Page 2 of Delilah
They’re all dead because ofme.
Chapter 2
I look forward to this day every year. I also dread it.
Every year on May 8th, Travis, Justin, and I travel to Meridian City to visit the family I lost too soon.
Edwin, my grandfather for all intents and purposes, didn’t make it very long after Christian died. I think he just completely lost the will to live, and he was already old and in poor health. I think hewantedto die, so just three weeks after Travis got full custody of me, he did.
I think Edwin had a lot of guilt about who Christian became after Thomas and Elizabeth were murdered, and didn’t want to mess up with me, so he didn’t even fight to keep me. I’m not bitter about it, because I know he was doing what was best for me, but at the time, it felt like he didn’t want me when all I wanted was my parents and my grandfather and my perfect little life tied up with glittery ribbons and ice cream andlove.
The last time I ever saw him alive was after the funeral when he held me so tight in his arms I thought I might burst, as he wept in the rain until his spirit finally dried up.
At four years old, I was briefly the richest person in the world. My age and Christian’s sudden death complicated things. The vacancy as CEO of Reeves Enterprises resulted in a power grab. Stuffy men desperate for just atasteof my father’s wealth tore apart Christian’s legacy.
They shut down the orphanage and sold off his businesses one by one until Reeves Enterprises was nothing more than an outdated page in Forbes magazine. When it finally came out publicly that Christian Reeves was the Silencer, the FBI was forced to come in and seize everything—the mansion, the stocks, the credit cards, the loose change under the couch cushions. I was left with nothing but a disgraced last name and two gravestones.
I could see even at four years old how unconditionally my father loved my mother, even before they were officially my parents. I’ve never seen that kind of love anywhere else. Christian had his share of problems, and I’m not denying that, but all of that melted away when he looked at Elena. He was the first man who ever showed me what love is, and I saw it every time my parents were in the same room.
I stare out of the car window as we approach the cemetery. Travis and Justin are in the front, so I have the back to myself. We don’t talk much on these trips.
As much as I love Travis and appreciate him after everything he’s done for me these past seventeen years, we have very differing opinions when it comes to our dead family.
He’s always been on his father’s side, and I’ve always held the position that Elliot did more damage to our family than Christian ever would have.
Travis stops at the entrance to the cemetery and remains silent as I get out of the car and open the trunk. Every time I visit, there are always horribly profane words spray painted onto the headstones. I bring supplies with me, and I update my parents on my life as I painstakingly scrub off every bit of paint and dirt from their graves.
Justin rolls down his car window. “You good, kid?”
I take a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m good.”
He nods, and that’s the last thing he says to me before they drive off. Travis and I never visit Elena’s grave together since our opinions on her role in the matter differ. It’s just better that we leave each other alone with our thoughts.
But I’m never truly alone, and that’s the worst part. As the daughter of one of the United States’ most prolific serial killers, the media has always followed my life, and every year on the anniversary of my parents’ deaths, the local news always tells the world on what I’m up to.
The East Coast knows about my life updates before my parents do.There’s probably already a photo of me sitting in this graveyard right now circulating on the internet at this very moment.
You’d think that since I was only four when everything happened, the media vultures would have left me alone.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I didn’t start noticing the shadows until I was fourteen. They started following me home from school or waiting outside of grocery stores to get a glimpse of me and Travis.
When I was eighteen, they started approaching me, asking questions and requesting interviews. I’ve always ignored them for the sake of my uncles. They deserve privacy and peace, something they haven’t gotten since they took me in. The least I can do is stay out of trouble and out of the public eye as much as possible.
As I’ve gotten older and went out into the world by myself for college, it’s only gotten worse. I’m in my last semester atMIT. I had to be given special accommodations to finish my degree online because it caused too much of a commotion for me to be on campus.
People see me choosing the same college as my father as an act of rebellion against the public for their negative coverage of my family’s lives, but it’s not like that. For all the terrible things he did as the Silencer, Christian Reeves was a hero.Myhero.
After my parents died, Travis and Justin tried to keep us in Meridian City, but as I got older, people started sending me death threats. Families of my father’s victims would reach out and either tell me to go to hell or demand money that I didn’t have. The only reason I could afford to go to private school for as long as I did was because my parents already paid my tuition at Meridian Academy in full until I was eighteen. We couldn’t afford private security, so when I was fifteen Travis was finally forced to pull me out of the Academy to homeschool me. Then we moved to Texas for a couple of years to live in Elliot and Bethany’s house, but eventually, the media followed us there too. Travis and Justin were forced to sell that property and used the money to move us to middle-of-nowhere Kansas, and that’s where we’ve been since.
I approach my parents and kneel in the center of their headstone. My eyes instantly fill with tears. I trace my fingers along the words ‘murderer’, ‘psycho’, and ‘whore’ plastered against the marble in colorful paint. I pull out a sponge and a spray bottle and start scrubbing the headstone as the tears begin to fall.
“I graduate next month,” I try to say cheerfully, though the words get stuck in my throat. “Top of my class, just like you. I’m working on getting a patent for a generator I built.It’s twice as powerful and needs half as much fuel. I want to build them and donate them to homeless shelters but…well, they’re expensive and you know I don’t have two nickels to rub together.” I chuckle to myself. “But there are grants for that kind of stuff, so maybe I’ll get lucky.”
Bright orange paint trickles down my hands and forearms as I start scrubbing harder.
“I went on my first date a few days ago. I mean, like, a real date, with someone who didn’t know who I was. His name is Garrett. He’s cute. Thick brown hair, glasses, and he hasdimples.”
