Filtered Reality by Watercolor

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 11


Georgie glanced towards the door as Delaney turned to leave. She didn’t see her face, but she was curious of the sudden change in direction. She glanced at Dillon who had returned to his story boards. “Um…I’ll be back in a minute.” She said and walked to the exit. She stepped outside and walked in the direction she had seen Delaney go. “Delaney!” she called, but she didn’t see which way she went. Unfortunately curiosity was getting the better of her and she continued on it the direction towards the park.

Delaney walked slowly though the green landscape, but her concentration was suddenly broken at the sound of a gun shot. She swung around to avoid what ever was coming in her direction, but her glasses fell as she hit her knees. She felt around in the ground to see if she could find them, but it was already dark and she couldn’t see them. A flashlight suddenly pointed at her face. The light in her eyes was unbearable. She looked down from the glare but the damage was done. The flash had caused her vision to blur. She tried to focus but couldn’t. “What did you see?” a man’s voice said.

“Nothing.” She said looking at the grass. “I didn’t see anything.”

Georgie came in earshot at that moment and saw a man in black standing over Delaney. Georgie grabbed her cell phone and immediately phoned the police. “Yes, this is Georgie Jones, I want to report gunshots in the park near Kelly’s. Hurry, the man is still here and a friend of mine is being held at gunpoint!” she whispered franticly. It was then Georgie heard another gunshot coming from the direction where Delaney was. Georgie crouched down so not to be seen and peaked through the bushes to Delaney who was still on her knees.

“Don’t move.” The man growled at Delaney.

“I dropped my glasses.” Delaney tried to explain. “I can’t see without them.” The man stepped to her and pulled her to her feet. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him, but the glare from the flashlight was still causing spots and flashes. She couldn’t see him. Delaney breathed in and could smell fresh blood on the man’s fingers as he gripped her jaw. She could smell his cologne and the gunpowder and whiskey on his breath as he spoke, but she couldn’t see him. A black ski mask was over his face, but she couldn’t even make out his eye color. The man pointed his flashlight back in her face; he noticed the eyes didn’t respond to the light.

“Your lucky, little girl.” The man said.

“Freeze!” a policeman shouted. The man dropped the blind girl, she would be dead weight to take with him, and would slow his escape. He turned and ran. Delaney hit the ground hard, but felt her glasses under her hands. She gripped them and put them to her eyes. Georgie crawled out of her hiding place and went to Delaney as a policeman gave chase after the man. Delaney put pressure on her eyes and tried to focus on who was next to her.

“Are you okay?” Georgie asked. Delaney relaxed when she realized who was next to her. “Yeah.” She said. “The flashlight has me seeing spots for a while though.” She confessed. “Georgie.” A police officer said coming up behind them.

“I’m okay Lucky” she said. “He had Delaney at gunpoint.”

“Can you tell me what the man looked like?” he said calmly.

“No,” Delaney said. “He was wearing something over his face, and he had a flashlight in my eyes.”

Lucky looked at the red marks on Delaney’s cheeks and noticed fingerprints in blood. “Where you hurt?” he asked.

“no.” she said.

“Okay, just stay right here, don’t move, I’m going to get a medic to come and check you out.”
“I’m sure I’ll be okay.” Delaney said, wanting to get away from all the attention.

“No, I insist we get you checked out, and we will need to get the prints from your cheek, please wait here until I can get someone.”

“What happened?” Commissioner Scorpio asked.

“Dad!” Georgie exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I was at the office when word came of your call. I had to check this out. My daughter shouldn’t be involved in such things.”

“It wasn’t me.” Georgie said, “It was my friend Delaney.” Police men soon had Delaney and were helping her up.

“Sorry, sir.” Delaney said, trying to focus on the officers, but spots still swirled in her vision and she wasn’t able to see clearly. “Georgie didn’t see much, I didn’t even know she was here. I’m sure the man who grabbed me didn’t know she was here either.”

“Georgie.” He asked her. “What were you going here?”

“We were working on a film.”

“Like I haven’t heard that before.” He said looking at Delaney suspiciously.

Delaney reached in her pocket and took out her wallet. She opened it and took out her ID’s. One was her pass at the college for the film class; another was her ID from the Film school she had attended before the summer break. Mac took the ID’s and looked at them.
“Well…Ms. Newton.” he said noting her name. “This is your first time in Port Charles?”

“Yes sir.”

“Sorry you didn’t get a great first impression.” He said handing her back her ID’s.

“On the contrary.” Delaney said. “Georgie is a great help with my summer workshop film. She was very helpful this evening as well. I didn’t even know I was being followed. If I had, then we both would have been in danger. She did very well calling for help.”

