Lovely Bones

protector

chapter eleven.    : protector

season     five
episode three

11. 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓

She wasn't there.

Teddy wasn't there. She wasn't with Daryl. She wasn't with Carol. She wasn't with them at the car or hiding back at the church. Teddy wasn't there. She was gone.

But Prim was and she really wished that she wasn't.

Especially as she was now accompanying Daryl and Carol on a wild goose chase after a car had sped past them back at the road. It kicked up leaves and dirt, leaving them in the dust. Daryl gave the girl no choice but to get in the car with them before he drove off after it, explaining how, in panicked words, that that was the car that had taken Beth back at the funeral home.

Beth. The blonde haired blue eyed angel that was held so dearly in all of their hearts. The young girl that Prim had barely gotten the chance to know but she grew fond of her loving smile and the warmth in her dimples. The Beth that soon cradled into Daryl's mind and somehow soaked it with glistening eyes. She buried a soft spot within him that kept him alive, one in which he had no time to appreciate before she had been taken from him.

Beth. Jude's Beth.

The name that was engraved into the bracelet he wore on his wrist at all times. His Beth.

The girl they were now after and Prim had a feeling they would stop at nothing to find their way back to her.

She was sat in the back seat, panic clear as the empty night sky. Her body rocked with shudders and she couldn't sit still, couldn't stop shaking even when her hands were pressed beneath her thighs to stop the exposure when she suddenly became very cold. A horrible feeling had weighed down on her, making it nearly impossible for her to breath correctly. She tried to keep her feet plated on the floorboard as she used every inch of upper body strength to keep her legs from bobbing up and down with anxiety. The attempt didn't work, making her knees feel as if they were going to snap under the pressure.

Prim couldn't think straight.

So when Carol continued to speak down on her, the woman's words were muffled in her eardrums.

"Responsibility," she went on. "Is all I asked, all you had to do."

Prim was confused. Was all of this really her fault?

She knew the answer to that question and it ripped her apart.

"I. . ." Prim's confidence had dwindled to its lowest, causing her usual snarky remarks to remain digging into the tip of her tongue. Instead, her blue eyes glared into the back of her grey hair. Carol's own gaze was on the trees that whistled by as she looked out the window. It reminded her of a motherly scold but Carol was not her mother and Prim was not her daughter so in her mind, she had absolutely no right in what the girl did or didn't. "I didn't know." She was too overwhelmed to explain, to fight back.

Teddy wasn't there. She wasn't in the seat besides her. She wasn't lying on her lap or braiding her hair or sleeping peacefully within her presence where she was supposed to be. No, she was no where to be found and that was the only thing on Prim's mind at the moment. She couldn't care less about what Carol had to say about it.

A scoff. "Didn't know what?" No response led to another annoyed huff. Realizing she wasn't getting a reaction out of the brunette in the backseat, Carol sent a look towards a very quiet Daryl. "I thought you said this girl was experienced. You would think a girl being out and about for two years would know a bit of —"