What We Become

A Note to You

Caleb was dragged to the living room where the windows were boarded up. Whoever was here last must have known what they were doing to protect the house.

"Fuck.. fucking Christ, that hurts." Caleb growled, looking down at his already swelling ankles. Michael stood above, arms crossed while he did his best to keep his "I'm the one in charge" composure.

"Here, let's take your shoes off and see if we can find ice or something. I'll get the bag for Advil." Delilah tried to comfort her best friend, maybe the comfort of knowing they had pain killers would ease his irritability.

After successfully feeding painkillers to Caleb, Delilah took this as an opportunity to secure the rest of this house.

"Michael, stay here with him and see that he doesn't get up." Delilah demanded in a hushed tone, seeing her friend lightly dozing on the old couch.

Michael didn't give her any grief, just a slow nod as he moved to lean against the wall, peering through the cracks between the boards on the window.

Delilah snaked her way down the hall, moving slowly as the creaking boards whined beneath her feet. She hadn't explored upstairs yet. Her feet moved as quietly as she could manage, hoping they had no unexpected residents. But judging by the smell, they seemed fairly safe.

Delilah pulled out her speciality knife as she approached the stairs, her eyes darting to the dark corners of the interior to make out any shapes. Or faces.

Silently, she moved up the stairs, checking to listen for ominous creaking of the boards. The dust had settled heavily on the banister, was this house truly barred up and abandoned?

Delilah crept to the top, keeping her knife raised in case it was needed. Once she had stopped climbing, Delilah looked to her left, to her right. Only one door was to her right, might as well start there.

Upon entering the lone room to the right, Delilah happened upon nothing but a closet with a few blankets and miscellaneous sheets and pillow cases. She would bring one down in a minute.

Then to her left, two doors remained, both shut. One step at a time, Delilah approached the oddly clean and kept wooden entrance.

It was a relief to find that the door was unlocked. Keeping her knife held up, Delilah opened the door to what she would find a bedroom.

A wafting, rank smell encompassed the room, but perhaps that was the open window giving way to the world outside. Why was this window not boarded? A neatly made bed, a dusty dresser and mirror, a desk with a wilted, dead rose in a dried up vase.

This was haunting.

Delilah crept forward, suspiciously eyeing her surroundings as if something were going to come to life. The bed hadn't been touched since being very nearly made, pillows fluffed, sheets crisp.

The dim light of the cloudy day illuminated the room, showing Delilah it's dull colors. The atmosphere had shifted, to one which her heart grew weak.

On the desk, she observed, a folded note tucked neatly under what looked to be a music box. Who would she offend if she decided to read it?

Delilah slowly lowered her knife, slipping it into its holster on her belt. Gently, she moved the box aside to pick up the note, finding it was signed with red lipstick, turned pale and flaky.

Delilah unfolded the note, finding a couple pictures fell out and onto the desk. One, of a couple. A happy couple.

The other, an ultrasound photo strip.

"To my dearest husband Alex,

Things have changed. You have changed, and so have I. I don't want to imagine my life without you in it, you've become my rock, my safe place, my soul. I will be nothing without you here, I have turned into nothing without you here. My greatest wish is that you're safe. I know you will come home. You will come back to me, and we will be waiting. I wasn't strong enough for Myleah, I'll never be strong enough for you. But that's what we do for each other, isn't it? We make the other strong. With you gone, I don't think I could survive the hell that's been brought upon us. What has happened? Where do I go? Where are you? I can't put Myleah through this, and I hope when you come home, you'll join me and your little angel.