C H A P T E R   O N E
Visit You Tomorrow

With a bejeweled hair clip in her hair and uncomfortable pearl earrings attached to her ears, Delia stepped out of her carriage. Her dress was no voluptuous ball gown but it was indeed long and made from old fabric. Hands sweaty, she quickly grabbed her things and stood on the beige coloured road.

     "Is there someone who's suppose to be picking you up, Miss?" The coachman asked, Delia turned to look at him in the eye and nodded lightly.

     "It seems that they're late, I wouldn't mind keeping you company." He offered, friendly, toothy smile on the coachmen's face. Delia lit up in excitement, finally, some company.

"Who is it you are waiting for?" The man questioned in a sour tone. Hastily, she replied with, "My aunt, I haven't seen her in many years but she's always been good to me..." The coachman smiled and nodded, his eyes were focused on the horizon.

"What's your name?" Delia was curious, the kind coachman's name was still a mystery.

"Samuel is the name, Miss Acker." He uttered, a reassuring chuckle came out from the man's lips. "Lovely to meet you, Samuel." A tint of a accent was layered over her voice and he turned to Delia with a eager expression.

"Are you from America?"

     "I was born and raised in Britain until I was 5. It was a lovely place, I could only imagine to be there once more." The young girl explained her origins and the man looked back at the sunset.

There a long period of silence that had fell between the two recently made friends but it was quickly broken by Delia's words.

"Tell me a bit about you, Samuel the coachman." Samuel focussed back onto her as he opened his mouth to talk.

     "I was born not far from Massachusetts. I have a wife who loathes being poor and a son who is brilliant and adventurous. He's 7, his birthday was just about a week ago. I wish I had been there but I had to sit in this god awful carriage and ride off into the sunset." Samuel's eyes had turned glossy and his spirit turned dim but Delia put her cold yet sweaty hand on his shoulder, squeezing it just strong enough for him to feel her notion.

"You should go to them. It's never too late to wish someone happy birthday, and a week isn't a excuse." She advised Samuel, hoping he would take her advice. Maybe it would mend his and his family's relationships she thought.

"I might just do that." Samuel grinned, a happy expression had slowly emerged from Delia's face as well and they were in a good mood once more. Another wave of silence hit them and they say next to each other, staring off into the sunset until one of them had another thing to say. A few thoughts had kept Delia busy with trying to silence them but they eventually crept through and out her mouth.

"She should be here by now..." she said with hesitation and Samuel had a bright expression, leading to her to believe he had come up with a great idea.

"Do you know your aunt's address?" An 'O' shape formed out of her lips and she nodded rapidly. On a notepad Samuel has gotten from his pocket and with a pen he had handed to her, Delia wrote the address that she hoped was her aunt's. Though her memory was still quite fuzzy, she assumed that her hesitation was for no reason and so she wrote down the address with confidence.

"Head back into the Carriage, we'll be there in a few minutes." And with that, Delia sat herself back inside the Carriage with a window to the back of Samuel's head and they started to move again.

* * * * *

About 10 minutes later, they arrived at a luxurious house that was painted white in colour and was filled with many windows with shutters and curtains. The house was all lit by many, many lights from the inside.

Delia looked back at Samuel as he gestured for her to go. She stepped off the carriage and grabbed her things from the trunk. Her legs felt numb, there was no way in hell her aunt lived here. And even if she did, she would've remembered it better. This building was... too fantastical not to remember.

     One step at a time, she walked through the grass and before she went, she waved to Samuel and wished him farewell and good luck. Delia only saw a small nod that he made before he went off down the road.

There were many hedges all around the house and the more she observed, the more she felt uneasy. But before she could faint, her hand was banging on the front door of the marvellous house. She felt as though she would regret doing this for the rest of her life but finally, someone answered the door...

A young man that looked the same age as her grinned and looked her up and down. He seemed out of breath yet excited as he continued to stare at her.

"Hello," Delia waved to him with a warm grin.

"Hello, Miss, Is there something I could help you with?" He asked and the confused girl beamed, "I was wondering if my aunt was home." She answered, a confused expression was on the boy's face and she knew she had messed up.

"This isn't... the Acker Household, is it...?" Her cheeks turned bright red, Delia suddenly felt shy as she curled up and looked at the boy with embarrassment.

"No, this... this isn't." He chuckled, it seemed it wasn't the strangest thing to happen to him and so he continued to stand there looking at her shoes that hid under her long dress.

"Is... is this your house?" Delia stuttered at the question. The boy nodded and let out a short laugh again.

"I'm Theodore Laurence, by the way. You can call me Laurie though." He grinned, he reached his hand out and hoped for Delia to shake it which she did.

"Laurie, it is. I'm... Delia Acker." She replied, greeting him in a friendly manner. He seemed friendly himself.

"I heard it's cold out, come in and we can try and find your... Aunt?" Delia smiled embarrassingly, rubbing her shoulder while nodded as she stepped into the obnoxiously enormous home.

"Thank you, by the way, Laurie. I appreciate your help deeply."

"No need to thank me, it's my pleasure." Laurie said as he guided Delia to a cozy room with a warm fire.

