Chapter 13 Delilah
THIRTEEN
DELILAH
Dale and my father had been drinking, quickly spiraling into an alcoholic binge, the two of them singing terribly as the boat idled.
I remained curled up in the corner of the cabin, my face throbbing, the bleeding from my nose having finally stopped.
There had been no sign of Reef, or any other sharks for that matter.
I just wanted the night to end. I wanted to go home.
“Hey, Chief,” Dale slurred. “You ever notice how red your daughter’s lips are?” I glared at him. “I mean she always wears this perfect shade of red. I bet the color stains real bad too.”
My father groaned, his head resting on his hand. “I don’t want to talk about that stuff.”
“Alright.” Dale threw his hands up. “I just find it interesting how all these murders only started once she came back to town.” My father’s brow furrowed. “Say, didn’t you go to school on the West Coast?”
My dad shot to his feet, finally connecting all the dots.
“That’s not possible.” I stared at him, wide eyed and fearful, as he rushed to me.
Shit. He grabbed my arms, yanking me to my feet, shaking my body.
“Delilah Marie Bailey, you tell me the truth right now!” I cried out as he squeezed me tight, hurting me.
“Are you the Angel of Death?” His eyes trembled, the rank stench of alcohol soaking his breath. “Answer me!”
Just then, the boat rocked violently. Reef. I fell from my father’s arms as he and Dale rushed to the deck. I crawled on my hands and knees, holding the cabin door open as I watched Reef circle the fishing boat. I smiled viciously—he came back for me.
“How did it find us?” my dad yelled.
Dale glanced back, catching my eyes as I dropped my happiness and swallowed. “It’s her.” I held Reef’s tooth in my hand as Dale ran at me, dragging me onto the deck. I kicked and yelled, trying to get away, but there was no use.
“Her?”
Dale tossed me down, pulling out a fishing knife and pointing it towards me as I groaned. “Think about it, Chief. The shark didn’t appear until your daughter magically did, and now it’s back? There’s something going on between those two. I can feel it.” I swear to God, I’m going to kill you, Dale.
“What are you suggesting?” my father asked.
Dale grabbed my neck as I sat up, the blade inches from my eye. “I say we use her as bait.”
My father remained quiet for a minute, lowering his head. “Do what you need to do.”
Dale laughed, sticking his tongue out. “Looks like you’re going for a swim.” He released me, stepping away for a moment to grab something.
“No. No!” I tried to crawl away, begging my dad as tears fell from my eyes. “Please, Dad. Please! Don’t let him do this. Please!”
My father raised his hand, silencing me. “You dug your grave. Now it’s time you lie in it.” He walked away, stepping into the cabin, leaving me along with Dale.
“I hate you!” I screamed as Dale began to wrap a large rope around my body. I kicked and scratched at him, my nails cutting his face, but he fought back, restraining me. “I hate you!” I screamed again as he hooked the rope to something, forcing me to my knees. “Fuck you!” I shrieked.
Dale tugged at the end of the line as a crane lifted me, my hands bound behind my back.
He dallied towards me, retrieving a bandana from his pocket.
“Let's see how well you can survive without that pretty little mouth of yours.” He balled the material up and squeezed my face, forcing it into my mouth and nearly gagging me.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Dale took his knife out and bent down.
His fingers curled around my thigh, touching the blade to my skin as he took his time, cutting me.
“Can’t hunt a shark without a little blood.
” He grabbed the rope, pulling me to the back of the boat, stepping away as he began to twist a crank.
The crane lifted me off my feet, my body dangling about two feet above the deck.
I tried to scream, but the bandana muffled me.
Dale grabbed my ankle and positioned me over the water, grinning with excitement.
“You ready for another one of your late-night swims?” he asked, approaching the crank again.
I shook my head, crying, blood dripping down my leg. “Too bad!”
As he punched a button above the crank, the rope immediately loosened.
I screamed through the bandana as my body crashed into the water and quickly began to sink.
The sound of something hitting the surface caught my attention as I glanced up to see Dale chumming the water.
I furrowed my brows and growled, bubbles forming around my mouth.
My thigh burned from the salt water as my blood clouded the dark water around me.
I glanced around, frantically searching the darkness for Reef, desperately hoping it was him who would find me first.
Movement in the distance caught my attention as I stared ahead, petrified of what I saw. A Great White quickly began to swim close, circling me. You’re not Reef. My heart raced, panicking as I tried to escape the rope.
The shark leered, sizing me up. I wiggled my arms behind my back, my lungs burning for air as I became frantic.
Shit. The shark brushed past me before it turned around and began to swim straight for me.
Shit. Shit. Shit! I screamed through the water as the Great White opened its jaws—only for something bigger to attack it.
Blood clouded the water. Reef had the Great White clasped within his jaws, shaking his head as he bit down, the crunch of the large fish’s body vibrating through the darkness. He continued to thrash and fight the smaller shark until it fell limp in his mouth.
Reef released the giant carcass and swam back around, aiming for me. My vision started to blur as I began to lose consciousness, fading away. I could feel him snapping the rope and dragging my body, but everything turned black. Reef.
“Delilah!” Reef shook me as I came to, coughing and spitting out water as the air fiercely returned to my lungs. He gripped me tight, holding me close. “You scared me.” We embraced for a moment, happy to be reunited.
“R-r-eef,” I stuttered, cold and tired.
