Born 2 Be Wild-A Merle Dixon love story

Chapter 16

***Jess's P.O.V.***
After I woke up a little more I got the paper sack out of the floor board. I devoured the cold burger and guzzled the hot drink.

Daryl-I take it you're hungry?
Me-Not anymore.
Daryl-Well good.
Me-Where are we now?
Daryl-We'll be in Atlanta soon. When we get there I'm gonna find a cheap motel and crash. I'm beat.
Me-Do you think we should go see Merle while we're in Atlanta? So he'll know where we are and what happened. He's getting out in less than 4 months.
Daryl-I guess. Might be the last time we'll see him for a while. Savannah to Atlanta is a long drive to see a grumpy man in orange.
Me-(chuckles) Yeah. I could go see him while you sleep?
Daryl-I would rather you not do that. The thought of you wandering around Atlanta worries me.
Me-Alright.
Daryl-Well if you take the truck and don't wreck it.
Me-Thank you Daryl. I really did not want to sit in the room and listen to you snore.
Daryl-You know you enjoy my snores.
Me-Definitely.

We pulled into a motel shortly after. Daryl checked and paid for a day. Just long enough to get some sleep. I got our stuff out of the truck and set it in the room. I waited on Daryl and gave him a hug and a kiss when he came into the room.

Daryl-You be careful, ok Jess?
Me-I will, I promise. Get some sleep.

I grabbed his keys with the motel key on them and headed out the door. I climbed up in the truck and headed for the prison. Luckily it was around visiting hours so I waited until then. When it was time for visiting hours, I signed my name in then went through the metal detector process. When that was over with I went into the visitation room that Daryl and I had been in just the day before. Oh how so much can change in a day. I put my feet up in a chair and waited for Merle to come out. He finally did and looked surprised to see me.

Merle-What's wrong?
Me-Do you want the whole story or the shortened one?
Merle-I ain't got nothing but time girl.
Me-I really don't want to say it.
Merle-It'll be fine. Just tell ole Merle what happened. I'll protect you. Ain't nobody gonna harm a hair on your pretty little head while I'm around.
Me-Alright Merle. Well we left here yesterday and went back to my house. Well my father wasn't there and Daryl didn't feel like driving home. So he stayed there. He made a pallet in the floor and we fell asleep. Not long after we fell asleep, my father came in and he...and he...I can't Merle.

Merle looked at the guard as if asking for permission. The guard nodded and Merle did something very surprising. He hugged me. I felt tears start to stream out of my eyes even though I'd been doing my best to fight them back. He wiped them from my face.

Merle-You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Jess.
Me-Well I want to but I just can't make the words come out. I feel like I'm going to puke.
Merle-It's alright Jess. No one is gonna hurt you now.

I managed to choke out the rest of the story between sobs.

Me-That's the thing. He's already hurt me. He's hurt me for years but I've always been too scared to tell anyone. Too disgusted to let anyone know. My dad came in piss drunk, nothing new there. I prayed he wouldn't come in my room but he did. He got in bed with me like all those times before. I started crying because help was so close this time but I couldn't do anything about it Merle. He put his hand over my mouth so I couldn't scream. Then he did it. Like all the other times before. Or began to anyway. Daryl jumped out of the floor and tackled him. They got into a fight, Daryl won but then when I was leaving the house with my stuff and Daryl was outside. He grabbed me by my ankle and pulled me to the floor. I knew that after he was done with me he'd kill me and then Daryl. I laid there and hoped that Daryl would come back in. He did and I screamed. He knocked me out and they fought again. I don't know exactly what Daryl did but he said he didn't kill him. Next thing I know he's putting me in his truck. I pass out again and he says we're headed for Savannah.
Merle-Oh my God Jessica. We never knew.
Me-I know. I never wanted you to know.

He wrapped his arms around me again but only for a few minutes. His muscles were tense, I could tell how angry he was and how hard he was trying to hide it.

Merle-Where's Daryl?
Me-Motel. I decided to come visit while he was sleeping.
Merle-Alright. So I take it ya'll are going to Uncle Mark's?
Me-Yeah. What's he like?
Merle-Well I ain't seen him in a while. He's a preacher man. But he ain't too bad I don't reckon. Him and Dad never seen eye to eye. They've always been opposites or so I heard.
Me-I can see why. Kinda how you and Daryl are opposites?
Merle-I'm proud he ain't just like me. I'm proud of him for defending you too. I would have done something worse.
Me-I know. We'll be here to come get you out in a few months. I'm not gonna say if we'll visit you or not.
Merle-I understand. Ya'll just take care of yourselves. Ok?
Me-We will. Always have. We'll be in Savannah in a few more hours. I'll send you Mark's number when we get there or wherever we stay so you can call.
Merle-Sounds like a plan. You should probably head out now so he won't worry if you're not there when he wakes up.
Me-Yeah, he'll tear the streets apart hunting me down. Oh and Daryl and I made up when we left here yesterday.
Merle-I kinda figured that. Since he was at your house and all. I'll see you when I see you.
Me-Alright then...sugar britches.

He gave me a big hug while he laughed at my goodbye. I left the prison and drove back to the motel. Daryl was sitting outside smoking a cigarette when I got there. I sat down on the concrete beside me and he handed me the pack of smokes. I took one gladly and lit it, enjoying the nicotine rush to my brain.

Daryl-You ready to head to Savannah?
Me-Yes and no. It's funny how all I wanted to do before was travel and get out of that dusty town. Now I just wanna go somewhere stable. Far away from him though.
Daryl-I know.

He put his arm around my shoulders and I scooted a little closer to him.

Daryl-So how'd the visit with Merle go?
Me-It was tear filled. Mine, not his of course.
Daryl-You told him what happened?
Me-Yeah, he'd find out eventually. He could tell something was wrong the moment he seen me.
Daryl-I'm glad you did. I wouldn't have been able to without turning back and killing that son of a bitch. It makes me so angry just thinking about it.

I didn't really know what to say so I just looked at the pavement and puffed my cigarette.

Daryl-Jess?
Me-Yeah?
Daryl-Why didn't you ever tell me?
Me-I can't explain it. I feel like speaking about it would have made things worse. That's the best way I can put it. I didn't want anyone to know. The thought of someone else knowing horrified me. I would always try to zone out, sometimes I would. Pretending it wasn't happening. If I would have told someone it would have made it real.
Daryl-I'm so sorry this happened to you.
Me-It's not your fault. Sorry won't change the past. Can we leave now? I want to get as far away from that nightmare house as I can.
Daryl-Yeah, I'll grab our bags.

I got in the truck and waited for Daryl. I laid my head on the dashboard and tried to block last night's events from my mind. A few minutes Daryl came back out and we headed off for Savannah. On the hopes of a new beginning.