Let Me Come Home ■ Metalocalypse

Misguided Ghosts

"Whens the last times yous ates?" Skwisgaar noticed that Delilah's weightloss was rapid. He wasn't sure how much of the baby weight she would lose after a month, but she was rapidly approaching her pre-pregnancy weight.

"I had lunch not too long ago"

"You hads chickens broth. That ament's lunch" Delilah rolled her eyes.

"I'm not hungry, okay? I haven't been hungry in weeks" he couldn't blame her. He knew she lost her appetite under stress and depressive episodes. He wished he had lost his appetite. He was binging and purging a lot more than even he was comfortable with and she knew he was guilty of it. The first week he stayed he ate almost an entire pan of her grandmother's rice and beans to himself.

"Did you save enough for me?" She had asked. She examined what was left and shrugged. "If you're gonna do this in my house, use the guest bathroom. Maybe I'll join you sometime"

Most of what she was consuming was alcohol and drugs. When Murderface was on shift it was whiskey and xanax. With Skwisgaar it was wine and ambien. They had come into the habit of checking her breathing every couple of hours. Eventually Skwisgaar decided to go to bed with her every night. "I cans smells him ons the sheets" he whispered.

"Me too" They cried together most nights. In a haze of ambien and merlot, Delilah begged her shared lover to make love to her. "You're all I have left!" She cried. "You're the closest thing I have to feeling him again"

"Yous highs and drunks" Skwisgaar protested. He enjoyed sex with her, but this was for the wrong reasons. He wasn't Chris. He craved that connection too, but neither of them were him and he knew they would both be disappointed.

"Yous are high an' drunk all the time! I'll go get some wooder an' sober up"

"Yous so drunks your Philadelphias ams showings" she shifted to get up, but he wrapped an arm around her to stop her. "Don'ts goes" he brought her close to him and kissed her. "Whens yous sobers we cans fucks, okays?"

"Mm'kay" she slurred. "He loved you, y'know?"

"I knows" they slept for a long time, only getting woken up by the sound of Delilah's phone. "Let's it rings. Ams too earlys for phones calls"

"It's 12:47 in the afternoon. I have to answer, it's Chris's mom. Hello?" Skwisgaar crawled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. "Kathy, is everything alright?" Delilah knew it wasn't alright. Her mother-in-law had called about ten times a day since the funeral. Sometimes just to cry. Sometimes to ask what she could keep of her son's and never satisfied with the answer.

"Oh, Del-ugh!" She couldn't even say Delilah's full name before bursting into tears. Delilah rolled her eyes while her in-law sobbed. "The-the b-babies pack n' play c-came today!" There was a pang in her heart. Her and Chris had agreed that a pack n' play for both sets of grandparents was a good idea. She began to mourn all the family visits they would never get to have, sleep overs that would never be. "Wha-what should I-I do with it?" Delilah sighed. She still had a full nursery she had no energy to clear.

"I don't know Kathy... maybe one of your nieces might need it or you can donate it?"

"It was for my baby, though"

'Here she goes with that my baby bullshit' Delilah thought bitterly. "I know how you feel, Kathy. I have a full nursery my baby never got to use. I think it would be best to donate everything" she sat through another bout of hysterical sobbing before Kathy calmed down.

"I'm just so glad she didn't meet that devil worshipping cousin of yours. Or exposed to any of his satanic music"

"Will doesn't worship the devil, Kathy" Delilah's voice began to drip with venom. "He's an athiest, just like your son was an athiest"