The Obsession

by Jesse Q. Sutanto

To my husband, Mike, who has always been there for me—but like, in a non-stalkery way.

I was the only one who really got Delilah.

why I’m here, to protect her. I will never let anything bad happen to her. Never.

‘Ooh, I’m Asian, I can’t do anything fun! Must study hard!’”

Because, Delilah, I’m meant to save you, and I’m not one to turn away from destiny.

She wasn’t as broken as I thought. She was a fighter. A Valkyrie. She was so much more than I thought she was. She was incredible. And I loved her so much more for it.

In the end, I’d saved the file of her killing Detective Jackson in a USB drive I could wear around my neck.

“That’s me—not Asian enough for Asian people, not white enough for white people.

met someone who was truly my equal,

God, how could I have been this thoughtless?

smiled sadly at her. “Yes, Delilah. This is a video of you killing Detective Brandon Jackson.”

I loved scrappy, feisty Delilah.

loved what an asshole Delilah could be.

Did he know that killing Brandon wasn’t my only secret? That I had another one, which was perhaps just as bad, if not worse than that? Did he know I was Draycott’s drug dealer?

And he might actually end up killing me.

I didn’t want some creep to get into Delilah’s house.

“It’s a video of me, uh…cheating on the chem test.”

“Uh, it’s almost noon, and I brought cupcakes.” I held up a container of frosting-free cupcakes, and she snatched it from my hands.

The rat was me. Or rather, it used to be me. But not anymore. I wasn’t going to let Logan corner me and swallow me whole like I was some helpless prey. Step Three: be the snake.

I respected Dee. I worshipped her.

And to save her, you need to take it, take her life—

couldn’t afford to let Logan overdose here, as tempting as that was.

I had to kill her, to stop her from running away from me.

I was about to comfort her when the seeds of another idea sprouted.

STOP TELLING SO MANY LIES!!! THIS IS GOING TO COME BACK AND BITE YOU IN THE BUTT!

I’d found the video of me supposedly cheating on a test. What if she asked to see it?

“Please, Aish, no cops, okay?

But Delilah was real, and after tonight, Delilah would be mine forever.

Did you think they weren’t going to find out? Did you think because I know the dean, nobody’s going to look at your essay? How could you be so—I just—I have no words.”