Genetic opera Delilah's story7

chapter 7: all hope lost and then regained

the young pale woman sat on a curb, her feet were sitting in a cold puddle that had soaked through her ratted old sneakers, however she could not feel or even notice, how could she when all she could feel was the pain of failure, her heart was beating so loud it was all she could hear yet it wasn't racing, in fact it was very slow and stayed in the same slow rhythm. She had been offered the chance to live, but could never make her family suffer the debts fo she had already forced them to suffer, they were poor enough without all of her medical bills, her disease was unknown and could not be treated until what it was had been given a title or at least known how it was caused and no one knew, not even the greatest doctors and surgeons, all they knew is they assumed she was born with it, Delilah Morgan, doomed from the start, she was given her time limit at birth, she never even had a chance. GeneCo was her last hope, their technology and how they created organs to replace other ones would be the only thing to save her, but just about her entire anatomy was destroying itself, it would cost a fortune just for one small common organ but for everything to be replaced? the prices would be out of reach for even the richest of people, sadly Delilah was one of the poorest. Her eyes were a pale blue and today they seemed almost gray, as if all life had been stricken from them. A slow wallow of thunder rumbled in the dark clouds as they began to cry, the drops were cold as death, probably not nearly as cold as her skin, she seemed to barely notice, she just sat on the curb, motionless, emotionless, lifeless, she couldn't get home, she couldn't go on, her oxygen tank was running low, if here lungs decided to give up on her she would never make it. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself, her breath could be seem from the cold temperature drop, the cold pierced her throat as she breathed it, it felt like tiny sewing needles being poked frantically at the inside of her tonsils, yet she didn't move or even blink. A faded sound grew near, music probably classic rock, the quality seemed bad like it was coming from an old radio, it came closer and the engine of a car could be heard soon followed by the sound of breaks and a small scraping noise of tires on the wet street, Delilah's pale eyes slowly looked up, she was drenched from the rain and it dripped into her eyes and down her chin> the vehicle was a van, the same that had picked her up before, maybe, she looked back down, probably just a pick up van, she thought to herself until a voice snapped her train on thought "hey!". Delilah slowly looked up again, her eyes filled with some hope at the familiar voice, it was Mark "....hey..." she spoke her voice cracking slightly "get in already your soaked!" he hopped out from the drivers seat leaving the engine on and running and the door open and he jogged through the wet street, his feet splashed on the cement as he reached the back of the van pulling open a stiff rusty door. After opening it her passed her a smile which faded almost as soon as it had sprung apon his face as he saw how down she looked, he approached her and picked up the oxygen tank with one hand and cradled it under his arm and held his other hand out to her to help her up. Delilah glanced at it, her face never changed, she very slowly reached up taking it, her hand slipped at first but mark quickly held it tight chucking and he pulled her up quickly making sure she didn't fall or slip, he then turned still holding her hand and led her to the van and helped her in and pushed the oxygen tank in behind her, it blanked on the metal and made a dragging noise as it scraped against the bottom of the van, he made sure she was ok and closed the door behind her jogging back to the front seat,the van shook as he got in and closed the door. Delilah looked around freezing up slightly seeing others in the van this time, they all looked like mark, run down and somewhat friendly, some more then others, there looked to be four of them, all men around there mid twenties, Mark chuckled slightly seeing her puzzlement in his rear view mirror "this is my band Delilah" he turned to face her and the others "Tristan, Taylor, Andy, and Malcolm, boys, this is Delilah". the men smiled some nodding some waving or muttering a hey, or hello, Delilah nodded slightly out of respect and one of them was kind enough to move aside giving her a place to sit. Mark looked back to the road starting to drive off "so Delilah you heading back? cause we are so we can take you home- oh! how did it go by the way!?" he spoke excitedly remembering her reason for coming in the first place. Delilah just looked down hoping he would take the hint lucky for her he sighed understanding it didn't go well, he didn't ask again not wanting to bring it up.