Mac smiled, but then he too noticed she blood on Delaney’s cheek. “We should get you to the hospital.”

“Honestly sir, I think I’m okay.”

”No, I insist, I may need a witness later, and you look a little unsettled. You want to look out for shock.” Delaney nodded and let the officers escort her to the ambulance.

Mac turned to Georgie. “She attends a very good school, It was nice of you to help with her project, but what are you doing out here?”

“I was at Kelly’s, where she’s staying for a while. I noticed her walk by the door. I was just going to ask her about some things in the script when I heard the gunshots.”

“Did they come from here?” he asked, suddenly turning from ‘dad’ to ‘police officer’.

“yes.” She said. “Over there. Delaney was here, and I was there.”

“But you didn’t’ see anything?”

“Just the gun pointed at her. No one saw me here.”

“Good….I want to keep it that way. Who ever this person is, I don’t like guns in my park. You go back to Kelly’s and I’ll meet you there when I’m done to take you home.”

“Can we check on Delaney later?”

“No, I want you go get home. I’ll check on her and let you know. I’m sure she’s okay though.”

Georgie did as she was told and returned to Kelly’s. She was met at the door by Dillon. “Where did you go?” he asked. It was then the ambulance lights flashed down the street and the blue police lights after it. “Whoa! Seriously! What happened!” he said worried.

“There was a man in the park. He held Delaney at gunpoint. I called the police and they chased him away.”

“Are you okay!” he said looking her over.

“I’m fine, but Delaney is going to the hospital for an evaluation.”

“Is she okay?” he asked.

“I think so; the man didn’t hurt her too bad. She was able to stand up to Mac for me.” She hugged Dillon briefly, the reality of the harm that she was in suddenly setting in. “Mac! He’ll be here soon. I don’t want him thinking I was lying again.”

“But I thought…”

”I didn’t tell him you were here.”

“Point taken.” Dillon kissed her briefly and put his lap top away, and scrabbled out the door. “Call me!” he shouted and ran in the opposite direction from the park.

Georgie smiled and waves as he left and turned back to the table where she packed the note cards away. An hour later Mac returned to take her home. He saw she was still writing from Delaney’s journal and making notes, busy as a student, only school was out. He smiled seeing how hard she was working.

“Georgie.” He said quietly and sat across from her.

“Hi dad.” She said and smiled. “Did you find anything?” she asked putting her pen away.

“Well, Delaney’s fine.” He said watching as she neatly put her things in her backpack. “She just as a few abrasions on her neck from where he rough housed her a little, but he left his fingerprints there too. We were able to tail him to a hotel on the edge of town. Lucky we did too, he has quite a record.”

“Was Delaney in danger?” She asked thickly thinking of Delaney with the gun to her.

“Yes, but it wasn’t Delaney’s fault.” He assured her. “Nor yours. You were simply in the wrong place and the wrong time. Delaney walked in on him shooting a drug dealer on the other end of the park. Apparently he wanted more then a pick me up. He was wanted in upstate New York for worse, so we’ve provided an escort to their custody until he can go to trial for those crimes.”

“Delaney could have been killed.” She said dazed.

“I’m sorry Georgie, I didn’t want to upset you.” He said noting her gaze.

“I’m not upset, dad. It’s just surreal.”

“It often feels that way, every day I’m at work. I just never want to see it happen to one of my girls, which is why I came tonight.”

”It scares you this much?” she said looking over at him.

“Very much Georgie.” He said taking her hand. “You and Maxie are my pride and joy. I never want to see either of you hurt. You seeing your friend almost hurt, I’m sure it was scary, but you can talk to me about anything. You know that.”

“It’s just…” She paused trying to find the words. “It’s just that, it was so sudden, I was so close…and…it’s selfish of me, but I was just thinking…what if had been me?”

“Well…I would hope you had a friend as good as you in the corner calling for help, just as you did for her.” Georgie warmed with pride that she had done the right thing, and that her dad wasn’t angry. In fact he was very understanding. “Is this your project?” he said noting the few cards still laid out.

“Yeah, Delaney, Dillon and I…” she paused expecting an outburst of disapproval from him hearing Dillon’s name, but it didn’t come. “We’re working on it together.”

“Yes, I figured Dillon would have been involved.” He replied. “It’s nice to see him putting forth an effort; it will be good for college.”

“But…who are you?” she asked wondering his change in attitude.

“I’m not some Ogre Georgie.” He said “I wouldn’t want you to think that of me. I was just checking Delaney’s background with the college and it mentioned that the summer course goes towards college credit. I also got a list of students attending. Dillon was on the list.”

