to one another or they are friends with someone who is related to you. But the worst part about living in a small town is that small town's tend to house some pretty messed up secrets, and me.....well I am one of them. I'm Delaney Grayson, and my middle name is yet another small town tradition. It's Esther. My grandma refused to call me anything but Esther when she was alive because she was probably the most religious person in Hardscrabble, Indiana.

Another little fantastic thing about small towns is that in order for secrets to be hidden, the police in town are part of the 21.3% of corrupt cops in the area of the U.S. that we live in. They also don't really do much to help the community out. The police in my town are also sadly fond of my favorite late night snack. There's a local donut shop called Deputy Donuts and they serve the best donuts so it's not exactly a stereotype that the police fall victim to......the donuts are just THAT good. I mean, come on, who doesn't love a good donut? Anyways, I was about to order my favorite donut when I was interrupted by the worst cop in the entire town. I have a feeling he was the one that killed my Mom and hid her murder.

"Let me guess, two glazed donuts, and a medium coffee with 2 creams and 10 sugars?" Officer Daniels ordered for me and I nodded at the woman at the desk. Then I turned to Officer Daniels and looked up at him.

"Don't you think it's kind of sad that you can remember my order after about fifteen mornings of me placing the same one, and yet every crime that's ever happened here is STILL unsolved?" I called out the worst man in town and he got closer to me and put money on the counter. Clearly a guilty conscious, because why else would he pay for my order.

"Delaney Grayson. You always have been a bitter little thing ever since your mother was found dead beside those railroad tracks. Here's the reality sweetheart, she killed herself. She threw herself into the train's path. No mystery there. It's not unsolved." He thought he was being slick with this but I had a secret of my own and he was really barking up the wrong tree.

"Yeah she was definitely stabbed by a train." I sighed and the man laughed.

"A piece of debris hit the body after the train hit her. It was suicide." The officer insisted but my mother was never mentally ill and would never have done that to my father and I.

"Well according to the coroners report, that piece of rubble was a 10 inch steel serrated blade and it stabbed her about 7 times. But you already know that Officer Daniels, don't you?" I wasn't going to let it go that easy. I only just got my hands on this report a few weeks back and I was ready to butt my head in and be my stubborn little self. Officer Daniels looked shocked though and so I idiotically assumed the worst thing and made things ten times worse than it could have possibly been. "Or your just an idiot. I knew that was a possibility too, I was just trying to be polite." I said this and then left and that's when this happened. I later found out about this information but it happened after I stupidly walked out.

Officer Daniels pulled his phone out and called someone.

"Delaney Grayson is the next hit. She got ahold of the coroners report. She knows too much." The officer said and that's when Miranda at the donut shop texted my Dad. She warned him and told us to get out of town while we still could. But like I said, I didn't know this at the time so when I rode my bike to my house I was caught off guard. I walked into my house and my father was packing everything up into boxes.