Beautifully Broken

[Delilah Pryce]

This section of Delilah's life will focus on her younger years following the escape from her nightmare of a family in the coal mines of Virginia and into the arms of Westfield Sanitarium and those who tried to help her.

Beautifully Broken: Part I


It had only been a few months since Delilah had first come to Westfield. She was glad to be rid of her father and finally free from the hell he had forced upon her. The sheriff had assured Delilah that her father would be locked up for quiet a while as he was facing multiple accounts of rape along with child abuse and neglect. Hopefully while that piece of crap was rotting away in the local jailhouse, he might get a dose of what he forced upon Delilah. This thought made her smile some as it was poetic justice. As for Delilah's mother, she hadn't seen the woman since she packed her things and climbed aboard that Greyhound bus, leaving behind a broken little girl who needed someone so badly to love her. Some part of Delilah blamed her mother just as it blamed and hated her father. Never once had her mother intervened to stop Delilah's father from hitting or raping her, not once. Of course, Delilah's fractured mind could have planted that thought and those memories itself as victims of incest often blamed both parents for the horrid act.

The bruises on Delilah's face were healing slowly, her lip still had a slight scab were she kept biting it out of nervous habit. She still wasn't eating well and her small skinny frame along with her sunken dark eyes made her look ghoulish. Her long black hair was pulled back in a pony tail today as it was almost every day. Her wardrobe consisted of the same outfit day in and day out. Hospital issued gray scrubs with soft flat gray slippers. The patients were not allowed any personal clothing items or anything with rope or cords along with anything sharp which they might use to kill themselves with. Delilah was still considered a suicide risk, even though she had not made an attempt in the last three weeks. She was finally coming to terms that killing herself would be the cowards way out. Her doctor had told her that if Delilah killed herself, then her father would win and Delilah wasn't about to let that filthy piece of vermin beat her ever again.

Today, Delilah sat on the side of her bed, looking out through her window at the courtyard. A large steel grating kept Delilah safely away from the shatter proof glass window for extra security measures. Her rather soulless eyes hardly moved as she stared almost vacantly out the window. A few bird darted here and there outside as others flew through the sky overhead, heading south before winter set in. It was now fall and the leaves were all sorts of beautiful colors. The groundskeeper was raking today, piling all the leaves along the edge of the concrete sidewalk to be picked up and mulched later. Delilah's fingers picked at one another slowly, her nails chipped and broken. Her knuckles were large looking through her tight and weathered hands from her lack of proper nutrition. She had been told that if she didn't start eating, then steps would be taken to force her to eat and force was not something which either Delilah or her doctor wanted to be happen. She would eventually force herself to eat, the human body would always win out in that battle in the end.

The sound of the tumblers turning in the lock of Delilah's door meant any number of things. It was either her doctor coming by to check up on her patient or it was one of the nurses with her meds. "Hello Delilah," said the familiar voice of one of the older nurses here at the sanitarium. The woman was short and plump with fading red hair pulled up in a tight little bun. She wore a white nurses uniform of the old style instead of the scrubs the younger more modern nurses wore. As always, the older woman wore a red button up sweater, which seemed to smell of cigarette smoke. The door closed behind the older nurse, automatically locking as it was designed to do. This was the only real visitor Delilah ever really had. "Hey Maude," Delilah said with a half smile as the older woman moved to take a seat beside Delilah on the bed.

Delilah glanced over at Maude and offered another weak smile. Maude wasn't assigned to Delilah's wing, but she was the nurse who had processed Delilah when she was first brought here and for whatever reason, she had taken pity on Delilah. Delilah surmised it was because in Delilah, Maude had found a weak replacement for the granddaughter she had lost a few years back in an automobile accident. Delilah didn't mind the extra attention Maude gave her, in fact it was probably the very thing which kept her from flipping out completely most days. Maude offered the same warm smile back which she always offered as she slipped her hand into her sweater pocket, producing two cigarettes. Delilah took one and put the cigarette in her mouth, allowing Maude to light it for her as always. Delilah took a long slow draw off the cigarette and exhaled the smoke slowly as her eyes went back to staring outside once again. Maude lit her own cigarette and looked outside as well, reaching over and moving the small ashtray to the window sill for both her and Delilah to use.

