Sweet and Salty ~ Carl Grimes

How to Recover - 010

Hair neat. Always have it slicked back. "Put back that damn mop on your head, ya filthy animal!" Will would yell at her. Wear glasses. Always. "The fuck you mean you can't tell me how much alcohol is in it? Ya a damn retard, or summin?" The father screamed at his four year old daughter. And, whatever you do? Do not talk back to him. "What did ya just say to me, ya dumb black bitch? Get your ass over here, I'm puttin' your hand in the fire again!"

/----------\

Brooks was down by the quarry with Sophia, Christopher, Eliza, Louis and Carl. Mrs Morales was sitting on a rock about twenty feet away, just watching the children. She'd been put on babysitting duty since nobody else wanted the kids seeing the aftermath of the attack on the camp. Fourteen people had died, including Ed. Luckily.

The quarry was beautiful. A large body of bright blue water that reflected the clear sky. The rocks surrounded like making it feel isolated and peaceful. There were trees above the cliffs of the quarry, bringing in the greenery of nature to add to the beauty. Fish of all different shapes, sizes and colours swam in its peaceful waters, unaware of the new way of the world. The quarry didn't have sand, no, it had pebbles around its shore.

Christopher was skimming rocks, Sophia was building a rock tower over and over, Eliza was sitting with her mother, Louis and Carl were pretending to be sharks while Brooks just sat in the sun, reading one of the books that she'd brought from home. She'd read it four times by now, but she'd only managed to bring three from her house. Brooks was reading 'A Life on Planet Earth' by David Attenborough and scoffing every now and again from the way things had changed. Call her a nerd, but Brooks loved to read more than anything, and she loved factual books. She loved learning.

"I'm sorry." Sophia said, out of the blue.

Brooks looked up to her, pushing her glasses up her nose. Sophia was looking at her rock tower, not Brooks. "For what?"

"My dad made me stay away from you. After... After what happened between you and Chris. He threatened me, made me avoid you. I didn't want too." Sophia admitted, finally tearing her eyes away from the pebbles and up to the girl she wanted to call a friend. "But... But my dad's gone now."

Brooks nodded. "So's mine."

"Do you think we could be friends?" Sophia asked.

"I've never had a friend before." Brooks shrugged. "Unless you count Buckster my dog. But, I don't think he actually liked me all that much, so. He was really old, and super fat, but he was nice enough."

"He died?"

"My dad shot him so we could get away."

Sophia's eyebrows rose slightly. "I'm- I'm sorry."

"Yea." Brooks muttered. "I don't know what friends do though, I haven't got a book 'bout it either. Next time someone goes on a run I'll ask them to look for a 'what friends do' book, and once I read it, then we can be friends."

Sophia cracked a smile. "Or, I could show you what friends do?"

"Well, your only friend is over by 'er mom and not comforting 'er grieving friend so I don't think you have much experience either." Brooks pointed out, genuienly, not trying to be insulting.

Sophia laughed a little. "She's with her mum because she's scared of you, and I'm next to you."

"Oh." Brooks nodded. "She's got nothin' to be scared of. I ain't gonna hurt nobody."

"I know that." Sophia comforted her.

"You do?"

Sophia let out a sad breath. "You're different. Nothing wrong with that. I'm different too."