Thanks for rexbrookdale for helping with editing. I read your comments and I wanted to make sure my chapter was edited before I posted another chapter. I was advised to post the edited version of chapter 1 before I posted chapter 2. Don't worry there are going to be more to this story. Thank you everyone for the feedback. Hopefully, the second chapter will be up soon!
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Delilah's home life was not easy, nor was it like anyone else's she knew. She had lived with her father and older brother ever since her mom had passed away from cancer. Her father had never been a good man; but after her mom had passed, he had begun to take his anger out on Delilah. When drunk he was abusive. He never hurt her brother, Mike; probably wouldn't have even if he had done something horrible.
She finally had enough of the abuse and hatched a plan to run away one night while her dad was passed out drunk, and her brother was out. The timing was right, she thought; it might be her only chance to get away from the hellhole in which she lived. Quickly she packed her bags plus a few snacks for the journey. Then, quietly, she snuck out the front door managing to make no noise as the door clicked closed.
Free at last, she started to run even though she had as yet no idea where she was going. She ran, then jogged, then slowed to a walk; eventually too tired to continue, she took a break to rest in an alleyway. Little did she know that going into that alleyway would change her life forever.
She sat against the wall in the darkened alleyway, drinking water to calm her heavy breathing.
In the distance, a man saw her and slowly approached. When he got closer, he looked her over. Softly he cleared his throat to get her attention.
"Who ... who are you?" She stuttered; her breath was shaky.
"No need to worry. I just happened to see you here and wondered if you were okay" He softly smiled and held his hands up to let her know he was not going to hurt her.
"I'm fine. Thank you," she said as she stood up.
"Why are you here, if you don't mind me asking?" He tries to ask this before she walked away from him.
She looked at him over her shoulder and softly sighed.
"Well to put it frankly, I'm running away and I don't want to hear you trying to tell me it's a bad idea. You don't know me so you can't possibly know if it's a good or bad idea."
"Well, you're very up front about that. You're not wrong ma'am; I don't know you, but I'd like to help you if you wish," he said kindly.
"How would you help me and why? You don't know me." She said this while taking a step back, wary of what he would do next.
"I have a place for you. For people like you. You probably have no idea where you're going or how far you're going. If you come with me, I promise whoever or whatever you're running from will not find you." He held out his hand, offering her to take it.
She was very suspicious about this entire encounter, but she knew he was right about her not knowing where to go. She pondered for a few seconds; then gave in.
"Fine I'll go with you," she said walking briskly in the direction from which she had seen him come.
He followed behind her and soon caught up with her. He led her to the place he had talked about.
As they approached the building she stopped in her tracks. She looked up at it and got an unnerving feeling in her gut. The place was an abandoned warehouse that looked as if it was about to fall apart at any moment. Maybe this was a bad idea.
The man noticed that she had stopped and turned back to look at her. He walked over to her; softly he put his arm behind her back and gently urged her to walk forward.
They walked together inside the warehouse. She looked around; it looked nothing like it suggested it would, from the outside. Inside it was clean and well-taken-care-of. There were tons of men in black hoodies, milling around.
The man took her to a specific room. As she walked, following behind, she looked around the huge open space some more. In one area there were men sparring with each other. Startled, and she started to walk a little faster.
Once inside the room, the man pushed her down onto her knees. She gasped out loud then, noticed that she was not alone in the room, there was a line of young men about her age, kneeling just like her, with someone behind each of them. She looked down at the ground thinking she was about to die. She had never been scared of death; she had thought about taking her own life before. While lost in her thought, she heard a door slam shut; footsteps approached the line.
She didn't look up; she was afraid to see who was there.
The man behind her started to talk to the person who had walking in.
"Sir, these are the people we found that fit into your description," he said firmly.