For a few minutes, the two just sat there, saying nothing, just enjoying their sinful little habit. For Delilah it was nice just having Maude there beside her. The old woman didn't have to speak as the act of coming by and sitting with her to share a smoke was enough to make Delilah's morning. "I hear you haven't tried to kill yourself for a few weeks now," Maude said with a bit of enthusiasm in her old raspy voice as she glanced at Delilah. Delilah felt her face get warm as she blushed from embarrassment as she realized how foolish all those attempts seemed now. "Yeah. Doctor Smith put me on some new pills," Delilah replied, glancing to Maude in return, "They help me sleep better so I guess that helps some," she went on, making small talk. Maude reached over and put and arm around Delilah, pulling her close and kissing her on top of her head before letting her go. "I'm glad kiddo," she said with a broad smile, "Doctor Smith is one of the few good ones in here. Your lucky to have her helping you," Maude said genuinely. "Now if we can get you to start eating better, you'll be on a more stable road to getting your life back," she said, finishing off her cigarette and then snuffing the thing out in the ashtray.

Standing up, Maude ran her hand across the top of Delilah's head and through her hair. "Don't let those demons of yours get the better of you girl," she said with a worried quiver in her raspy voice, "Your too pretty to leave this world any time soon," she added as she gave a weak smile and then proceeded to leave, the door locking behind her once again and leaving Delilah by herself once again. Delilah finished her cigarette and snuffed it out in the ashtray in the same manner as Maude before running her fingers through her hair and falling back across the bed, staring at the ceiling. If Maude had come again that meant it wouldn't be long before one of the orderlies came to escort her to Doctor Smith's office for her session. Delilah didn't like the orderlies as they were all very large men, but the one which usually escorted Delilah gave her a wide berth as he escorted her to Dr. Smith's office. The man had learned the hard way not to touch Delilah as she has almost bit his ear off the first time he escorted her.

It was rather silent in Delilah's room and while that might unnerve some, Delilah found it rather pleasant. Her room was warm and clean and while it was void of any personal trinkets or items, the peace and security it offered brought peace to a young girl who had never known such a treasure. Delilah felt her body becoming numb just a little, starting in her legs and then into her lower back. Her painkillers were kicking in and this made her truly smile, but had she known this was the beginning of her addiction, she night not be smiling. Feeling safe in the security of her small room, Delilah closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the smell of cigarette smoke lightly filling her nose. Safe here in her room, Delilah didn't have to worry about any monsters coming to devour her. She finally had someone who cared for her, even if Maude's visits were short and limited. It felt good knowing that somewhere out there behind the locked door was someone who had a special place in their heart for Delilah.

[Delilah Pryce]

Beautifully Broken: Part II

Today Delilah sat in group therapy with a small group of other young girls in and around her age. Each of these girls suffered from some form of trauma or another and each meant little to nothing to Delilah. Already, Delilah was developing her darker side, finding it easier to retreat into anger than to really try and deal with what haunted her. The seat which she sat in was a cold metal folding chair which was terribly uncomfortable, especially in the hospital issued clothing they insisted all of them wear. The room itself wasn't especially warm either, showing the cheapness of whomever was in charge of operating this place. Institutions such as those as this one weren't exactly heavily funded as no one really wanted to help people like her, just lock them away and pretend they didn't exist. Whether that was really true or not was up for grabs, but Delilah fully believed it to be the truth herself. Group therapy was joke, how was it supposed to help any of them. All it did was end in someone crying and someone else getting pissed off and then the charge of the orderlies to come in and 'calm' down the mad patients. Delilah didn't want to discuss anything of her personal life with these strangers, hell, she didn't even want to talk about it in private.

Delilah sighed heavily, blinking her eyes slowly as she looked from one crazy to the next. They all bared signs of abuse from someone from somewhere, but Delilah cared for none of them. She lazily slipped the cloth hair tie from her wrist and pulled her long black hair back in a pony tail. She had been demoted from suicide watch now and was allowed a few simple pleasures. Things to tie her hair up with and she was allowed to keep her toothbrush and extra bed sheets in her room. It wasn't much, but it was more than she had been allowed to have.