The two sat across the room from one another but Delia had seen the boy try to sit closer to her, though he ended up sitting farther away from her. Delia was confused by what he was doing but didn't say anything.

"So, how did you end up at my door?" Delia grinned and looked at him in the eye, she could see a flicker of some sort, probably the flickering from the fire coming from the fireplace.

"My carriage brought me here, so I assumed this was my Aunt's house." She gulped, Laurie choked up on his cup of warm water as he tried to stop a laugh.

"Who gave the coachman the address?" He inquired. As Delia's mouth opened wide to say something else, a much older man stepped into the room and looked surprised at Laurie.

"Laurie— I see we have a guest..." the man turned to Delia with a friendly wave. "I'm Mr. Laurence." The old man reached his hand out to shake Delia's hand.

"Grandfather, this girl was lost and stumbled onto our doorstep." Laurie said, "Ah, well. Welcome to our home, Miss..."

"Delia Acker," she said, "Make yourself at home, if you need me, I'll be in my office." He said to the both of them, Mr. Laurence eyed Laurie mischievously before walking back to where he came from.

"Your grandfather seems very kind." Delia commented and Laurie smiled, "That he is..."

"It's starting to get dark out, I wouldn't recommend going out there to look for your Aunt's house but it's your choice." Delia looked at Laurie, studying him to see what his deal was.

     "I don't want to bother you, I might as well go out and hope to find my way home as soon as possible." And as Delia grabbed her things, Laurie stared at her and said, "I'll come with you, just in case anything bad happens." He mumbled and Delia stared at him for a moment and sighed. "If you insist?"

     "I do." He grinned, walking her to the door, then opening it for her. As Delia stepped outside, she heard Laurie yell something she didn't focus her mind on.

And so, she walked with her two suitcases that seemed heavier and heavier as she moved along. Laurie joined her after a bit of bickering with someone from inside the house. It's nice to have a friend there.

"Laurie... tell me about yourself." Delia said. He couldn't see much in the dark. Delia has never been one to be social but she'd made two friends, even if one of her friends left her for his family. They were nice though, they listened. She had never seen anyone's future with her before but, she felt something magnetic to Laurie. He was nice, surely they would stay long term friends even if she was forced to move back home.

"I have two sisters, one is annoying and the other is... fair." She said, "It seems that it's always like that." He responded. Delia could feel his hand try to grab the handle of her luggage but she refused.

"I-it's fine, Laurie. I can handle it." She said, insisting that she carried her own stuff, though she really wished she had accepted Laurie's offer.

"No one ever lets me carry them anyways." She grumbled, Laurie sighed as well. He was probably trying to be relatable but, he was a man. A boy he was.

"I get where you're coming from. Let's go to that house back there. It's closer to the forest."

Their trudge was far from over. As the two young and bright minded adventurers kept walking, one of them eventually let the other help them out with their bags. From house to house and door to door, they kept asking around but no one seemed to be aware of anyone with the last name Acker. The more Delia walked, the more light headed and paranoid she was. What if her aunt didn't live here no longer? But she didn't let the thought get to her.

     Laurie on the other hand was starting to lose his energy and as the night faded deeper into the night, he had forgotten what their mission was. There were only so many more houses to ask. One house was located close to a river that was full of life and animals but their trudge there would be quite long, it would take 10 more minutes.

"We should go there, I have a gut feeling..." Delia suggested and Laurie could only agree.

"You could go home if you want, I'll walk the rest of the way." But Laurie only responded with a shaking head. One step at a time, they both walked along the grass in their worn out clothing.

They almost breathed a sigh of relief once they reach the house stretched far away from the rest. It was secluded but it looked wonderful all in the same. It was a strangely designed house but it had a sophistication like the others in a way. Laurie and Delia could both hear the loud splashing of water from the river bend. Delia held her breath as she walked up the many concrete steps to the front door. She turned back to Laurie who was trying to give a reassuring look of encouragement to her. Shakily, her hand knocked on the wooden door and a somewhat familiar face appeared.

"Delia? Goodness me! You're here! We were so worried for you." My Aunt's warm arms sheltered me from the cold outside. Quickly, she grabbed my suitcases and slid them inside their home.

"Come in, come in! It's cold!" She said, welcoming me home.

"Wait!" Delia cried, running down the steps and nearly tripping. She wrapped Laurie in a big and beamed at him.

"Thank you for your help, Laurie. I owe you one, if there's anything I can do to repay you then—"

"There's no need, Lia. I didn't do much, I'll come visit you tomorrow." He grinned, Lia, really? The girl thought to herself.

"I... I can't wait. See you tomorrow." Delia waved to him one last time before seeing him flee into a sprint home. It would take 10 to 15 minutes to go from the Acker to the Lawrence Household, she walked back up the steps of her home and was pulled into a group hug by her Aunt and her Uncle who was silently and awkwardly joining in.

"We'll explain everything, my Dear." Her Aunt
said. All three of them gathered around in a circle in the living room farther into the house. Delia couldn't wait any longer.

A U T H O R ' S   N O T E

Okay so, be aware that I wrote this a month ago. It's not bad but I dunno, it's ehh. Let me know how you like this story so far, yesterday I wrote a chapter for this and... I'm in love with the idea of Delia and Laurie together lol. Thanks for reading!