Chapter 3: Guess Who

Delilah stared in horror at the giggling form of the pixie she’d so recently devoured. Her form both physical and faded, both there and not. Like an after image, yet as Elixsana laughed and bounced around on her gut, Delilah could feel every tender footstep.

“Oh! I’m sorry Delilah, dear!” Elixsana gasped. “I don’t mean to insult you. It’s just y’know? You ate me. It’s kind of hard not to hate you, just a tiny little bit.” She closed her thumb and index finger together so there was a imperceivable gap of space between them accurately symbolizing her amount of loathing. “I just wanted to be your friend. Really and truly. Although I suppose we’re a lot closer than friends now.” She laughed wickedly at this thought doing a cartwheel across Delilah’s tummy. That’s when she noticed Elixsana’s clothes. Faded, torn, the hem of her dress scorched and full of holes, a sleeve of her button up blouse completely gone and her arm bright red. Her hair was erratic and patch in places and part to her scalp was exposed in the front.

“How are you here?” Delilah rasped. “How are you still alive.”

“Hmmm, how indeed?” Elixsana smiled. “I do wonder? Though I suppose you would know more than me. It is your mind.” There was something off about the way she spoke, all sugary and harmonious, but there was a layer of resentment at the end of some words. Something was wrong.

“You’re not real!” Delilah said. “My mind’s just playing tricks on me.’

“Well you are going on your second night without sleep.” Elixsana informed. “Though I supposed guilt will do that to you. Maybe that’s what I am. Your guilt given form by your tortured imagination. Wouldn’t that be something?”

“I’m sorry!” Delilah cried. “I’m going to turn myself in! I promise!”

“Hush.” Elixsana dismissed. “I thought you were smart. What’s to be gained from that? Assuming you could even prove you ate me without a corpse. I suppose you have motive but how many people actually knew how much you hated me. I didn’t even know!...Well maybe that Rocko boy. We’ll have to eliminate him!” Elixsana ran her finger across her throat. “That’s the gesture right. It’s what a knife? You humans are so grim/”

“You can’t kill Rocky!” Delilah screamed.

“I was joking, dear!” Elixsana said. “How am I supposed to kill anyone? I’m dead!”

“I’m-I’m just talking to myself aren’t I?” Delilah whispered to the spectral form of a dead elf. “I’m insane.”

“Probably.” Elixsana shrugged. “But if it helps. I don’t want you to feel bad.”

Delilah regarded this crazy, imaginary, ghost elf with trepidation. How was she not supposed to feel bad. Surely Elixsana was here to torment her.

“I still need you, Delilah dear.” Elixsana said walking up the length of her torso toward her face. “I wanted to take it slow. Dip a toe in so to speak, but well we’re in the deep end now. Just jumped right in!”

“Elixsana please!?”

“And we have so much work to do!” Elixsana spread her arms wide and did her best to squeeze Delilah’s hefty cheeks. “This simply will, not, do.” She hissed. “You have to take better care of yourself. I do like what you’re doing with your hair though. Do you think you’ll go full blonde or just the highlight?”

“I-I didn’t do this.” Delilah squeaked,

“Or maybe like tiger stripes!’ Elixsana beamed. “That would be a bold statement!”

“You’re doing this aren’t you!” Delilah accused. “Stop. Please.”

“How?” Elixsana asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’m as clueless as you, dear. You have all the power here. Now turn over!”

Delilah strangely found herself complying. She turned and laid sprawled out on her stomach.

“What an ass!” Elixsana chirped. “Talk about a sleeper hit! No one knows about it because you wear such baggy clothes. What did this? Genetics, cinnabons?”

She felt a smack on the bottom. “Stop teasing me!” Delilah was in tears now. She was being tormented and now teased on the one aspect of herself she was most sensitive about. Her body image.

“Oh, no!” Elixsana gasped. “Shhh, shhhh, shhh, no tears now.” Suddenly she was in front of Delilah, wiping at a huge tear with her entire palm. “It seems we’ll have to work on that self confidence most of all. It’s okay, dear. We’re a team now. I believe in you.”

Delilah snapped up in a cold sweat. Her eyes were covered and she could barely make out anything in the dimness of her room. She pushed even more hair out the front of her face. Her body was sore and she felt hungry and hollow. Her arms and legs felt very tight, like her skin had been stretched and her head hurt. As horrible as she felt externally she felt in worse inside. She remembered everything that had happened last night. Whether dream or hallucination she had completely lost her mind. The toll of someone’s death clearly weighed on her soul. All that talk of Elixsana’s about not wanting her to feel bad, or working together, believing in her. It was just her mind trying to cope, make herself feel better for what she’d done, but there was no feeling better. She’d already made up her mind. She had just one more day of freedom before she confessed.