"Delilah?," said a soft female voice from across from her, "Are you with us today?," the woman asked again, bringing Delilah back to reality. "Yeah.....," Delilah said sleepily, rubbing both her hands over her face several times before leaning forward, "I'm just bored with all this shit," she said sarcastically and maliciously looking straight at Dr. Smith. "Delilah," Dr. Smith said calmly, giving the young girl a stern look, which caused Delilah to put her hands up and slump back in her chair, crossing her arms. "Sorry," Delilah muttered, having been down this road before. Dr. Smith, an older thin woman with dark hair pulled very tightly into a pony tail and with thin rimmed glasses wrote something down on the legal pad she always carried around with her. "I think we're all done for today," she said smiling, looking around to the other girls, who all weakly smiled back, all save for Delilah. "Go on back to you rooms ladies," she said, with a nod of her head as the door to the room opened. The girls all stood, including Delilah and began to leave the room. "All the girls except you Delilah," Dr. Smith chimed in at the last moment, causing Delilah to stop and drop her head back.

Delilah shuffled back to her seat and fell into it as the last of the other girls left the room, the door closing behind her and then locking. "I do so love being your favorite doc," Delilah said with a mocking smile. "You've grown angrier and angrier since you've been here Delilah. Its not good for you. You're gonna have to let this hate go sometime and work through all this," Dr. Smith said eying Delilah calmly. "Really.......Wow, I'm glad its that easy," Delilah said mockingly, throwing her hands up in the air. "What the hell do you know about letting anything go doc? Your father rape you much?," she asked maliciously, narrowing her eyes. Dr. Smith didn't respond with an answer for she knew it would be pointless. Delilah couldn't be agitated any further. "Besides," Delilah began, looking around nervously, "There's some other crap going on with me......Stuff which ain't normal," she said, her Virginia accent breaking through fully now.

Dr. Smith shifted in her seat, leaning forward some now. "What things are going on Delilah?," she asked curiously. Dr. Smith had already had some suspicions about Delilah's genetic stance. Delilah had exhibited several questionable skills upon her admittance her to the hospital, skills which Dr. Smith was cautious. Delilah shifted and began to fidget with her fingers, picking at her nails. Her gaze darted to the side, looking at the wall of the room. "That guy who plays the keyboard in the rec room? The savant I heard you call him," she said, not sure what the word 'savant' meant, but just remembering that was what Dr. Smith called him. "He just sits there playing all those classical pieces all day. So, I got curious and walked over to watch him. I watched him play for about an hour before he went back to his room," she said, leading up to something Dr. Smith was already suspecting. "Go on," Dr. Smith said, leaning in more now as she was growing more and more eager to hear what Delilah had to say. "Well....," Delilah said, swallowing hard, "....I decided to sit down and just play around on the keyboard some. I mean, he made it look so easy and so.......I just played," Delilah said, looking hard at Dr. Smith. "And...?," Dr. Smith said, leading Delilah on to reveal what she hoped to hear next. "And?!," Delilah said loudly as she stood, "I've never touched a piano in my entire life! How the hell could I play all that stuff he played and not even know what I was doing?," Delilah asked, panting hard now.

The door to the room opened and two orderlies appeared. "That's enough for now Delilah. Go on back to your room and get some sleep. Don't worry about any of this now....Okay?," Dr. Smith said, nodding toward the door. Delilah started to protest, but then one of the orderlies moved toward her. Delilah jerked away quickly and violently. "DON'T TOUCH ME YOU PIECE OF SHIT!," Delilah screamed at the man, who put his hands up and stepped back. "I know where my room is at," Delilah said through gritted teeth. She shot Dr. Smith one last look before leaving, stomping off back to her small little room.

[Delilah Pryce]

Beautifully Broken: Part III

Delilah sat in the living room of her new foster family, dressed in a white sun dress with a pair of sandals, with her hair hanging loosely about her shoulders. Her hands were clasped together nervously and her eyes darted around the room a she vainly tried to hear what the whispered voiced from the next room were saying about her. All this secrecy wasn't helping a deeply depressed and paranoid girl like Delilah any, but her foster mother had assured her everything was fine, just as her social worker had been telling her for the past few days. The woman talking with her foster parents had just shown up this morning, but it seemed her foster parents had been expecting the woman far in advance. They had laid out one of Delilah's better dresses and her foster mother had taken too much time in combing and fixing Delilah's hair.

