Suddenly...Gone

Chapter 2

Daryl hit the first drive thru he found and ordered enough food for two. He was always a sucker when it came to his brother. He knew he was going to have to hide the money he had gotten from Mack for working that week or Merle would spend it. Anything Daryl had Merle considered his. He would have to explore his room a little further to find a good hiding spot.

Daryl pulled back into the park still thinking about that girl in the Honda. He was just about back to their trailer when he almost crashed his truck for the second time that day. The black Honda was parked in the spot that belonged to the trailer next to them. When he left that space was empty. He was next door neighbors with the beautiful girl in the car. He sent up a silent prayer that she was single and most of all that Merle would ignore her, which would be absolutely impossible. That single handily blew any chance he may have had with her. Merle ruined everything for him.

Once the truck was safely parked, Daryl got out of the truck slowly trying to not look like he was checking out the other trailer when he most certainly was. He couldn't see anyone in it, but he could see that there was a light on inside that wasn't there before. Sooner or later he knew their paths had to cross and hoped he would not make a fool of himself.

In the bed of the pickup, Daryl had stored his belongings under a tarp. For now, he just grabbed the food and his crossbow, and brought them inside. The crossbow was his most prized possession. He would get the rest after he ate.

Merle was watching the television with his feet up on the coffee table when Daryl walked back into the trailer. He put his crossbow in his room, before finally doling out the fast food he had gotten for dinner. He took out two burgers and fries out of the bag and put them on a small kitchen table before he dropped the bag in Merle's lap.

"Knew you wouldn't forget me, little brother."

Daryl grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat at the table. "If you don't stop with the little brother shit I fucking will forget." He blocked out Merle's response and concentrated on eating his dinner. After drenching his fries in ketchup from those little packets, he took his time eating all the while keeping an eye out for his hot neighbor.

He was thinking that he should have changed our of his dirty work clothes, when the outside light that belonged to the trailer next door switched on, it instantly caught his attention. He saw the front door swing open and the woman stepped outside. Daryl quickly got up, mumbled he was going get his stuff and went out to his truck leaving his half eaten food on the table.

He noticed she had the trunk up, so it gave him time to flip back the old tarp covering his meager belongings. He was pulling his two duffle bags out of the bed when he heard the trunk slam shut. He looked up, and she was smiling at him.

"Hi new neighbor," she called out.

"Hey," was all he said back. He was having trouble putting a sentence together. She definitely had that beautiful girl next door look going for her. For some reason, he thought she had this innocent quality about her when her clothes said the opposite. He noticed she wasn't overly tall, but instead of being super skinny like so many girls these days where she had rounded curves in all the right places.

It was still light enough to see that her green eyes sparkled like the rhinestones on her cowboy boots. Her blonde hair was done up all wavy and hung half way down the back of her tight black t-shirt that showed her large tits. He couldn't read the writing on it, but that wasn't important when he saw miles of leg under a very short black shirt. Somehow he knew that this just wasn't her.

"I'm Emma...Emma Raines. Welcome to the neighborhood."

"Daryl...ah, Dixon. Daryl Dixon...umm... just moved in with my brother," he said stumbling over his words.

"Nice to meet ya. Sorry, I'm late for work. Gotta run," Emma told him as she got into the car. She backed out and was gone in a flash leaving Daryl staring at her tail lights.

Daryl just stood there for a minute watching the car vanish down the road. "Emma...her name is Emma," he said to himself. She was pretty with a sweet innocence air about her, which was typically not the type of woman he went for. Cheap and easy was the best for him, they didn't expect anything much out of him. The clothes told a different story, but something didn't make sense to him. Even though their encounter was extremely brief, Daryl just got that feeling about her. She was a nice girl, and nice girls usually didn't go for Dixons.

Maybe it was the way she kept pulling down the short skirt that he knew this wasn't her typically dress. He figured he had plenty of time to get to know her since they were next door neighbors. Hopefully, he could keep Merle from scaring her off. That was going to be the hard part. For the millionth time, Daryl cursed the world for giving him a brother like Merle. Nothing about his family was normal, and that just sucked.

Daryl took another bag out of the back of the pickup and carried it inside along with the two duffels he already had removed. He dumped them on the floor of his room and went outside for another load. He had his sleeping bag, the guns he used to hunt with and a few odds and ends left to bring in. Once everything was stored in his room, he went back and finished eating his now cold dinner.

Emma sat waiting for the traffic to slow down so she could pull out of the trailer park and head to work. Her new neighbor was kind of cute. Actually the more she thought about it, the more she liked him. He had deep brooding eyes and that bad boy appeal that unfortunately had always attracted her, but she had enough of those types of guys in her life to swear them off. Daryl would be her cute next door neighbor, and that was it.

The last person that lived in the maintenance trailer was an older guy with a huge beer belly, and he was always watching her, so she had to keep her curtains closed all the time. Daryl was a huge improvement on that, or at least she hoped he would be. Their quick hello showed her nothing except that he may be on the shy side since he stumbled over his hello to her.

Emma hated meeting people in her uniform for the bar she worked in a few nights a week. The Devil's Brew made her wear a skin tight t-shirt that showed off her breasts, which she preferred to keep under loose tops and the skirt was way too short. The only good thing about it was that the job brought in good tips for the couple nights a week that she worked there. She much preferred her waitress uniform that she wore at the Parkview Diner where she worked during the day. Even though it was a horrible shade of bright pink and white, at least it covered everything.

Working both jobs enabled her to afford the trailer, keep her car repaired, and still be able to put a few dollars away each week. Having that cushion in the bank gave her a sense of security that she had lacked her whole life. Emma had grown up in the foster care system moving from family to family. Just when she would start to settle in, she would be whisked off to a new family, with new rules and her life would be turned upside down again.

When she aged out of the system at eighteen, she was thrust out into the real world entirely on her own. Years of barely making it and living in one horrible place after another gave her the determination to do better. Continuing her education was never an option, as she never had the time or money to do so. Emma just worked as hard as she could to survive. Ten years later she had a decent place to live and a few dollars in the bank.

Tonight she was looking forward to being able to add more money to her savings account. She hadn't been scheduled for a shift this evening, but a cocktail waitress had called out, and the manager called her to see if she would cover. Friday nights were always good tip nights so she jumped at the chance.

Emma pulled up to 'The Brew' as the locals called it and parked off to the side. She locked her purse in the trunk, simply tucking her lipstick in her pocket and headed in for a long night of serving beer and dodging unwanted hands.