The Jones' family—well at least two-thirds of it—was sat in the living room watching movies on the CRT television. Delilah sat on the old, dirty couch cuddled into her mother's side. This was one of the few peaceful moments in the household.
That peace was soon disrupted by the home phone ringing. Layla paused the movie and went to get up. Delilah whined from the lack of warmth her mother brought.
Layla lovingly rolled her eyes at her daughter's behavior and continued her trek much to her daughter's dismay.
"Hello?"
A man's voice replied.
"Is this Layla Jones speaking?"
Delilah heard the conversation pretty much as soon as it started since it was so quiet; there wasn't a single other sound. She peeked her head over the couch in interest.
"This is she. May I ask who's calling?"
"This is Elliot, Brown & Montgomery law firm calling. We've seen some of the work you've previously done and are offering you a position here."
Delilah looked at her mom with wide eyes. Layla was an amazing, hardworking lawyer. Unfortunately, she didn't get many opportunities because her current firm was full of white, sexist, and occasionally racist men. No matter how much of her soul she poured into her work, it meant nothing to them.
Obviously this put some setback on money especially with the unequal pay between men and women. Delilah's deadbeat dad didn't help their situation; honestly made it worse. Kevin was always out, buying drugs and alcohol with whatever money he found. He caused stress levels in the house to go through the roof. Always yelling, starting arguments, and the occasional slap, or shove.
Layla looked over to her daughter, only to see her already staring. Her mouth was open in shock and she honestly couldn't speak right now.
Noticing her mom's surprise, Delilah nodded her head towards the phone so she could take the man's offer.
Layla cleared her throat and went back to the call.
"Um yes! Yes, yes. W-where is 'here' exactly?" Layla stuttered trying to keep the excitement out of her voice and remain professional.
"Ah yes. New York City. In the Greenwhich area to be precise."
This part worried Delilah. She didn't know if her mom could afford a new apartment let alone things for a move such as boxes or a truck. But it would be so much better to get away from this garbage town. Away from all the never ending racism, sexism, homophobia, and all that. She prayed to whoever was up there, if there was anyone, that her mom would be able to take this opportunity and let their life finally gain some light.
"Um, I would love to take you up on that offer. But how much are apartments in the area."
"If you're concerned about money at the moment we could pay for an apartment or anything else you need for the move until you're able to get on your feet properly."
Delilah swore she couldn't have smiled harder in the moment. They could leave, they could leave!
"Yes, yes, please thank you!"
"Great you can start next month."
"Thank you, bye!"
Layla looked over to her daughter with a loving smile and tears in her eyes. Except the tears were for a different reason than usual. They were happy tears.
"We're getting away baby. We're getting away."
Delilah immediately jumped up to hug her mom. The pair couldn't have been happier.
Layla and Delilah immediately started packing the few items they owned. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get them by.
↹↹↹↹↹
The next day, Delilah met up with her only friend, Miles Adams, at the local cafe.
When he looked up from his phone, he was greeted with a mixed between a sad and happy face. It looked quite odd to Miles.
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Um I'd stop making that face. You kinda look constipated."
Delilah quickly relaxed her face and let out a sigh.
"So I have some great news, but I also think it's kinda bad for us."
Miles has never been more confused in his life. He didn't have a clue as to what she was hinting at.
"So my mom got a great job offer at a new firm and it has amazing pay."
Miles smiled brightly at Delilah. He knew they had some financial struggle but never to what extent. He was clueless about her dad though.
"D, that's great!"
"Yeah, I know! But the firm is in New York..."
"...so you'd be moving away," Miles finished with a frown on his face.
Miles frowned. The two had been friends since kindergarten. He was obviously happy for her. He honestly wished he could leave this town too.
Many times Delilah had voiced to him that she thought she'd go crazy without him, or she'd shut everyone out. Miles wanted to avoid that happening at any cost.
"When are you guys leaving?"
"She starts next month. We're probably leaving a week or so before school starts."
After that conversation the two friends spent every waking moment they had together. Whether it be sleepovers, going to museums; it didn't matter. They didn't know when they'd see each other again.