First thing she decided to do with her last day of freedom was do something with her hair. It was usually a mess but never a hindrance. It seemed to have completely deflated overnight. She didn’t have bangs so it was disorienting to have so much suddenly covering her field of view. She stood up from bed and immediately stumbled. Her feet had gotten tangled in her underwear. She groaned in frustration and embarrassment. She pulled them back up and went toward the bathroom and fell yet again. Her undies had fallen back around her ankles. What was happening? Her clothes were usually too tight! Her underwear often gave her wedgies even. She hiked her panties up as high as she could until they wrapped around the ponch of her gut. She gripped the folds of her belly. It didn’t look like she’d lost weight so what was the problem. When she got to the bathroom she found one. Her hair! What was formerly a wild and untamed afro had fallen down around her face, framing it in wavy locks down past her ears. Just a few random strays held out around  the back. She had to tie them down into a ponytail with her scrunchie. That did nothing to fix the front. What was once a small crescent bang of blonde had become a hard line of yellow down her face from front to back. It was like a racing stripe. This was horrible! So why was she smiling?!

Delilah couldn’t fight it. Her lips curled up in a grin at her hair’s new form. She should be freaking out. This was beyond explanation. Her parents would ask questions. Her father had jumped to his own conclusion before, but what now. This was too dramatic a change to happen overnight.

“You worry too much, dear.” She said to herself. “Best just to roll with it. Besides no one will care.” True enough. No one really noticed her. Her family cared about her when she was gone but were also happy enough to let her drift about. Maybe she could make something up. Girls changed their hair on a whim all the time. It wouldn’t be a problem. She just knew it. She decided not to think on it anymore and brush her teeth.

She actually felt pretty good after finishing her bathroom time. Her arms and legs still felt pretty sore but in a nice kind of way. Like her body was taking a long stretch after not moving for an extended period of time. She hummed to herself as she strolled passed Byson and Drew arguing in the hallway bathroom.

“It’s my turn!” Byson whined kicking at their older brother. Unfortunately Byson was ten and Drew was 25, well over six feet, and built like a linebacker.

“Too bad, shrimp.” He laughed as he scrubbed his ivories. “Try again when your balls drop!”

“I hate you!” Byson screamed. She was thankful she didn’t have to share one like they did. The perks of being born a girl.

“Damn!” Drew shouted with his mouth foamy with toothpaste foam. “What happened to you?”

“Hahahahahahaha!” Byson started a laughing fit occasionally looking at her before starting again.

“What?!” Delilah said defensively. “I’m just trying something new with my hair!” She knew they would notice!

“No one’s talking about your hair.” Drew said shaking his head. “You get laid or something? Cover that shit up! There’s children present.”
Byson laughed even louder.

“Fuck you guys!” Delilah shrieked. What a couple of assholes. She really hated her brothers sometimes. Just when she was starting to feel a little bit better about herself they alway found a way to break her back down. She stormed down the hallway making audible thumps with her footsteps.

“Where’s the fire, Lilah.” Her mother asked. Georgia was a well built woman, almost six feet tall with very thick or as a man would say “thicc” legs. She used to do track in high school and strip in college if her father was to be believed. This left a rather curvy woman who looked like she could hurt you if she tried, but whose best years might have been behind her.

“I wish I was born an only child!” she raged. “Drew’s making fun of me because I’m fat!” So what is her belly stuck out a little. It wasn’t an excuse to imply she was a whore! Was she not allowed to even be comfortable in her own home.

“Oh, child.” Her mother mused. “That’s not why he’s teasing you.” Her mother bent down and gave her a hug. Delilah felt a pressure on her chest as her mother pushed into her. A pressure she’d never felt before. It almost hurt. “You need a bra, honey.” her mother said as she stood back up.

“I am wearing a bra!” Delilah insisted, even though she knew she didn’t need one. It was more to cover her nipples than to contain the boobs she didn’t-....wait. She looked down towards her chest and the two sizeable lumps that had never been there before.

“What?!”

“It’s okay, honey. I always knew you were a late bloomer.” Her mama informed. “We’ll go shopping this morning. JOE! I need your wallet!”

“How about spending some of your own damn money for once!? You work!” Her father’s voice shouted from somewhere in the house.

“Don’t you raise your voice at me, motherfucker!” Her mother shouted back. “You must have lost your goddamn mind!” She marched off to find her husband and most likely fuck him. Everyone in the house knew why they really shouted at each other so much. Delilah inspected her chest once more. You could see them through the fabric of her white tank top. They pressed outward stretching the fabric enough to make them visible with the contrast of her dark skin. A problem she never had to worry about before because her shirts fit looser on her. That’s why Drew had teased her. Her goods were basically out on display for everyone to see. What was happening to her?

