SHELTER | DIXON

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She was met with silence as she entered Beth's room after getting cleaned up for the service being held for their loved ones. The ornate necklace Madison had reclaimed from her mother's grave site still hung around her neck, her brown hair falling in its natural waves down upon the shoulders of the gray t-shirt she was wearing. 

"Beth?" Her voice was soft as she spoke, but Beth didn't respond. The younger girl was sitting in front of her vanity, attempting to brush through her hair with shaky hands. Eventually she gave up and dropped the brush, nearly in tears at the realization that she couldn't do something as simple as brush her hair. Madison crossed the room and picked the brush up off of the floor. "I'll do it," she offered.

As Madison gently brushed through her baby sister's hair, Beth stared at her through their reflection in her vanity's mirror. Trying to swallow the lump in her throat, she asked, "Why do bad things happen to good people, Madi?"

The brush slowed its pass through another lock of blonde hair, and Madison hesitated as she tried to find a way to answer Beth's question. It was something she had often asked herself many times, but she had never found the answer herself. "To be honest with you, Beth, I don't know," she admitted thoughtfully. "Life isn't fair. It's never been fair. And, sometimes... I think bad things happen just because they can. There isn't a rhyme or reason to it. And sometimes there isn't anything we can do to stop the bad things from happening."

Beth nodded, swiped the tears away from her eyes, and then sniffed. "I don't like the way this world is anymore, Madi."

"Neither do I, baby sis," she agreed. "But I'll tell you what." Setting the brush down, Madison placed her hands on Beth's shoulder and met her eyes through their reflection in the mirror. "We will do everything we can to make our little corner of the world a better one. Okay?"

The blonde reached up and placed her shaky hands over Madison's. "Okay."

A knock on the door frame announced Hershel's presence to the girls. He was standing in the open doorway, where he had previously stood silently as he listened to his eldest daughter comfort his youngest one. "You two ready?" Madison nodded as Beth stood up from her chair. He glanced around the room, noticing a missing person. "Where's Maggie?"

"Right here," Maggie's voice came from the hallway. Madison and Beth followed Hershel out of the room to see Maggie standing there, her thumbs tucked in the pocket of her jeans. "Glenn said they're ready out there."

The service was a quiet one. Nobody could really find the words to say for this one, not when they were burying multiple people that they loved. Hershel couldn't even bear to move from his spot as he watched his second wife being laid to rest right next to his first wife's father. Madison and Maggie had been the ones to walk forward, one shoveling in the dirt for Annette's grave while the other took care of their Grandpa John's. Rick took care of Sophia's.

"Where's Carol?" Madison asked Daryl when the service was over and everyone went their separate ways.

He gave a small shrug. "In the RV. Didn't want to come."

She frowned. "Must be taking it pretty hard."

"Yeah, but..." Daryl ran his hand over his face. "The way she talked 'bout it, Mads... It was like she already knew Sophia was dead. Like she'd told herself that a long time ago." He scoffed bitterly. "Guess I was the only one foolish enough to hope."

"Having hope doesn't make you a fool, Daryl," Madison called after him as he stormed away. "It just shows that you have a heart." Daryl's steps faltered for just the briefest of moment, but he didn't turn back, and continued on his way.

T-Dog approached her, patting her on the shoulder as he asked, "Hey, how you feeling?"

"I'm... fine, I guess," Madison admitted. She shrugged. "It's kind of hard to explain. I guess I just― well, I went months not knowing whether my family was still alive. After a while I started to prepare myself for the worst and grew accustomed to not being around them anyway. I don't know. I'm sad to have lost them, but it doesn't hurt as bad as it should." She hesitated and looked back at him. "Does that make me a shitty person?"