The Rift [Daryl Dixon]

Changing Channels

Temporary characters
Elizabeth and Evan Rhee

"I don't know about this place, baby." I said, getting out of the truck.

"You've said that about every house we looked at." Glenn complained, watching as I walked to the front yard and stopped to look at the big family home with my arms crossed over my chest.

"There's just something creepy about this place, like... give me the heebie-jeebies... like somethin' bad happened in here." I argued, narrowing my eyes, as Glenn turned to look at me funny.

"Well, I love it. And I love you." He kissed my cheek, before he ran over to the porch, catching Evan's attention. "What you doin' there, buddy? Wanna help me load some boxes?" He asked our son.

Evan just nodded with excitement, before he turned to the boxes, the smile on his face now vanishing. "Sorry, dad. I can't." He declared.

"Why not?" Glenn asked, looking disappointed, but at the same time, very confused at the sudden mood swing.

"Tony says: Aw, hell no! I ain't yo' slave." Evan said, using a tone we had never heard before.
See, ever since we came to see the house for the first time, which was... well, some time ago, I guess, I couldn't tell really... Evan had gone into a phase, which was pretty normal for his age, he was only ten after all.

"Is it me or does his imaginary friend sound black?" Glenn asked me, sounding very conflicted.

"Pretty progressive." I shrugged. "Honey, why don't you and your friend go play while dad and I unpack the boxes?" I offered, starting to walk over to the pile of boxes.

"Okay!" He shouted, before he turned to look at what I could only guess was his imaginary friend. "That game sounds like fun!" He added, before he ran to the back of the house, tripping over something, but I couldn't quite figure out what exactly. "I don't like the tripping game, Tony."

Glenn just proceeded to ignore our son's weird behavior and looked around, his eyes falling upon the small white dog sniffing the surrounding. "Come here, Shiloh Junior! There's my boy!" He shouted, catching the dog's attention.

"I can't believe you named our dog Shiloh Junior." I rolled my eyes at him and I picked up a box.

"Well, I was gonna name him Shiloh ll or Shiloh the Sequel... but he wouldn't answer to those, so Shiloh Junior it is." He explained. "C'mon! Hey, come on, Shiloh Junior. You ready to see your new house, Shiloh Junior?" I carried the box inside the house and left it in the living room.

"Hey, Ms. Rhee. We almost got the safe upstairs. It was too heavy, so we're pulling it through the office window with a rope." The moving guy informed me as he walked down the stairs.

"We have a safe?" I questioned, frowning. All of the sudden, the conversation was interrupted by Glenn's anguished scream coming from the front yard.

I exchanged a quick look with the six foot tall, brunet man, his eyes widely opened just like mine, before we both ran outside. "What's going on?" I yelled, my blue eyes moving between a sobbing Glenn and the safe on the ground next to him.