Delilah expected the arrival of this stranger had something to do with her ability. Delilah didn't understand any of it herself, she just knew she could do things after seeing others do them. She didn't know why or how, just that she could. Delilah tried to keep it a secret from her new foster family, but her foster mother wasn't stupid and far too observant. Were they going to ship her off to another institution to poke and study her some more? Delilah hoped not and this time she had decided if that was the case, then she would succeed in killing herself. She couldn't take all those test again and all those persecuting eyes staring at her like she was some sort of freak. Delilah already felt like some cheap whore after what her father had done to her, even if the doctors back at the sanitarium kept telling her none of it was her fault.

The sound of hushed voices and then footsteps followed by a creaking of the floorboards made Delilah quickly and nervously jerk her head in the direction of the living room doorway. Her foster parents were coming back in, followed by the other woman. She was dressed rather professionally which only worried Delilah further. The doctors back at the sanitarium dressed like that. Delilah frantically looked at her foster parents and then to the other woman. She squeezed her hands together more tightly and felt her eyes water up. Delilah fought the urge to scream and cry and just when she was about to jump up and run, Delilah suddenly began to feel herself become calm and some relaxed. She wasn't unafraid, but her fear level had subsided some, enough to let her think more clearly.

The strange woman smiled at Delilah and chose to remain standing as Delilah's foster parents sat down next to their temporary daughter. "Hello Delilah, my name is Jane and I'm from a school not to far from here in Vermont. I know your scared and worried right now, but you don't have to be. I'm here to help you the best way I can," the woman said, smiling to Delilah, but making sure not to approach her. Delilah's foster parents, sat there, supporting her and trying to offer some sense of calm. "From what I understand, you've got quite a gift, but so do I. You see Delilah, your part of a unique group of people known as meta-humans. People who can do all sorts of seemingly impossible things, like copying other people's physical talents," Jane said with a smile as she tilted her head to the side.

Delilah sat there listening, her mood worried but somewhat calm thanks to the calming pheromones Jane was emitting into the air. Everything Jane said made Delilah wonder if she was dreaming all this for it sounded like something out of a science fiction movie. However, when Jane called Delilah out on her ability, Delilah's eyes went wide and she stared to feel fear again despite the way Jane was manipulating the mood of everyone in the room. "Your crazy," Delilah muttered, standing to her feet nervously, her eyes tearing up once again. "Your a crazy old bat and I'm not some freak!," she shouted before running off out of the room and down the hallway to her bedroom, slamming the door shut.

[Tune in for the next installment of Delilah's past to see her recruitment into Hammel]

[Delilah Pryce]

Beautifully Broken: Part III Continued

Delilah leaned against the door to her room, bringing her hand up to the familiar latch, locking it. She always kept her door locked, especially at night. She hadn't healed much from the mental scars her father left on her and while her foster father had done his best to reassure he wasn't going to do those sort of things to her, she just didn't feel comfortable around him. The request for an extra lock on her door had been met by disdain and hurt from her foster parents, but after some intervention from Delilah's case worker, they had given in to Delilah's request to help ease her worried mind and fragile state of well being.

Tears trickling down her face, Delilah sniffed and rubbed them away with her finger tips as she pushed off her door and headed toward the bathroom. She was a lucky to have her own bathroom and quite relieved when she had first seen such a wonder. She had something which was hers and didn't have to share it with anyone. Flipping the light switch to the 'on' position, Delilah headed straight toward the small medicine cabinet above the small sink. She opened the cabinet and grabbed one large pill bottle followed by a smaller one. The larger one was for her depression while the other was for her pain. Delilah had been complaining of joint and muscle pain ever since her ability had began to manifest and after many tests, the doctors finally prescribed some low grade painkillers. Twisting the lid off the anti-depressant bottle first, Delilah shook out a large pill. Capping that bottle she opened the smaller one and shook out two pills, closing it again as well. She left the two bottles on the sink, grabbing a small drinking glass, filling it halfway full of water and then downed the pills.