about 20 minutes had passed and all that could be heard was the sound of the van moving along with the occasional cough or mutter, it was silent, and not just any silence but awkward silence. Delilah had been looking down the entire time, avoiding any contact with the others, finally the man named Malcolm spoke up "so Delilah, you like music by any chance?". Delilah pretended not to hear, she wasn't in the mood for small talk with strangers not after what had happened, how could she just non nonchalantly talk about the most pointless things when she could fall over dead right here right now. Malcolm frowned seeing her state, but he decided to try something anyways, he pulled out a lovely crafted electric guitar and plugged it into an amp, it made a small high sound as it was plugged in, her rested the light brown and red guitar on his knee and strummed it checking to see if it was tuned correctly, the sound was off slightly and he fiddled with the nobs then tried again "perfect" he smiled hearing it perfectly tuned, the others watched him confused as to what he was doing, Malcolm was always strange compared to the others of their little band. Malcolm took a small light blue pick and slowly and gently picked at the strings playing a lovely and relaxed melody, Mark chuckled from the front seat hearing it, it must of been a song they wrote for Mark began humming to it knowing it all to well. Tristan had plugged in a key board also holding it on his lap and played along with the slow and lovely melody, it was so relaxing and gorgeous though it sounded so simple. the rest of the boys hummed along at their own tones. Mark began to sing some words "you close your eyes, and you turn away from me, showing me know sympathy." Delilah looked up surprised at how lovely the tune was, she assumed they were just another garage band that would never make it, but they seemed to put such loved and thought into the music, they were perfectly harmonized, Mark had made it to what sounded like the chorus "Don't turn away, baby, I know I did you wrong, but when i see you cry, all i can do is try to make it all okay, your so much better then baby" Delilah was amazed at this, they were, well amazing, Mark had finished and the others continued the harmony until the song slowly came to an end. A smile forced it's way across Delilah's face though she didn't want it, she clapped lightly "w-wow" she stuttered. The band members smiled especially Mark "so you like?". Delilah nodded though he probably couldn't see "yeah". Mark let out a sigh of relief "well that's good to here, you play any instruments?". Delilah though "well, when I was younger I learned piano, and I sing". Mark nodded "can we hear?" he smirked looking at her in the mirror, Delilah thought "um, well I guess". the band watched her, every member smiled to try and make her feel comfortable, it was hard to believe people this nice existed in this world, maybe that was why they weren't famous like they should of been with their talents. Delilah looked down and cleared her throat as well as she could, her dark brown hair fell in her face but she didn't seem to mind though it tickled lightly "Deep in the night, I feel everything's right, but you aren't there, and I am so afraid" she began feeling very nervous but saw no sign of dislike in any of their eyes so she continued "I run through the dark, to find you yet I'm sitting still" she continued finally singing her heart out, she finally finished a few minutes later and all the band members were silent, not in hate but in awe, Delilah frowned thinking they hated it but the sound of applause and cheers erupted from them all this forced a light blush onto the girl's pale face. mark finally calmed the band down and looked at Delilah through the mirror "damn girl, you got some nice pipes, why aren't you famous?" he chuckled. Delilah looked down "I um.... never sang for anyone before, not really at least" mark shook his head as if he were punishing a child "you gotta get out there, you could probably take blind Mag with that voice of yours" Delilah felt her heart skip a beat "you think?" blind Mag of geneco was Delilah's idol, always was she wished to meet her more then anything, sadly her life would be incomplete, she would never have that privilege, and Mag was know as the voice of geneco and a voice she had, the kind of voice that gave you goose bumps immediately, such a complement saying Delilah could surpass Mag gave Delilah such feeling of excitement, she almost forgot all about her failures. Mark smirked and took his hands off the steering wheel holding them in the air as if pleading for mercy though he was smiling brightly "I never tell a lie" he claimed as he replaced his hands on the wheel again, Taylor laughed "whatever ya say big shot" he chuckled teasingly making Mark snort "one more word and your walking the rest of the way girly man!". the other laughed and hollered repeating the insult at Taylor and he just crossed his arms shaking his head yet chuckling a little to himself, Delilah had completely cheered up now because of these people, they were so warm, and funny, how could one not smiled when with them. "ok calm down calm down, your gonna get the cops on us again for looking 'suspicious" he chuckled calming the others down. Delilah relaxed, for some reason she suddenly felt the sensation that everything was going to be ok.