Chapter 42- Scream

" Can I go to bed now?" Delilah snivelled, Her eyelids were drooping, and her head kept nodding off.

Meanwhile, Annabelle was solving the two questions she gave to Delilah like her life depended on it.

"Delilah, how do you know how to do these?" Annabelle asked, flabbergasted. It took her five minutes to solve the questions following the instructions from the textbook.

"I don't know," Delilah mumbled, her eyes half-closed. "I just… see the answers in my head."

Annabelle was torn between being impressed and amused. She couldn't believe that Delilah was solving complex equations while half asleep.

"Okay, well, can you at least explain how you got the answers?" Annabelle asked, hopefully.

"Nope," Delilah said, yawning. " I really do not know how I did it, I just… wrote it"

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen," Annabelle muttered to herself, shaking her head. "I'm studying with a sleepwalking genius."

" Can we go to bed now", said Delilah again.

Annabelle stared pitifully at Delilah, "Tsk! What a lazy girl", she shook her head. Anna eventually was left with no other choice but to pack up, and the girls went to bed.

★★★

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the midst of the chaos and terror, Delilah found herself being led away by someone she could barely see. As she was whisked away, a haunting image seared itself into her mind.

She turned her head, her heart pounding in her chest, and her eyes met those of a beautiful woman. The woman was covered in blood, her white dress now crimson. A gunshot wound gaped in her chest, staining the fabric a deep red.

The woman's eyes locked with Delilah's, filled with a mixture of pain and love. She raised her trembling hand, her fingers dripping with blood reached out towards Delilah. It was as if she were trying to touch her, to hold her close one last time.

With a voice barely above a whisper, the woman uttered her final words, "Be safe, my daughter." and her eyes shut, never to be opened again.

"Mom!", Delilah screamed, tears ran down her cheeks like a waterfall. The little girl's grip on the box in her arm tighten, and endless tears flowed from her eyes.

"Br- Brother, mummy…", she choked on her tears.

Then, as if in slow motion, a deafening explosion tore through the air. A blinding light engulfed Delilah's vision, and she was thrown backward. When her senses returned, she found herself separated from the person by a thick cloud of smoke and debris.

Delilah screamed, her voice lost in the cacophony of the attack. She desperately tried to reach something or someone, but it was helpless.

★★★

"Delilah…. Delilah…. Delilah…. Wake up", Anna shook Delilah softly, she was half asleep when she heard Delilah's breathing quickening, she was turning her head like she was being tormented, beads of sweat formed on her head and deep lined caressed her temple.

Delilah shot up like an arrow, her body trembling, she was panting, her head was aching and spinning consecutively. She grabbed her head and screamed in pain.

Annabelle panicked and ran out of the room to look for someone, anyone. She was about to arrive in the living room when Mr. Chen, Mrs. Feng Tian Tian and Mr. Tang Yu appeared, seemed they heard Delilah scream.

" Annabelle, what's going on?" Mr. Chen was as worried.