Heiress In Blood

five

The dark was something Delta had alway been afraid of. No matter how hard she tried to conquer her fear - to be fearless and brave like her father - she'd never succeed. Almost as if the dark didn't want her to succeed.

She remembered one day when she came back from school. She spoke to the councilor about her fear and learnt how to control it in time, but she was too eager to test out the new theory.

She dug through the kitchen draws, searching for batteries for her flash light. When she did, she proceeded to close all of the heavy curtains and shut the lights off.

The flashlight was bright enough, lighting up her entire path before her. She felt brave, ready, and so she climbed the high staircase and smiled at nothing in particular. Switching off the flashlight, she rolled it down the staircase and sat in the silence, ready to control it.

She heard a sound, a creak on the wooden floors below and widened her eyes.

No, she thought. I must control it.

She shut her mind off, trying to focus on other things, on how vilians and monsters don't really exist, but she was fooling herself and she knew it.

She stretched forward, ready to fetch the flashlight from the bottom of the staircase, but froze when she heard the stairs squeak, as if someone heavy was climbing them.

She bit her lip, silencing herself as she heard the person's breathing get closer.

Suddenly, her mind froze. She thought of her first school excursion, the picnic she had with her parents in the new park in 00, when her mother prepared that batch of hot cookies.

Delta opened her eyes and found herself on her bed, both of her parents crowding a doctor in the corner of the room.

"Mom?" She called silently, but no one heard her.

"I don't understand how she could've done that. She's still so young." Her mother said, worry pouring into her words.

"The symptoms seem to only have one answer. I'm just glad I made it to you before any actual doctors did."

Delta's mother looked around the room and noticed Delta's opened eyes. She rushed towards her, smiling sweetly.

"School?" Delta asked sadly.

"No. It's Saturday." Her mother chirped.

"No." Delta said confused. "It's still only Thursday."

Both her parents and the doctor looked at her, worried. The doctor took some steps towards her, a syringe in his hand. He poked her in her arm, watching her squirm in discomfort. Then again, she closed her eyes and drifted into a peaceful sleep.

***

Delta switched on the light in her bedroom. It was dark enough, the high window in the opposite direction of the sun.

Delta wandered what a room like this was originally meant for, and did her family have no other guest room available?

She peeled off the skirt from her body and flung it in a corner of the room. When they came back from the market, Delta had to remove the coat and boots and place it on a rack, but her skirt still carried enough dust to get her allergies started.

It was only her second day in Obrion, but she was already tired of being tucked under layers of fabric, hiding her every curve and dent. She thought of jeans, and how they clung to her. Tank tops and crop, showing off her perfectly golden coloured skin, her lean figure which she spent many hours in the gym for - now, all concealed.