Wrong Number, Kid

Texting Delilah

Tony took Peter's phone when he sent him to do homework, since he knew that it would be a distraction. Well, that, and he wanted to see who he was texting. Peter went to his room, and Tony unlocked his phone. He smiled at the home screen, which was a selfie of them both, then opened his texts. The top conversation was with someone named "Delilah," and Tony didn't know who that was. He scrolled through the conversation and suddenly became concerned for this girl. The tone that she has in her texts just didn't seem right as he read them. He decided that he was also going to start texting her to see if he could help her.

?
Hey kid

Delilah
Who is this?

?
I'm a friend of Web.

Delilah
How do you know Mr. Web?

?
He lives with me.

Delilah
Why should I trust you?

?
Why should you trust anyone?

Delilah
You aren't helping your case.

?
Look, I get that you shouldn't trust someone you
met over text and have never spoken to in
real life, but seriously kid, I read your texts
to Web.

Delilah
Are you a teenager like Mr. Web, or are
you an actual adult?

?
How did you know that Web was a teenager?

Delilah
The amount of emojis he uses.

?
Fair enough. I'm an adult. He's my kid.

Delilah
So, Mr. Parent it is.

Mr. Parent
What? Why Parent?

Delilah
I don't like not having a name for you. I
feel like it fits. If you don't like it, I can change
it. I sometimes just make decisions. Sorry.

Mr. Parent
No, kid. It's fine.

Delilah
Sorry, Mr. Parent. I need to go. I have to
actually do my homework. Bye.

Mr. Parent
Bye, kid.

<<Tony>>
I get the feeling that something isn't right with this kid. She apologizes for stuff before she gets a reaction and just seems off. I like that she was cautious, but it was almost like something I have seen before. I set Peter's phone aside for when he was done with his homework, and decide that I need to ask him about her.

Time skip, because why not?

<<Peter>>
I go back into the living room when I finish my homework because I want to text Delilah some more. I go to get my phone from Mr. Dad, but he puts his hand on my phone when he sees me.

I ask, "What's going on?"

"Peter, what do you know about Delilah?" He responds.

I froze. How did he know about Delilah?

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Mr. Dad explains, "I saw that you were texting someone, and they were making you smile. I haven't seen you smile like that in months, so I wanted to know what was able to make you so happy, and I saw Delilah. I'm not going to lie, I read your conversations, but I got a bad feeling. I started texting her, and I got an even worse feeling. Do you know any more that what the texts show?"

I shake my head. "We have only ever talked through text. I also got a weird feeling, but I don't know what exactly. She seems nice, but some of the things that she said are just too familiar."

I look down, because I have experienced a lot of stuff. I can't imagine her having to go through difficult times, but I already know that she lost her parents, and she didn't want some guy getting mad at her.

"I don't want her to know who we are yet. She already seems to have a lot going on and she doesn't need more danger on top of all that," Mr. Dad says.

I nod, but I also want her to feel like she has some friends, even if she doesn't really know them.