𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐔𝐌 (𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛)

𝐹𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑦

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to problem dump," he said in a nasally voice.

"No, it's fine." I bit my cheek thinking what to say. "I recently lost someone too."

Connor's posture slightly perked up.

"What was their name?"

I held back for a moment before pushing out the word.

"His name was Daryl." My throat constricted and I swallowed roughly.

"We got separated. And I have no idea where he is or if he's even alive."

My nails dug into my palms as my chest suddenly ached.

"Well, what happened?"

"He just–," I forced down the lump in my throat. "He just left. He didn't wait for me. And I'm so..."

A salty tear escaped my eye and I roughly wiped it away.

"I'm so fucking pissed at him!"

Connor said nothing and we sat in silence for a moment.

"Sorry," I laughed wryly and wiped my nose. "I barely know you."

"Now, we're even. We both dumped our problems on each other," Connor smirked.

I snorted and shook my head.

"I just don't usually talk to people like this."

"You mean express your emotions in a healthy way instead of internalizing them until you explode?"

"Yeah, that," I chuckled.

A small falcon dove into the trees in the distance and shortly reemerged with a small animal wrapped in its talons.

"Have you made any friends?" Connor wondered.

"Not really," I shrugged. "May seems nice. Lee too. But Kenny hates me."

Connor rolled his eyes.

"Oh, don't even bother with that one. Kenny's always been that way. Most people here live with a stick up their ass."

I bit my lip to suppress a laugh. Connor nudged my shoulder and leaned closer.

"If you stick with me, you'll be just fine."

"Then I guess I'll stick with you."

✯✯✯

(𝑷𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 5/7/21)

𝑴𝒂𝒚 1𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒖𝒎. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕. 𝑰 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 ♡︎

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆'𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏. 𝑰 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌 𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒚𝒍. 𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚. 𝑰 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒚. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏, 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒚𝒍. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏.

𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔. 𝑨𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆.

𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈

- 𝑨