Delilah looked at her nude form in the full body mirror of a women’s boutique and was mesmerized. Her body had changed, she had curves, womanly curves! A subtle angle brought on not just by her newfound breasts but something more. Her legs seemed more sculpted with rounder forms around the calves and thighs. Her stomach still full and heavy seemed to suck in slightly at the sides where her love handles were. She looked like a woman, a heavy woman, but a woman nonetheless. That plus whatever was happening to her hair and she was starting to feel good about herself. Maybe a boy would even look at her! She couldn’t wait to get to school! Something was wrong? She should be more worried than this. She couldn’t just forget about her experience last night or the unexplained change in her hair. That wasn’t a part of puberty she’d ever heard of, and why after nearly eighteen years did her figure decide to come in now?

“Don’t worry about it.” she smiled. “You look good, maybe even great sson.” Delilah felt her lips move but for some reason she felt like she hadn’t said that. “I deserve to look good.” After years of being ignored and having low self esteem she had earned a little bit of good fortune. What was she so pessimistic for? She was far from a supermodel. People would still probably look right past her.

“How you doing baby?” Her mother asked peering over the divider. The woman was tall enough to do that and Delilah found herself jealous. She wished she inherited either of her parents height.

“Mom!” She squeaked. “I’m naked!”

“You ain’t got nothing I haven’t seen before.” Her mom dismissed. “I changed your diapers missy. Now get ya ass in some undies so I can know how much I’m spending!”

“Yes ma’am.” Delilah blushed. She picked up one of the bras and a matching pair of panties. They fit better than the ones she’d worn this morning and she was shocked to see they were two sizes smaller than what she usually wore. Maybe it was just a quirk of the stores sizing system. She knew she hadn’t lost any weight. Not overnight, not enough to change her underwear size. Right? She fit on a bra that she actually needed for the first time in her life. She cupped her boobs. She smiled. They had support and lifted to create a nice bit of cleavage. Nothing remarkable but at least it was there.

“Feeling yourself now, hun?” he mom smiled down at her. “Don’t get to cocky! I ain’t ready for no grandchildren either!”

“Mom!” Delilah screeched.

Delilah collapsed face first on her bed after a busy day. Her mother had bought her thee new bras to wear now and a couple of more in different sized in case she wasn’t finished “growing” any bigger that that and she could just borrow from her mom directly. That’s not where the day had ended though. Her mom had dragged her around town running errands, grocery shopping, and stopping by the families salon to fit in a last minute client. She had to wait in an empty chair while a bunch of hens chatted while watching even more talk around a table on tv. She’d went for a walk and had gotten some attention for the first time in her life and not the kind you’d want. A man ten years her senior had spanked her ass. Her mother saw this and threw a hot iron at him. He’d called the cops, but since she missed no charges could be pressed, still it had drained Delilah’s energy.

“Humans are so barbaric.” She said to herself. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. This was starting to become a habit but it was relaxing. She hadn’t thought of the elf all day. In fact she’d even forgotten to do her “dirty” work when last she’d used the facilities. That meant she had no proof to turn herself in with.  She knew that was probably a bad thing but she smiled anyway. For her last day of freedom it wasn’t a bad one and that’s all she could ask for. Tomorrow she would figure out a way to prove what she had done. Hell her hair probably proved that anyway. Elves also seemed to have powers of some sort or at least Elixsana did. Maybe that could help prove her case. Maybe they’d haul her off to the other world to face justice there. She imagined herself, a giant among an elven town, being hanged or beheaded surrounded by little people. It was almost funny, actually it was very funny! She laughed out loud.

“Absolutely ridiculous!” She said to no one. She took a deep breath. Clearly she still wasn’t all there. She probably shouldn’t be alone with her thoughts if she wanted to retain her sanity.

“Then let’s get to work.”

That’s right! Her device. The portal to another world, Elixsana’s world. It was broken but she still had the coils. If she pulled an all nighter maybe she oculd fix it! Even if she couldn’t it was better than sleeping, and in a way it made her feel a little better. Maybe she could gift it to the elves? Elixsana had said all that stuff about creating a bridge between their people, it wouldn’t make up for what she’d done, but as long as it helped someone she could use that to keep herself going as she rotted in an elf dungeon or a prison cell. She grabbed her box of recovered scrap and the jar of pollen under her bed and made a b-line for the garage. No time like the present.

“Good girl, Delilah dear. Good girl.”