He pulled back, staring at me as I spoke. “We have to kill them.”
“Delilah.” He brushed my cheek sweetly. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Yes. We have to do it. Tonight.” He hugged me close as I glared at the fishing boat bobbing nearby. “I need you to get me back on the boat.”
Reef kissed me. “Be careful, Barracuda.” I smiled, half laughing and half crying as he dipped into the water.
I waded in the ocean for a moment when he reappeared, gently nudging me. I grabbed his top fin, rage and anger fueling me as I pulled my knife from my back pocket and flipped it open. “Let’s end this.” I tapped Reef’s back as he began to swim towards the boat.
“I’m telling you!” Dale yelled. “I don’t fucking know how she did it, but she escaped!”
“For fuck’s sake, Dale! Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to tie a proper knot?
” He and my dad continued to argue as Reef helped me onto the boat, my knife firmly between my teeth as I climbed on board.
He descended back into the water as I crouched, gripping the blade and quietly stepping around, attempting to remain unseen.
“I tell you what, Dale. You can figure this shit out, ‘cause I’m going back inside that cabin and drinking until the sun comes up!” My dad barged into the cabin, slamming the door behind him as Dale stood at the back of the boat, frustrated.
I crept closer, readying my knife and raising my arm when he turned and stopped me.
“Chief!” he screamed, forcing my hand open as I dropped my knife.
“Chief! I got her!” Dale punched me in the stomach as I barreled over.
He grabbed the back of my neck and held me against his chest, pulling out his own knife as the blade kissed my throat, my father rushing out.
“Now hold on. Stop it. Let her go, Dale.” My father slowly stepped forward.
“Let her go? You just let me toss her into the ocean as bait, and now you want me to let her go?” He pushed the knife harder against my skin as I cried out. “No!”
“Now you listen here! I’m the Chief of Police! Let her go, or I’ll be forced to arrest you.”
Dale laughed hysterically, the blade moving along my skin. “God, you’re funny. But no, I think not.” He began to drag the blade as my father yelled with me.
“Reef!” I screamed.
Almost immediately, Reef lunged onto the back of the boat, knocking me free from Dale as he fell overboard. My father tumbled over, hitting his head. I scrambled along the wet deck, one hand holding my neck as I turned to look at Reef, smiling as I nodded.
He slowly sank back into the water as I raised my head and exhaled into the cool air. What a fucking night.
“Delilah,” my father cried, and I tilted my head to see him on his back, blood covering his face. “Help me,” he pleaded. “Please.”
Something dark shifted inside me. I grabbed my knife, the blade scrapping the deck as I slowly stood.
He watched me as I approached him. “Delilah this, Delilah that. Oh save me, Delilah!” I waved my butterfly knife around, toying with it.
“Boy, I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t drown when you let him use me for bait! ” I snapped.
Reef suddenly appeared at my side, looping his fingers through mine. My father’s face twisted, completely lost.
“Daddy, this is Reef. Reef, this is my dad, the man who beat me and my mother every day until it killed her. Then, he beat me twice as hard twice as often until I finally was able to get away.” Reef glared at my father with disdain.
“I thought by leaving, I could start over and have a normal life, but that didn’t work, now did it, Daddy?
” I growled as my father continued to bleed out.
“No, when I finally made it to the West Coast, I started going to school and really fitting in…until one day, I was put in a really naughty situation, and my father’s temper came out.
I had no control over it; it just happened.
And then, it kept happening, again and again and again, until I was forced to leave.
So I came back home. It’s funny, I thought by returning, my life was over.
” I glanced up at Reef with a smile. “But it has only just begun.” He kissed me, the two of us breathing in one another.
I had to force myself away as he nodded, releasing my hand.
I stood over my dad, watching as tears fell from his eyes.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Reef is your killer shark. And I’m your Angel of Death, obviously,” I giggled.
“What happened to you?” he asked.
My expression fell as I dropped to my knees. “You did.” I shoved my knife into his abdomen, quickly yanking it back before plunging it back in again, repeating the motion again and again. My father cried out, screaming for help as I laughed, puncturing his chest and stomach.
“Help! Help!” I mocked, giggling as I continued, listening to the squelching sound of his flesh, his blood covering my face as I stabbed him.
“No one can hear you scream!” I stopped, panting as I used all my energy.
He gasped, wheezing as his bloodshot eyes landed on me.
“Tell me, how does it feel to be so helpless?” I asked.
“To know that, deep down, the evil you carry and took out on your family is what created this.” I motioned to myself.
“How does it feel to know that you didn’t just kill mom—you killed yourself? ”
He tried to speak but couldn’t, dying, laying stock still as he stared up at me. I smiled, relieved by his death. Finally. I’m free.
Reef helped me to my feet. “What now?” he asked, rubbing my lower back as he kissed my neck.
I looked over to see an orange flare gun, grabbing it as I grinned up at him. “I say we burn it.”
Reef’s mouth curled, as equally excited as I was. “You got it, Barracuda.”
Reef dove into the water as I stared at my father’s corpse.
“You don’t deserve my kiss,” I snarled. I walked to the back of the boat, spotting Reef’s fin as I gently lowered myself into the water and onto his back.
He carried me away from the boat, allowing just enough distance as I raised my arm and aimed.
“Burn in hell, Daddy.” I pulled the trigger, firing the flare straight into the boat as it instantly exploded, fiery debris raining down around us.