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Forgiveness was never an easy thing to earn. But Adeline Grimes had always been the type of person to hand it out in exchange for a kind smile. She was naive, hoping for something to come true when deep down she knew it never would. There was some part of her that still hoped the end of the world wasn't actually the end of the world. That maybe, things would eventually go back to the way things used to be. But she slowly realized that it was just her naiveness poking through to get a jab at her. Death was something she used to be able to deal with easily, cry for a few weeks and then sooner or later it would be better. But in the world she lived in - death clung to you like a lost child.
Death paid a heavy price. It carried a toll on its back and gave a piece to everyone it came into contact with. It changes you - shapes you into what you truly are. The person that's hidden under all of the muck and blood, death brings it out. Like a teasing light in a pitch-black room, it ropes you in ever so slowly. It came to be an inescapable thing. The undeniable truth hidden within. The death of Dale Horvath had a heavy impact. It tied a string around the once parting group and pulled them all in together. He said it was broken, and it was their job to put the pieces back together. To be stronger than they ever were - for him. To reel their humanity back in and never let it go. To stay alive.
The funeral was a sorrowful one, one that Adeline Grimes ever dreaded going to. The long-standing stance next to her husband she feared, the long speech given by her brother in honor of the passing man. Guilt was portrayed within her features, threading her eyebrows and settling bags underneath her eyes. Dale made her realize that things can change within an instant. That in a split second, you can lose someone you loved. Someone you called family - someone you cared about. It could all be gone within the blink of a guilty eye. It made her regret ever having an ounce of fear towards her husband.
Together they had committed a crime; one that would forever be unforgivable. They took a husband away from a wife, someone loved from the person that loved them. It haunted her dreams every night, but she failed to believe that it had the same effect on Shane. Adeline realized remorse and guilt was an emotion her husband had been void of, two that he didn't feel. She had given up too easily, and it took the death of Dale for her to have faith in herself. Faith that if she tried hard enough she could piece her husband back together. For the first time in a long time, she felt hopeful for something.
Winter had begun to approach them at a fast rate, the weather changing rapidly. Warmth became frost, and short sleeves turned into fur lined jackets. The process of moving into Hershels house had begun - every single survivor stuffed into his living room in hopes of fighting through the cold. It hadn't become unbearable yet, but Adeline had always been known for freezing easily. Fingerless gloves covered her fingers, tapping rhythmically against the wooden post of the porch. A beanie sat perched atop her head, causing her hair to lay flat against her head underneath the warm material.
