To refresh your memory on what has been going on so far, please read the previous installments by clicking on the hyperlinks below:
This part is quite lengthy but I did not want to break it up into parts again. Just keep on reading and then let me know if it was worth it.
***
When Delilah stopped running and turned around, her family house was nowhere to be seen. Oak, elm, and birch trees surrounded her. Whichever direction she looked, things all looked the same.
The first time she snuck out of the house, she was simply trying to get as far away from her toxic parents as she could. All she wanted was a little peace and quiet. The farther into the forest she went, the quieter the things got and Delilah was able to enjoy hearing her own thoughts again. It was impossible to concentrate on anything with people yelling, doors slamming, and plates falling to the floor.
Delilah’s grades were slipping, and she was not happy about it. She almost wished she had brought her schoolwork with her. “Kids do not run away from home to study,” she chided herself, leaned against a tree, and slid down. Delilah closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. For a while, she enjoyed being away from home, but with the night fast approaching and the temperatures dropping, Delilah decided to head back towards the house. She got up from the ground and looked around, puzzled. Without the presence of the sun, all of the trees looked the same. With a pit in her stomach, Delilah realized she was not sure how far away the house was, or even in which direction she should start walking. “Ahead” was her only option.
After what felt like an hour of aimless walking, Delilah started to panic. She wished she had thought of marking her path as she walked here from home. “If only I had a knife,” Delilah thought to herself. She had seen plenty of movies in which people carved markings on trees to make sure they were not walking in circles.
On the verge of tears, Delilah sat down with her back against a tree and whispered a prayer. When she opened her eyes, she saw some sort of movement on the horizon and considered the possibility of it being a wolf. “What kind of animals even live in this forest?” she wondered, scolding herself for not thinking of such things sooner.
The silhouette that emerged from behind the leaves was too tall to be one of a wolf. Plus, it was wearing a hat. “A man,” Delilah thought. “A man!” she silently exclaimed and quickly got up to her feet. She dusted the soil off her pants and waved towards the stranger. The last word struck her. “Stranger…” Delilah gulped. No wonder her parents were miserable. Not only was Delilah not excelling at school, but she was also dumb enough to get stranded in a forest, and was now trying to get the attention of a serial killer or a rapist. “Or a rapist-serial killer,” she thought and shuddered. It was too late to run away. Plus, she would not even know where to run. Delilah looked around again, hoping that something would appear familiar to her. Nope. Still only the same-looking trees.
The man wore a long, beige trenchcoat, a black hat, and dark sunglasses. “Definitely a rapist-serial killer,” Delilah thought as her heart pounded out of her chest. She wondered whether he could hear it and if it made him want to kill her more.
“Please, don’t kill me,” she began, pressing her back into the tree.
The man, now about 30 feet away, did not respond. He inched closer, and sweat broke on Delilah’s forehead.
“I will scream,” she shouted, cursing her own stupidity as soon as the words left her mouth.
“No one will hear you,” the man in the coat said as he closed the distance between them.
He was so close now that Delilah could punch him in the gut. Or the crotch. If she knew martial arts. Or was brave enough.
“Why are you here?” the stranger asked.
“You can’t put the blame on me. People can go to the forest and hope not to get raped or killed,” she said and bit her tongue. Why was she giving him ideas? Now, he was not only going to kill her but definitely rape her, too.
“Why are you here?” he asked again.
Delilah was not sure why the stranger in the woods wanted to know that, but she shared her reasons with him anyway. She told him all about her broken family. She told him about her parents being immigrants and how they adjusted to an American lifestyle. About her mother still believing in tribal superstitions yet being obsessed with modern designs and fashion. About her father, who cannot handle his wife and therefore runs into the arms of any woman that is kind to him. About herself just wanting to have a normal home. A roof under which people who loved one another lived peacefully. But why was she saying all of that to a person she just met in the forest? Delilah straightened.
“How did you do this?” she asked. “How did you make me tell you all of this?”
The man shrugged.
“My name is Mr. Thumper,” he said as he extended his hand.
Delilah did not take it. “What a creep,” she thought.
“Fair enough. I understand you’re not ready,” Mr. Thumper said and turned his back to Delilah.
“If you ever want to talk, come find me,” he said and walked away.
Delilah looked at the mysterious stranger as he walked away. Still paralyzed with fear, she tried to process the weird encounter. “There was something wrong with his…” she thought as the man knocked on a tree three times, took a step forward, and disappeared into thin air.
“Holy crap,” Delilah gasped, rubbing her eyes in disbelief.
New energy filled her, and Delilah got up to her feet and approached the tree on which the man knocked. “My brain must be playing tricks on me,” she thought to herself as she knocked. Once, twice, three times.
All of a sudden, the trees from in front of her disappeared, and her house stood just a few yards away from her. Delilah tilted her head. Was she that delirious? Deciding that it must have been the mystery man who had hypnotized her, she walked towards the house. Her bedroom window was still open. She breathed a sigh of relief and climbed into her room. Once inside, she let out a yelp. Mr. Thumper was sitting on her bed.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Have a seat, young lady,” the stranger said and pointed to the chair by the desk.
