Don't Get Dead | TWD | Volume 1

[18] Daryl's Flowers

I waited by the front door, trying my best not to be a pain in the neck. Anxiety rose in my chest when he entered one of the rooms at the back of the house, and I pursed my lips, waiting for him to come back out.

After a minute or so, it was still quiet. I took a few steps into the house, quietly calling out, "Daryl?"

"All good," he called back. "C'mon."

I walked through the house and turned into the room I last saw him go into. It was a kitchen. Daryl was looking at a larder cupboard built into one of the walls in the kitchen, and in the bottom of the cupboard were a few blankets piled up.

"Someone's been here," he said.

"Someone as in Sophia?"

I knew he had no way of telling me that, but I needed to ask. The uncertainty of what happened to the little girl after I left her was killing me, and I needed any confirmation I could get that she was still alive and well. I wanted to be able to go back to the camp and tell Carol some good news.

"Whoever it was had to be small," he held his hand up at the same level as his elbow, gesturing to the height that he suspected this person to be. "No grownup is going to fit in there."

His statement filled me with hope, and I looked down at the cubby hole in the cupboard. My head cocked to the side. He was right, obviously. Only a child would have been able to hide within the cupboard.

"Let's take a look outside," he told me, nodding his head back to the door.

Daryl's eyes scanned the clearing, stopping when he saw something of interest. I followed his eyes, hoping that it would be Sophia, but I couldn't really work out what he was looking at.

"Go check that way," he pointed across the clearing to the side of the house. "Shout if you need anything. I'll be there now."

I just nodded, following the direction he sent me.

Walking the perimeter of the clearing, I kept my eyes on the forest. I wouldn't dare enter alone, knowing I would just get lost after the first step. I'm sure Daryl wouldn't appreciate having to look for me, although he may just leave me there. It would be my own fault. I wouldn't blame him.

His footsteps followed me a few minutes later. I looked back over my shoulder to see him walking over to me, his crossbow hanging over one shoulder. His other hand was clenched around a smaller object that I couldn't see until he was standing just in front of me.

He gestured his hand to the side, "Turn around."

I glanced at his hands, smiling, "Is that a flower?"

The white flower was sticking out the top of an empty beer bottle. The glass was brown and still has the sticker on the side of the bottle. Daryl just stared at me for a moment, not wanting to answer my question, but he did anyway.

"It's a Cherokee rose, for Carol," Daryl said matter-of-factly. He looked at me for a moment, waiting for some kind of revelation to appear on my face, but when he saw that I was still clueless, he started explaining it. "The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the trail of tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way. The elders said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell."

"Cherokee?" I questioned. "Like Carol's car?"

Daryl just stared at me for a second, shaking his head in utter disappointment. Nothing new. He waved his hand to the side again, "Turn around."