↹↹↹↹↹↹↹
It was a day before Delilah would be leaving this hell-hole. She was currently packing some last minute items and things to keep her occupied during the ride. Her mom decided to just drive over to their new apartment since it would be too expensive for plane tickets. They lived in Mississippi, and unfortunately it was in the area where most conservatives reside. Confederate flags were just about everywhere in the town and Delilah was just ready to bounce.
She was excited for a place where she could openly express her opinions on politics. Where she could protest or walk down the street without getting shoved every five seconds. She knew racism existed everywhere, but she just happened to be in the middle of a lot of it.
Delilah was snapped out of her thoughts when the front door slammed closed. She knew it couldn't be her mother because no matter how angry she got, the poor door didn't do anything to her.
Before the girl could go investigate, she heard glass shatter. Her mother didn't really own any glass, so she figured it must've been her father. Even if he were home he would never willingly waste a bottle of liquor so he must've been beyond furious.
Delilah got scared, even though she was scared everyday of her life. Each day she wondered if her father would come home and what would when he did. In five seconds she got her answer.
⇆⇆⇆⇆⇆⇆⇆⇆
Layla was driving. The trip came earlier than they planned. She was constantly taking glances at her daughter just to ease the fear she felt in the pit of her stomach.
Delilah sat in the passenger seat, eyes wide and never leaving the road ahead. She sat as stiff as a board not wanting to upset her angry body even further. Her ribs hurt. Her everything hurt. There was caked blood at her temple and blood was still seeping from the cut next to her lip.
"...lah? Delilah? Delilah?"
Her mom's words were mere background at first, for she had been trapped in her own world. When she finally came to, she blinked and tears trickled down her cheeks.
Delilah looked around and noticed they were at a gas station; a deserted one at that. It was quite far away from the town, so no one was there. She looked towards her mom and saw that her eyes had unshed tears as well.
"Come on baby."
As Delilah was slowly unbuckling herself as to not upset her injuries further, her mom had gotten out of the car to help her out.
Layla's daughter had gotten the worst of the beating for a reason she did not know. The only thing she knew was the amount of guilt she felt; she felt guilty because she couldn't protect her daughter from Kevin's malicious ways. She felt a mountain's worth of self-blame.
Layla got her bruised daughter out of the car and let her put as much weight on her as needed. Layla thought it was the least she could do for getting her daughter into this mess.
Delilah saw her mom's face and recognized the look instantly. She gathered up as much strength as she could to at least try to lift her mother's spirits.
"Mom, you know it's fault right?"
The silence gave Delilah her answer. She didn't want her mom blaming herself for anything that was caused by her devil of a father. Before the two could walk any further, Delilah stopped completely.
"Lilah, what are you doing? We need to clean your cuts and-"
"I need you to tell me you understand that this isn't your fault. I need you to understand that nothing you could have would prevent this. I need you to stop blaming yourself. Please."
Layla took a deep breath knowing how stubborn her daughter was.
"Sweetheart, I understand that it wasn't my fault but that doesn't stop the overwhelming guilt I feel. Nothing you say is gonna make me stop feeling it, so let's go into this gas station and get some stuff to clean up."
The moment the two walked through the door, the employee's eyes went to them. He eyed them with sympathetic glances. The man had seen the Jones' around town; in fact he was in the same neighborhood but rarely had been noticed. The older man, Gregory Scott, knew of all the mistreatment colored people faced in this town. When he saw the ladies of the family through the door, all he wanted to do help.
"Let me help y'all," Gregory said all of a sudden.
Both females jumped at the sudden noice, especially jumpy from the events that occurred less than 3 hours ago.
Gregory walked from behind the counter and grabbed some medical supplies, "Anything else y'all need? I'll pay for it."
Layla quickly interjected, "We couldn't possibly let you do-"
"I wasn't asking. Now I done heard people talking bout y'all moving so grab some snacks. I know ya gonna be on the road for a while."
How the neighborhood found out about the move was beyond them. Probably how Kevin found out.
So Layla held on to her daughter a little tighter and reluctantly went over to the snack area and grabbing and a couple bags of chips and water bottles. They walked over to the counter and placed them down.