Delilah took a step forward and then froze in place, considering her options. She realized she was right about him being a creep and a rapist. He was in her bedroom for heaven’s sake!
“I’ll call my mom if you don’t get out of here right now,” she threatened, but the man on her bed did not move.
“I won’t hurt you. I promise. I just want to talk,” he said, taking off his hat and revealing rabbit ears.
Delilah gasped. She knew his nose looked weird in the forest, but the hat, the glasses, and the high-collared coat made it impossible for her to make a full conclusion. He was not a rapist-serial killer. He was a man-rabbit. She didn’t know what was worse. Delilah’s knees weakened, and the world in front of her eyes blacked.
When she came to, she was lying in her bed. Mr. Thumper standing over her.
“There you are!” he exclaimed.
Delilah tried to sit up but could not. Something was holding her arms and legs down.
“Moooooom!” Delilah screamed as loudly as she could.
Donna appeared in the doorway within a second.
“Why did you have to go and do that?” the man-rabbit asked.
“I wanted to explain everything to you first,” he continued.
“Oh, honey, were you having a bad dream?” Donna asked and approached Delilah’s bed.
“Can’t you see him?” Delilah asked frantically.
“Of course I can see Mr. Thumper, you silly,” Donna replied and hugged Delilah.
“She’s not ready yet, Donna,” the stranger said.
“I see. I will give you two some time, then,” Donna said and hurried out the door.
“Daa-” Delilah tried to call for her father, confused by her mother’s reaction to the stranger in her daughter’s room.
“Enough!” Mr. Thumper said, and she obeyed.
Delilah did not want to, but her mouth closed against her will.
“Welcome to the world of your dreams. Here, your mother shows affection and your father is an accomplished man. They love you and each other. They never argue or complain about anything you do,” the man-rabbit explained.
That was the first time she got lost in the forest, met Mr. Thumper, and met her alternate self. She spent the whole weekend with better models of Donna and Daniel. Each time she returned, it was harder to leave. Delilah made up her mind. This time, she was going to stay forever.
Delilah approached the birch tree in between two old oaks and pressed her knuckles against its bark. She knocked.
One.
Two.
Three.
***
“Write a story in which someone finds a secret passageway.”
– a prompt for the latest CW pieces.
[Source: @Reedsy]
Click on the hyperlink above to be transported to Reedsy’s blog where you can view other submissions for this prompt, as well as other prompts. It is a lot of fun.
Maybe we can connect there?! Feel free to browse through my other submissions that are not featured on this blog and comment.
***
P.S. As always, you are more than welcome to use this prompt to inspire your post. If you decide to write something, be sure to pingback to this post so that I can get an alert and check out your piece. (A post on how to do pingbacks can be found here.) If pingbacks are not your thing, feel free to simply leave a link to your piece in the comment section below. The more, the merrier!
Stay golden,
.
***
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I really enjoyed reading this…
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Thanks, Eliza! I’m glad to hear it.
TGIF!
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🙂 happy weekend
Good thing someone taught me what that means, no?
Love, light and glitter
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I was late to adopt that acronym, too…
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A lovely story, thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
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Why thank you.
Have a great weekend!
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You have a great weekend too
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I’d like to say the length of the story did not seem long. It kept me engrossed. The genre flipped, (I think) as previous installments were heavy family drama. Did we jump into fantasy land with the man-rabbit? Could the author (hint, hint) be showing Delilah developed a split personality due to her parent’s bickering? Ambiguous finale…Possibilities abound.
Nice work Goldie.
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*bows*
I’m glad someone picked up on that.
Fantasy is not my thing but I had to tackle it when I got the “passageway” prompt. Straight away, I thought of a fantasy land. But then, the characters and story took over. As I finished the story, I realized the psychological potential in it and I have to say that I felt proud of myself.
You hit the nail right on the head. Thank you for your always on-point criticism.
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Good story Goldie. Keepem coming.
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I’m enjoying this immensely. It’s taking me places I don’t expect with each installment.
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Awesome to hear, Em!
Stay golden!
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I have a duck named Delilah and was sweating bullets for her!
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Found your comment in my Spam folder 😦
I’m glad I was able to hold your attention, albeit in such circumstances.
Glad both Delilahs are safe at home.
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Ha ha! Don’t be a stranger, Sam! Great Read!
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Well, that was embarassing… Fixed. Thank you for pointing it out.
I can understand your point of view. That possibility did occur to me. Fantasy was my initial idea, but then drama came into plan, and finally psychology. It was a fun ride for me as I wrote it, but I totally get why you felt the way you have. My apologies. I will try to do better next time.
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I neglected to point out that this part on its own was itself well-written and a fun read, but (to my mind) it simply didn’t fit with the earlier parts.