Delilah staggered out of the bathroom and back into her bedroom, falling across her bed face first. She grabbed a small stuffed bear her foster mother had given her upon her arrival. It might not have seemed like much, but it meant the world to Delilah. She continued to cry a little as she toyed with the little stuffed bear's button eyes. Was what that woman said true? Were there others like her out there? Maybe she wasn't some sort of freak after all? Normality. The word seemed weird in her head. Delilah had never known normal until recently, and now it was being taken away from her. Life with her foster parents wasn't bad, in fact Delilah was starting to kind of like it. She knew putting up with her couldn't be easy but these people were at least trying and now, someone wanted to take her away again. What hurt really though, was that her foster parents weren't putting up a fight. Maybe they didn't like her as much as they kept saying? Why couldn't that damn medicine kick in sooner!?

Delilah rolled over onto her back, holding her stuffed bear tightly against her chest as she stared at the ceiling. Tears ran from the corner of her eyes and back across her temples. A soft knock came from her bedroom door finally. Delilah made no move to look at the door, much less get up and answer it. Another knock came, followed by the voice of the woman who called herself Jane. "Delilah?," she asked, the shuffling of her feet as she shifted weight slightly reaching Delilah's ears. "At least talk to me Delilah. I'm not going to hurt you and I'm not here to take you off to be treated like some lab rat. Westfield damaged you enough sweetheart, its about time you had someone who genuinely cares about what happens to you to help you," she said softly and carefully. Delilah let her head roll over slightly and eyed the door for a minute, realizing that this woman wasn't leaving.

Standing to her feet, Delilah held her stuffed bear even tighter against her chest. She inched her way toward the door, hesitantly reaching out to unlock it. She stood there for a moment, waiting to see if Jane would open the door herself and come in or wait to be invited. The woman surprised her, and waited. Delilah opened the door slowly, just a crack at first and then finally all the way. "I'm not a freak," she said softly, pulling her stuffed bear even tighter against herself still. "I know sweetheart, your a very special and pretty young woman and I'm here to help you," Jane said, still standing outside the room, her hands clasped in front of her. "I don't need your help," Delilah said calmly as she quickly slid one hand from her stuffed bear, pulling a butcher knife from the animal. She tossed the stuffed bear to the floor at her feet and then lunged toward Jane. Delilah stabbed the knife into the door frame of the door, her face close to Jane's. Jane smiled, unmoved by Delilah's actions. "My dear, I've been threatened by kids who can control fire with their minds, do you think a kitchen knife is going to scare me?," she asked Delilah, who in an odd turn of events, smiled back at the woman. She stepped back from the woman and allowed her into her room.

[Delilah Pryce]

Beautifully Broken: Part IV

Delilah's arrival at Hammel had been an interesting one to say the least. She arrived with Jane, the woman who had been sent to recruit her and help introduce her to this odd new wonderland before her. Delilah was quite impressed with the size and well kept appearance of the institute. Pilot Ridge was quite different from the lone little mountain town she was born into and raised. It was quieter here and the air was a bit more fresh smelling instead of the thick heavy air she new back home. The people here were very different as well and to Delilah they might has well been another species entirely. She was out of her element here, but really, did Delilah have an element to begin with? She hadn't known much in her short live so far, receiving the minimalist amount of education. Funding for county schools such as the one in her previous life were was very scarce and so the faculty made do with what they had. Now it wasn't to say that all students were mid-level intelligence, there were a few who went on to bigger and better things, but sadly Delilah wasn't one of these. That was how she saw herself, but little did she know just how educated she was about to become.

Upon arrival, Delilah was escorted to the main office for registration and other legal matters. One of the goals Hammel seemed to have was hiding their students from the prying eyes of the outside world. Some fancy paper work and a bit of record altering were in order, but it seemed the people here were professionals at that sort of thing. Delilah was assigned a room in the girl's dorm as her past dictated it was the best course of action. She was well informed and reminded several times during her escort to her dorm that she was to meet with one of the school psychiatrists first thing in the morning, someone named Dr. Neville. Delilah wasn't pleased that her newest head doctor was a man, but she was assured he was a bit different from others in his field.

Standing alone now in her dorm, Delilah sighed and looked around. The other beds reflected their owners with all their personalized trinkets and what nots. Delilah herself had nothing to offer the bed which awaited her, save for an old tattered suitcase and the teddy bear her previous foster family had given her for Christmas one year. Just how different would Hammel be than the other places she had been shipped off to over the years was a mystery, but one which intrigued Delilah just a little.