Greg placed all their items in bags. Of course Delilah didn't agree with the usage of plastic bags but this man, that they barely knew, was about to give them free stuff so she bit her tongue.
He proceeded to help the ladies to the car and helped Layla get Delilah in the car.
He had no idea of what happened to the two, but he didn't pry and the Jones's were thankful for that.
As the elder Jones got into the car and revved up the engine, Greg knocked on the window. Layla proceeded to roll it down.
He handed her a sheet of paper, "I don't care where y'all at or what time of day it is. You need somethin' you give me a call, ya hear?"
"Yes, Mr. Scott," both the ladies spoke in sync.
"Call me Greg."
Both Layla and Delilah thought similar things; that was the nicest person they had seen in a while and they knew they needed it.
⇆⇆⇆⇆⇆⇆⇆⇆
So they continued their trek. From a small town, full of close-minded people, in Mississippi to the concrete jungle.
The ride was long and tiring, but eventually made it to their new apartment the next day late in the evening.
Delilah got out the car, again with her mother's help. As they were waking in their new hallway, she heard a very chipper, high pitched voice. She did not feel like socializing, especially not with anyone's child. So she quietly rushed her mom into the apartment. Before they closed the door she heard a faint, 'they must be new, I'll have to greet them later.'
The child couldn't help but roll her eyes. She refused to make any friends here unless they so happened to be Miles.
Layla knew how antisocial her daughter was; heck she got it from her. She could only hope someone would help her daughter out.
Delilah sat on a conveniently placed chair that her mother brought in for her to sit on. Layla went back outside to get the few belongings they owned which only ended up taking 10 minutes total.
The pair soon got ready for bed although it was still quite early. Before they could do anything though, there was a knock on the door. Delilah was feeling a lot less sore so decided who came to be nosy today.
She opened the door, "Hi! I'm Riley, I live-"
"Don't care," and slammed the door in her face. She couldn't be bothered to deal with anyone's shenanigans today or any day for that matter.
Layla came out of the bathroom after getting ready to go to bed, "Hey was that someone knocking on the door?"
Delilah looked around for awhile before shaking her head, "Nope you must be hearing things."
Layla knew what she heard and went to open the door. This time though, there was the child and an older lady that looked like her mom.
"Hi, I'm Topanga. This is my daughter Riley. We live across the hall."
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Layla. My daughter in here is Delilah," she pointed to Delilah who was lied across the couch that was provided with the apartment, "she was the one who slammed the door in someone's face. She's sorry about that."
"No I'm not!"
"Don't mind her, Lilah come say hi!"
"I'm good!"
"Alrighty then. Um, we just got here from a long drive and we were getting ready to go to bed. We can talk later if you'd like?"
Topanga nodded her head, "Yeah that'd be great. We'll talk to you all later. Night!"
As she walked away, she thought about the bruises she saw on the lady's skin.
Layla shut the door and looked at her daughter with an eyebrow raised.
"Really?"
"Ma, you know I don't like people and I'm tired; I'm cranky. That's not a good mix, you should know this by now."
Layla chuckled fondly at her daughter, "Go to bed. Love you."
"Love you too Ma.
_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_
So first chapter done! Lemme know what y'all think. Idk if law firms really provide people with apartments or anything like that, but this is the world of fanfiction so I can do what I want. You can imagine Greg as whoever you want, but I kinda imagined him as an older white man. He may or may not be in future chapters. Be sure to vote comment and whatever. Ly❤️
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Fanfictionᴅᴇʟɪʟᴀʜ ɪs ᴀ ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ sᴄʜᴏᴏʟ sᴛᴜᴅᴇɴᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ᴅɪғғɪᴄᴜʟᴛ ᴜᴘᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ. sʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇsᴛ ғᴀᴛʜᴇʀ, ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴇʀ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴀs ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ. ᴡʜᴇɴ sʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴏғғᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ᴊᴏʙ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ sᴛᴀᴛᴇ, ʟᴀʏʟᴀ ᴊᴜᴍᴘᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ɢᴇᴛ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ʟɪғᴇ ғᴏʀ ʜᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪᴅ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴘᴀᴄᴋᴇ...
