Lost Too Much 【REDONE】 ║ Daryl/OC or Shane/OC

Chapter 42: I won't pretend like those feelings ever went away.

"Cory," Rosita called out, "You're up."

I sighed with relief and forced myself off of the porch chair, refusing either Daryl or Shane's hand. Without looking at either of them, I headed into the house, unsure what Deanna would be asking me. I had no clue what she had asked anyone before me, so I was going in with no idea what would happen.

Deanna was the leader of the town. Aaron had mentioned yesterday when we first met him that there were auditions to get into the group, and Deanna was the one doing them, supposedly. As I entered the house, finding myself in the living room, I saw an older woman stood by a couch, a woman with gentle features and somehow an immediately positive energy. It was unsettling, honestly, but I acted as though it didn't shock me.

"Hello," she said to me calmly. "I'm Deanna."

"Cory."

"Is that short for Corinna?"

"Corynn, actually," I corrected.

"Well, have a seat, Cory," she said, gesturing to the couch she stood next to. "Mind if I record our talk?"

"Why?"

"For... keeping track of things, I guess," she replied. I had no reason to object, so I nodded. She began recording, immediately asking, "What is your full name?"

"Corynn Elaine August-Jenner," I answered, going on to briefly explain. "August is my legal last name, but Jenner was my birth family's name, so that's what I typically go with."

"You were adopted?" she asked.

"When I was born, my mother was too young for a child, so they passed me on to some friends of my father, Chad and Denise. My real dad passed away soon after and my mother went off to California, supposedly."

"Did you have any siblings?"

I nodded. "I had a sister a year younger than me --- Michelle."

"What happened to them, your family?"

"Denise died immediately, Chad went out to Atlanta, and Michelle and her boyfriend were up here in Virginia at the time of the outbreak, so I haven't heard from them."

Deanna bobbed her head along to my short story. "Do you miss them?"

"We weren't exactly an ideal family, but I guess I do," I admitted. "I've gotten used to not having them, but sometimes I do wish they were around."

"You weren't an ideal family?" Deanna repeated in a questioning tone. "Mind elaborating on that?"

I shrugged. I didn't know why any of this mattered now but I had no reason to hide it.

"Chad had some... issues. He didn't beat us up, but he shoved us around and he and Denise drank a lot. Sometimes I wondered if Chad cared about me at all, but Denise did a little bit."

"What makes you say that?"

"She once had me go to this group counseling thing," I told her. "She was worried about my well-being, I guess."

Deanna pressed her lips together, nodding once more. "So, on a different note, I can't help but notice you're pregnant."

"Yep."

"Would you mind if I ask who the father is?"

Here we go.

"I'm not sure, actually. It could be one of like... five guys," I admitted, amused by her distraught reaction. "I was... attacked by a group of men a while back."

"Oh," she quietly murmured. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"It's fine. I've talked about it so much it doesn't bother me to explain it anymore."