within the meadow √ h.s.

t w e n t y s i x

delilah was pacing through aisles at the store looking for one item. her mind was a mess, and for delilah, that never happened. everything in her head was muddled into panic as her heavy breathing picked up.

things were great, and everything seemed to be working in delilah's favor. lenny had gotten better and stronger, her relationship with josiah was strong and full of love, she had just visited her mom and siblings.

life should have been great.

she grabbed five boxes containing the future tellers. one careless night had led to the potential of disaster, and nothing seemed okay.

the lady at the register offered a sympathetic smile to the young, twenty two year old delilah with her life ahead of her. it shouldn't have happened like it did, nothing should have happened like it did.

as delilah was driving back to her empty apartment before josiah came home, she hardly realized the tears sliding down her cheeks.

everything is ruined, she thought.

she quickly grabbed the bag filled with boxes and as she was going to open one in the bathroom, she heard the front door close shut and keys being placed down. in a panic she shoved everything to the back of the cupboard below the sink behind all of the cleaning supplies.

"babe?" josiah called out. "you home?"

"yeah! i'll be out in a sec," delilah responded and flushed the toilet to make it seem like she had used it. her heartbeat was going wild and her cheeks were flushed.

josiah was sat on the couch flipping through the television channels when he saw delilah walk out. he smiled as she sat next to him and placed her head on his shoulder.

everything is ruined, she continued to think as she enjoyed the warmth of his body.

delilah never got to the boxes that week. whenever she had the opportunity she would push it off and avoid it. now here she was being screamed at. josiah had found the pregnancy tests shoved to the back when he was looking for glass cleaner for the mirror when he splattered water all over.

he was clutching the plastic bag with white knuckles as he screamed about how much he didn't want any of this.

"take the fucking tests delilah!" his voice was the loudest she had ever heard. "i can't believe we let this happen! there's no way i'm raising a kid!"

"do you think i planned this? do you think i wanted this to be thrown at me? this was a team effort! i didn't do it on my own!" delilah snapped back. delilah was quiet, and she was the kindest soul to anyone she met, but here she was rightfully biting back.

"take the fucking tests or so help me," josiah chuckled with bitterness lacing his every word.

"or what?" delilah breathed out. "you're leaving either way!"

josiah was quiet. his jaw was clenched and his brows were knit together with his fists balled up at his sides and chest heaving.

"we both know it's true! if i'm not pregnant we won't go back to normal after this fight and i wouldn't want to anyway, and if i am pregnant, josiah, you will be out of here faster than i can tell you the results! so why don't you start packing? grab your things and leave your key because i don't need you here," her face was red with anger but her chest ached with sorrow.

"leave and you won't have to live with the certainty of having your child somewhere in this world. i know you don't give a damn about if i'm actually pregnant. if you leave now you can have the illusion that there's still a fifty-fifty chance you aren't a biological father, so go," delilah said going into the bathroom and locking the door.