“oh.” She replied. “You checked up on the story.”

“A good officer does Georgie. You need all the facts.” He said. “You just walked un on the situation. I wanted to make sure it was true. What if it had been Delaney buying the drugs?” then Georgie remember the hospital, and the pills. The seed of doubt was planted. He was right, what if she had been going to the park to buy drugs? “But everything checks out. That is why I’m not upset. You are a good friend Georgie. And I think helping Delaney with this project might be good for you.”

Georgie knew what he really meant. It meant she wasn’t alone with Dillon, and Delaney was old enough to act as the adult, but could Georgie trust Delaney still?

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 12

When she got home, Georgie went to her room and flung her bag on her bed. She knew her dad was just being protective, and it was her own teen angst causing her mood to take a sudden U turn, but that was the problem. She was a teen, and her emotions, so new to her, were still being learned. She couldn’t help but go crazy with jealousy, envy or suspicion. And right now, her suspicions were that Delaney had lied to her about being on drugs. What if her dad was on the right track about her being in the park why else would she have been in the park,. Why would she have made the sudden turn of direction outside Kelly’s’. She didn’t know what to honestly think. She needed to vent these thoughts, and to a reliable source. She picked up her cell phone and called Dillon.

Dillon’s phone rang at the most opportune moment too.

”Boy!” Edward Quartermaine barked. The sudden ring had disrupted one of his many lectures. “Your attention to this family may be as long as one of those short film things of yours, but I will not take these disruptions.”

Dillon grabbed his phone. “Trust me, grandfather, that’s the last I want to do. I’ll just take this…elsewhere” and he ran from the room. He walked out to the garden and answered the phone. “Hi.” He said winded from his sudden sprint.
“Dillon I need to talk to you.” Georgie said. The tense emotion in her voice, Dillon knew something was bothering her.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

Georgie continued to tell him of what her dad had said and the suspicions of the drugs.

“Georgie, It’s okay.” He said softly. “If you are truly concerned about this we can take it up with Delaney tomorrow. I’ll meet you at Kelly’s in the morning, early. I’ll bring money for coffee and we can go to her room first thing, no excuses this time. We can go inside, and get this all out.”

Georgie smiled. They were so well to each other, the voice of reason to the other’s spindling hormone induced psychosis. Georgie said good night to Dillon and they hung up the phone. Georgie went down the stairs to the kitchen. She walked in to the empty kitchen and opened the freezer where she removed a cup of ice cream. She took the carton as well as a spoon from drawer and plopped on the couch in the living room.

“Ouch!” a voice called from underneath her. Georgie got up quickly to see a squished Maxie. She too had a cup of ice cream and spoon in hand. Maxie got up and moved over so Georgie could sit next to her. “So…what’s on your mind?”

“Nothing much.” Georgie said dipping her spoon in the frozen cream. “Mind’s full.”

“Stomach’s empty.” Maxie replied.

“Yep.”

“Good thing these are only a cup.” She said noting the small containers.

“Yep.”

“So, what’s really on your mind?”

“I could ask the same of you.” Georgie countered not really wanting to go in to the details, and still getting tired.

“Summer isn’t starting the way I thought it would.” She replied.

“Yeah, mine neither.”

“This would be so much better for us if it were yogurt.” She said spooning another bite.

“Don’t remind me.” Maxie said licking her spoon. “Though this does remind me of that commercial on TV.”

”This is bad.” Georgie said, “And it still isn’t yogurt.” She emptied her cup of its ice cream and looked at the empty bottom. “But I am relaxed now.”

”I have that effect of people.” Maxie said also noting her empty container.

“Good night Maxie.”

“Good night Georgie.” She replied, and they both threw away their empty containers and went to their rooms.

[JRK Archiver]

Chapter 13

The next morning Dillon waited outside Kelly’s for Georgie to show up. He waited back from view of the day in case Delaney was to show up. It wasn’t much of an intervention if she saw them. It was then he saw her emerge from the restaurant. She was dressed casually with her back pack on one arm and her tinted glasses in one hand. It was so early it was still dark. He checked his watch and noted the abnormally early hour. ‘Who would be leaving this early?’ He thought, ‘besides some freak like me…lurking in corners.’

A car made a sudden turn near by, the headlights flashed in Delaney’s eyes. He watched as she grabbed her eyes and turned back. He was tempted to run to her, and see what was wrong, but stood his ground. He watched as she wiped tears from her eyes. It was just a flash of light, but it caused her eyes to tear. He watched as she dug in her pack and removed eye drops and put them in her eyes. She shook off the tears and put the drops away and continued on down the street. He glanced around for Georgie, but she wasn’t near by, and he didn’t want to lose Delaney, so he ran after her.