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It’s very kind of you to say that.
Stay golden!
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I really enjoyed it but I feel pedantry is right. It needs a part 3.5 to draw out the fantasy element more. That would be my only (constructive I hope!) criticism.
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Thank you, Britchy. As I responded to Pedantry, I quite understand. (I hope I am humble about accepting constructive criticism. I do want to learn and improve after all!)
In the beginning, there was just supposed to be one part. About 1k words. I quickly realized that was too short. So I figured: “Fine, I’ll do a two-parter.” When I got to part 3, I was nervous because this took on a whole new life. I wrote most of part 4 before I went on my blogging break. It was not ready for publishing yet. When I came back, I realized that I should have posted it and then done part 5 upon my return. But it was too late and I refused to do part 5. I’m not sure why I am always so nervous about my work being broken into parts (I mean, I have SOME arguments…).
Wow. Sorry for the rant. I just like explaining my thought process. On WP there is no way for people to just cut me off.
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I like hearing your thought processes. It must have been hard after the break too because you lose the flow you had. I still enjoyed it so you achieved that aim 😊
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Yes, indeed. I sat down to finish it and found myself re-reading everything and editing instead of just continuing.
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Thank you for letting me be me 😉
Have a good weekend and stay golden!
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You too! Let’s hope we’re both inspired by something to talk about 😊
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Ha! I expect … an abundance of topics. I will run into quite a few people over the weekend. People mean inspiration.
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You lied when you said this was a long read. It was just the right length, and I was gripped to the story from the first word to the very last.
I don’t think anyone expected or predicted this sudden twist.
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You’re too kind!
And it always tickles me when I hear people say: “I did not see that coming.”
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Oh, that’s a mutual feeling. 😁
Have a wonderful weekend, Goldie!
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I remember reading the first part back in Feb. Read it all in one go today. Just gets better n better as you read 🙂
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Awesome! Thanks, Saumya.
Stay golden!
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Hey Sam, good morning to you 🙂
Not sure if you saw this at the time however 🙂
https://aguycalledbloke.blog/2020/05/07/gifting-the-compliment-15/
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For some reason I did not get a pingback. Hmmm… So thank you for pointing me in that direction.
*bows*
Stay golden!
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Hey Sam, a pleasure, as said a great post indeed and one that needed to be seen and read again. As to WP Ping Backs not working, it seems to be the norm these days 🙂
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Oh, really? I didn’t know. Well, that sucks.
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Glad to see how you brought this story to an end. That man-rabbit was unexpected. Thanks for sharing, Goldie! Keep on writing. 🙂
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Unexpected is a great compliment. Thank you for your kind words and encouragement.
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To me, this story goes way beyond an unexpected twist or you trying out a fantasy theme.
To me, it shows that parents who don’t know how to “parent” are never going to be able to establish a happy home life.
And often, children suffer the most from that.
So they run away. Seek a place where thing are or seem better.
In a way, you could read this as Delilah taking drugs.
First she is a bit frightened when bunny man approaches her.
Then she realise how things are better with his presence.
Eventually she decides to never even come back.
Maybe it was not your intention at all, or I am reading too deep into this, but I think every parent should read this.
If you don’t how to provide a loving home life for your child, you will most likely loose them.
To me, this, once again, this shows that you are born to write.
If I would be a publisher and would come across this, I would pay you a 6 million figure upfront and a year to finish a book.
Knowing that we both would get out of this pretty successful and rich 😉
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My jaw dropped when I read your comment. I had to take a moment and allow words to come to me again.
You could TOTALLY read it that way! I never thought about it, but it all clicked the second I read your comment. I didn’t even have to try and twist things. It just fit. Wow.
I’m humbled by your words. Don’t forget about me when you become an actress and then publisher. Orrr you publish me and THEN star in a movie based on my book. Deal?
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I think the word I was searching for was METAPHOR.
The Search
“A metaphorical presentation on the effects of malfunctioning parenting style can have on children.”
Or something like that. I can’t think in fancy words today it seems 😉
I can totally imagine this story being presented in a book analysing class for people to figure out the writer’s intention or give there interpretation of it.
I would definitely keep this story aside if an opportunity like that would ever presented itself!
It also made me think of Alice in Wonderland a bit.
We definitely have a deal! It would be an ideal WIN WIN situation!
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Someone can write an essay/thesis based on my story!
Yes! Alice in Wonderland definitely popped to my mind when I was crafting the story.
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Loved it!! I had to go back to skim/read the other parts again, since it had been a minute, but TOTALLY worth the wait! Well done!
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Thanks, Heather! I’m so glad you thought so.
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And down the rabbit whole we go…
I love the fantasy aspect of it.. Especially when lines are blurred that what seems real and probably suddenly becomes improbable and surreal at the turn of the process… It opens the reader to a whole range of limitless improbable endings and none you can predict.
~B
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Hehehe.
I could not have said it better. “limitless improbable endings”
Stay golden!
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