Dixon's Daughter • The Walking Dead

16: You Like Him

"Hey Emma." He said while tapping me on the shoulder.

"Hey, Grimes." I said mimicking him.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked.

"We're talking right now." I said being sarcastic... as usual. "I'm sorry, that was mean of me. Yes we can talk." I spoke just above a whisper, regrettingly.

"I feel like a thing happened but I don't know if this thing actually did happen, I don't know if it was some dream I had while I was out or what."

"What was the thing, did someone hurt you, because I'll kill them." I said, which made him laugh, his laughter made me laugh, as I said, him being happy makes me happy. I wasn't joking about killing someone for him though, he's practically my best friend.

"Well the thing is, I don't want to say what it was because what if I'm wrong and it was just a dream." He said, now avoiding eye contact with me.

"Well, if you're wrong theres no one here to laugh at you or anything, there's only me." I said reassuringly.

"I don't know. I don't want to say something stupid." He said.

"Here, how about this. If you tell me the thing and you're wrong or I can't help you but only under those circumstances I'll tell you anything you wanna know about me, deal?" I said with a smile.

"Deal" with that we shook hands. "Okay, so the thing is, I think we held hands while I was out, and now that I'm saying this I'm realizing how much this isn't a big deal." He said, I started to blush and I don't know why, he's just my friend, my best friend.

"Yeah, that happened. Also, don't worry it's not a big deal that you asked." I said blowing it off as if it was no big deal.

He glanced down at our hands for a second then back up to me. It was kinda silent for a second just us looking at one another. It was a comfortable silence though. "Carl, this is kind of a random question but who's your best friend? Oh and don't feel obligated to say me just because I'm the person asking."I said.

"It is you though." He said smiling.

"Good because you're my best friend too." I said smiling as well.

"So, to make life a little more interesting, whats that thing you wanted to know?" I asked trying to change subject.

First thinking about it for a second he asked, "What happened to your mom? If you don't want to talk about it its okay." He said.

"No its fine, do you want the long story or the shortened story that barely reveals anything that hasn't already been told to most of the camp?" I asked.

"The long story; I've got a lot of time." He said.

"Okay, well it all started when her and Daryl were young and in love. She ended up getting pregnant and never telling him. She just ended the relationship. She never told him because whenever she actually tried to she tried to ease into the news by just asking him if he ever wanted to have kids. She told me that when he answered her question he said he was unsure and she just took it as he never did because of the vibes he gave off. Well, when I was 8 one day I asked my mom what happened to my dad and she told me that. She said she regretted not telling him and thats a call she never should've made. A few hours after she told me all this I found her in her room on the floor with blood gushing out of her wrists, I called 9-1-1 and an ambulance came and took her to the hospital. I went along with her and they stitched her up and sent her home after she got some rest and got fluids in her system. My aunt came and picked us up when she was discharged. My mom never seemed the same after that day. She went from being the most loving and caring person to being this cold hearted shell of who she once was. On the ride home my mom made my aunt stop by the store where she bought alcohol and cigarettes. About two weeks later I went into her bathroom and found some drugs hidden in her bathroom. I wasn't looking for them, just some hair detangling spray. When she walked in on me and found that I had found them she freaked out. It was the first time she ever intentionally hurt me. She smacked me straight across the face and I could tell she used all of her force because she made a sound of struggle with the hit. She used to do things like extinguish her cigarettes on me, push me down the stairs, those things sucked but I got over it and it made me stronger. But the worst and last thing she ever did was the day I was put into a coma. I don't know what I did to upset her so bad," tears now flooding out of my eyes I took a deep breath and continued, " she told me we were having guests so I took my homework from the table and went to put it in my room. I don't know what upset her but she lost it. She took the scissors and jabbed them into my leg, then put out her cigarette on my hand, and I was already on the ground, I had my eyes closed for whatever reason and she broke a bottle. She took the broken bottle and stabbed it into my stomach. The pain was too much and I blacked out. I kept waking up on and off throughout this next part, at some point her lowlife of a boyfriend showed up and helped her take me out into the alleyway that backed up to a field that was behind our house. I woke up on and off for a while but it stopped eventually and I didn't wake back up until the same day your dad did, I also had to kill a nurse who turned into a walker right when I woke up. If you were wondering I haven't seen her since the day she did all of this and I hope I never do. I have Daryl along with some pretty great people right with me." I said finally smiling since I started telling the story.

"I'm really sorry all of that happened to you Emma. I will personally make sure nothing like that happens to you ever again." He said wrapping me up in a hug. I hugged back of course.

"Thank you Carl." I whispered still crying. The hug broke and I began, "Not just for making sure I'll never get hurt like that again, just for everything, for being my best friend, and really for just being you. If you ever need anyone to do anything feel free to come to me. Thats a promise." I ended not only my sentence but the tears stopped too.

He shook his head, and began, "Speaking of promises, you know how you promised to never leave my side before we left?" He asked and I could already tell where he was going with this.

"Yes." I giggled.

"You really kept that promise, I'm okay now and you're still here." He said laughing back.

"Yeah.." I laughed. "Oh and another thing, did your dad tell you anything about this morning?" I asked sorta eager to tell him the good deed I had done for him.

"No, why what happened?"He asked.

"Well you needed blood and your dad had already given you too much and he needed to recover from that, I gave you some of my blood and I'm terrified of needles, so whenever I say I'll do anything for you just know thats a promise." I said light heartedly.

"Oh, well thanks, but you've never told me that you'd do anything for me before." He said seeming confused.

"Oh, well just know that I will no matter what it is." I said leaning my head on his shoulder.

"Oh, Thanks. Me too, you need anything come to me." He said making me laugh with the way he said it.

"Oh, also heads up, now that we're officially best friends I might begin to do things like lean my head on you, and joke around with you, and tell you anything... but if you dont want me to do those things just tell me." I said.

"No, you're fine." He said.

We just smiled at each other and Rick came back into the room with Lori this time.

"Oh, I'm sorry... are we interrupting something?" Lori asked.

I paused for a second confused then it dawned on me, I was laying my head on Carl's shoulder. "Oh, no. Carl and I were just talking." I said keeping my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, she's my best friend" Carl said smiling.

"And he's mine." I said smiling.

Lori and Rick sat down as I yawned. I haven't gotten much sleep in the past few days. This is the first time I've been calm and haven't really worried about much. I'm not too worried about my dad because I know he can take care of himself. He's supposed to come here along with everyone else tomorrow.

With that thought I started to drift off to sleep while Lori, Carl, and Rick were talking right next to me. I finally fell into a deep sleep with my head still on Carl's shoulder.

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I hope you are all enjoying this story so far. Those of you who want Carl and Emma to end up together don't be disappointed. Now I'm not saying it will happen for sure just don't be disappointed. I also made this chapter extra long because I'm still trying to make up for not posting for a month.From now on I will try to post once every weekend and during the week if I can at all. If you enjoyed don't forget to leave a like and if you have anything to say about anything in this chapter don't forget to comment, I read them all. :)

Much love, the random girl who wrote this book -<3