Delaney turned passed the park and towards the docks. She walked down to the pier she sat on the near by bench and looked out to the water. Dillon crouched low and looked around expecting to see a man come out somewhere, but one didn’t come.

Instead he watched as Delaney took off her glasses and looked out to the ocean. The wind came up and blew the fly away strands of her hair back, the sky grew lighter, and the clouds kissed purple, as the sun began to rise over the harbor. Delaney looked at it, the brightness causing the tears to return, but she didn’t care. She wanted to see this, the same as the day before and the day before that. Always the same, always different. Dillon watched as the light swallowed the shadows slowly, and she put her glasses back on, and walked back up the stairs. Dillon didn’t follow. Instead he went down to the bench and looked out to the water. The sun like diamonds on the water, the wind fresh against his face. Then he heard someone run behind him.

“Dillon.” A voice said. It was Georgie. He didn’t take his eyes of the water, and instead waved her over, and took her hand. He pulled her next to him and pointed out to the water. Georgie looked out. The vision was breathtaking.

Dillon put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

“It’s beautiful.” She whispered. She didn’t realize how often she had taken it for granted. Dillon looked over at her, the orange sun lighting her hair gold, her lips glistening in the warmth. He was caught in the sight of her. She felt his stare and looked over to him, in to his eyes, the light softening his features. He leaned closer to her and softly pressed his lips to her, barely a kiss, more of a breath on her lips, not wanting to disturb them. She returned his touch with a soft nuzzle back. He felt his skin turn warm and smelled the baby powder freshness of hers. He put her hand up to cup her face in his hands, and she leaned in further for him to kiss her, closing her eyes. He accepted and he kissed her softly.

From behind them Delaney looked over the railing at the loving couple below her and smiled. She glanced back out to the water, and turned leaving them together. It isn’t often you get kisses at sunrise.

Georgie parted her lips and kissed him a little deeper, unaware of their spy leaving. Dillon smiled, and opened his eyes. Georgie did the same.

“Wow.” He said breathless.

“Where were we?” Georgie asked, collecting her thoughts, soaking in the sun, loving this moment, but then she remembered. “Did…” she began.

“yes.” He said trying to get a grip on reality. Had the last few moment been another of his day dreams? Was this moment really that perfect? Then he realized it was and reality sunk back in. “She was. Um…she went that way.” He said point up to the direction she had left. “But I honestly think your wrong Georgie.”

“Then let’s prove it.” She said and offered him her hand.

They walked away and back to Kelly’s. They went up the stairs to the rented rooms, and knocked on Delaney’s. Inside Delaney was in the bath room washing her hands. She dried the quickly and walked to the door. She opened it and smiled.

“Delaney, we need to talk.” Were the first words out of his mouth. “Can we come in?” She was beginning to protest but thought against it. She back away and let them enter.

“What’s on your minds?” She said and closed the door after them.

“Drugs.” Georgie blurted out.

“Sorry, all out, but I think I can hook you up with my dealer.” She joked. But when the two serious faces looked at her, she realized it wasn’t time to joke.

“The man in the park last night.” Georgie said. Delaney cringed at the memory. That had been part of her reason for going to the pier; to see a sunrise, her mortality growing more certain with every hour.
“I didn’t know him.” She said. “I know you probably think I did, but I didn’t. Honestly.”

”Why did you leave Kelly’s. I saw you turn away rather then enter.” She probed.

“Cause I didn’t want to interrupt.” She said referring to the two of them. ‘Pardon me for being courteous.” George swallowed thickly and blushed. She had to remember that she wasn’t like Sage. She wanted Dillon and her happy. “But I don’t blame you Georgie. I’m aware of some tension you may have to me, but it’s natural. But trust me. I’m not after Dillon, I’m not on drugs, and I’m not running from the law. I’m just a film student, letting those around me enjoy life; you think I want to disturb that? I don’t. I want them to be happy for…” she caught herself. She wanted to say ‘be happy for me’ cause she never had a relationship like theirs, but she didn’t. “I want them happy.” She stated simply.

Dillon hugged Georgie from behind, remembering their kiss. It was so perfect, had Delaney staged it? He knew she hadn’t, but she was as he was, thinking cinematically. He just happened to share the vision, and share it with Georgie at the right moment.

Georgie nodded. “I understand.”

“Then, can we start this filming? It’s not going to make itself.”