The Angel in Hell

R E T U R N I N G

Starman by David Bowie <3

~

The Drive from Durham to Northamptonshire where the Manor resides is about 3 hours on a clear day with no traffic. Lucky for Delilah, today was one of those days. The spring sun was warm but not too bright, instead it left a sort of glowy haze that engulfed the towns that would eventually fizzle out into pure countryside. There weren't many cars on the road either, most people were still at university or work or anywhere but the motorway headed for Saltburn.

Delilah lay across the entirety of the backseats, cuddled up in a blanket and leaning her head against a pillow stuffed with closed being supported by the luxury interior of the car door. She cracked the window down slightly, allowing a cool breeze to float past her nose, fluttering her long eyelashes and stray baby hairs around it a mad sort of dance. She lay there, headphones in, listening to 'Electric Feel' by MGMT that spouted out from her small, square and light pink coloured ipod. The five o'clock sun-set light cast a golden blanket over Delilah as a spring shower began to trickle through the open crack in the window. Small rainbows formed in the center of the water droplets laying calmly on the shut window across from her and for the first time in two weeks Delilah felt quiet.

Since she got the call from Lacey, everything had been loud. It was as if she could hear every muscle and tendon in her body strain and weep, begging for rest despite the fact she barely left her bed. The thoughts flying around Delilah's mind became blurred, not one of them cohesive enough to make sense of, all muddled up creating one big horrendously unorganized symphony of sound. And she hated how so cliche it all was. The mind fog, the random breakdowns in the middle of simply trying to find a pair of pants to wear, the inability to even brush your teeth. Everything the movies tell you about grief is true. It's all consuming even when the person you grieve for was as bad as Delilah's father was.

Delilah was asleep within minutes, in fact she barely got through a quarter of the playlist she had jumbled together while waiting for the car to arrive back at Durham. But she wasn't complaining, this was her first proper rest in a long time and boy would she need it for the weeks of partying, tennis, polo, swimming and whatever else was to come this summer. Before she knew it, Delilah awoke to the sound of crackling gravel beneath her, she could recognise that sound anywhere. She sat up and patted down the wild nest of hair that had formed at the back of her head while she slept before peering out of the tinted glass window.

There it was. In all its glory, Saltburn stood grand as ever with the pale gray stone shining amongst the greenery of the perfectly kept lawns that surrounded the manor. Within seconds Delilah had spotted her bedroom window. Second room of the third floor, the one with a little balcony housing a small metal table, the handmaid ashtray her and Venetia had crafted when they were 14 sitting politely on top, and two matching chairs. Along the beam of the balcony were a set of dainty little warm-toned fairy lights that would shine through the dark nights that fell over the Manor. Delilah loved this house but something about it at nighttime was somewhat unsettling so the lights were almost a beacon of safety, a sign that in her room nothing bad could happen. Elsbeth, the mother to Felix and Venetia, once told Delilah that Venetia often sleeps in her room with the fairy lights on and shining through the cracks in the curtains that conceal the balcony. Venetia was always different from her family.

The driver opened the door to the luxury Roles and Delilah slowly stepped out of the car. While the driver handled her suitcases, she walked up the five stone steps toward the grand front door. Delilah took a breath, filling her lungs up with every ounce of air she could, readying herself to begin her first Saltburn summer completely alone. Exhaling, she knocked three times against the mahogany wood doors and before they knew it they swung open revealing and ecstatic Venetia.