Page 47 of For Now

All the blood drained from his face. He didn’t look surprised, just shocked. He stood there, the chaos in his eyes turning to pain. His jaw clenched, his facetightened.

“Delilah,” Marilyn started, “I’m Samuel’s ex-wife. I’m Mason’s mother,” she said, barelyaudible.

“You are nothing to Mason! He doesn’t even know you! You’re not his mother!” Samuelscreamed.

I tried my best to process this new information.How the hell?I couldn’t make sense of anything bynow.

Silence fell over the room. I looked at Marilyn. Her familiar eyes made sense now. Mason had Samuel’s dark brown hair, but not his eyes. Those belonged to her. I looked at Samuel. He was shaken and I couldn’t reach him. His eyes were angry, his mouth in pain. Everything was growing dark. The world around me turned black and foggy. It crept in from the edges and began to consume me. I tried to reach my hands out for the couch to steady myself but I was too far gone. The room was swaying with me and I was losing my feet to the rubber floor. In the last few moments, I head Samuel’s voice calling my name. I saw him running toward me to catch me. And then, everything was black. A dreamless sleep, only it didn’t feel like sleep. It felt like I wasfloating.

I fainted. Right in the middle of the chaos and confusion with my life at stake, I fuckingfainted.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I’ve only fainteda couple of times in my life and if I was being honest, I didn’t even remember the other times. Your mind is present in this darkness as you struggle to figure out what is happening. You don’t feel asleep or awake. You don’t feel in control of anything. There is no fighting against it, no dreams, nothing. You’re waiting, you’re in purgatory. And what seems like both ages later and only a moment later, you are wakingup.

In my case, I awoke to lights. Bright blue and flashing red. My eyelids fluttered against the brightness. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I was swaying back and forth even though I was lying down. I didn’t recognize the woman crouched over me. The name tag on her uniform caught thelight.

“Delilah? My name is Kelly, I’m a paramedic. Can you hear me?” sheasked.

Inodded.

“Try not to move too much. You fainted and your boyfriend caught you before you hit the floor but we want to make sure you’re okay before we let you up,” shesaid.

I nodded again. I lay here, still. I felt dizzy and drunk.Oh, that’s right, I am drunk. Where is Marilyn? Where is Samuel? What the hellhappened??

“I’m sure you have some questions, so if you’d like, while I’m checking you out, I can bring an officer over here to speak with you,” sheasked.

“Yes, please,” Imanaged.

She waved her hand and some people started moving around my living room. Above me appeared a large man in a trench coat. Everything about him screamed “COP”, from his little writing tablet and shiny shoes, to his bald spot and thickmustache.

“Hello, Ms. Spencer. My name is Detective Alex Baker. I responded to the call here that Mr. Young placed. How are you feeling?” heasked.

“Dizzy,” Isaid.

“Yes, I can imagine. You were forced a great deal of vodka and some other things,” hesaid.

“What happened?” Iasked.

Detective Baker proceeded to explain to me that after I fainted, Samuel struggled with Marilyn to subdue her and called the police. They’d taken her into custody, but that they weren’t sure what all the charges would be at thispoint.

“Did she say why?” Iasked.

Detective Baker sighed, sort of looked around like he didn’t want to say. “She just kept repeating you had to die. Even when we arrived,” hesaid.

I closed my eyes tight and let out a breath. She couldn’t get to me now. I was safe. I wasalive.

“Would you like to see Samuel?” heasked.

My eyes flew open, my breath caught in my throat. I had this sudden feeling in my stomach, one I couldn’t ignore.Was he in on this? Was this all some elaborate trap? Did he know?“I don’t think so,” Isaid.

Detective Baker looked at me in surprise but nodded an acknowledgement.“Okay, well, we’re going to take you to the hospital just to get you checked out and make sure everything is good, then you can probably go home tomorrow morning,” hesaid.

“Can you call my best friend for me?” I asked. “Her name is Emma. My phone is somewhere in the livingroom.”

“Of course. I’ll find it,” hesaid.

He walked away, leaving me to my thoughts. The paramedic checked, poked, and checked again while my mind ran wild attempting to piece together what had happened. I combed over every detail, every conversation, every look, trying to find it, trying to find what I wasmissing.

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