┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Carl and I walk back to our house, no longer curious to look around. We'll have plenty of time for that later. Plus, when Rick allowed us to go, I'm guessing he didn't mean very far. I can still see our house in the distance, Rick standing at the railing of the porch.
As soon as we reach the house next door to the one we're staying in, Carol steps down from the porch and waves us towards it. Carl and I step up the stairs, Carol right behind us, and we walk inside.
Although the house is a little bit smaller than the one we're staying at, it's still very large. Everything is spread out and spacious. "These are like mansions," Carl comments as we reach the kitchen, his eyes scanning the ceiling.
"Mhm. And they're just giving them away," sighs Carol from the window. I stand beside her, staring outside. Shadowy bars surface on our bodies where the sun is blocked out from the blinds. "Are you coming?" Carol asks us. I turn to see Carl still looking around at the shelves filled with books and antique decorations.
"In a minute," Carl replies. I follow Carol down the hall and back out the door. We walk outside and into the strip of lawn between our two houses. It's shady compared to the street that's being bathed in sunlight. Daryl and Rick come our way. We meet in the middle.
"They're right next to each other, but-"
"They took our weapons and now they're splitting us up," Rick finishes for her.
"Yeah," Daryl agrees. I stay quiet, letting the adults speak. Carol lifts her head and faces it towards the street, another giddy smile covering her mouth. I don't get it. Right now, we're talking about our risked safety, but Carol is grinning.
"We'll all be staying in the same house tonight," says Rick, not putting it up for debate. "Where's Carl?" Rick asks me, just noticing his son's absence.
"He's still inside."
"Go get him. We're going to have dinner shortly and set up for the night. I think everyone is ready for some sleep."
"I'll be right back." I walk back to the house, pulling up my pants as I do. I need a new pair so badly. These are way too uncomfortable.
When I get inside and close the door behind me, I don't hear his voice, a sound I had been expecting. I turn into the living room where he had just been, but he's nowhere to be found. I almost call his name when I notice him walking up the steps, entranced by something.
"Carl?" I ask, jogging up the steps with tired limbs to stand right behind him. "Carl, your-"
"Shhh!" he hisses, holding his pointer finger to his lips. Once I stop talking, he moves his finger to point up the stairs. I just nod. I go to reach for my knife as we keep walking, but I forgot to put it back on when I had gotten dressed. Good thing Carl has his out and ready when we reach the landing. The second door down on our left is the one Carl points to. I stand close behind him as his hand lands on the silver handle, twisting it slowly. He whips the door open as fast as he can. I glance over his shoulder, looking inside for whatever Carl had been hearing. There's nothing.
"What the hell?" I ask, wondering why he was so serious about staying quiet when there hadn't been anything there at all.
"I thought I heard something," Carl explains distantly as we enter the room. It's completely bare of anything either of us were expecting. There's drywall and a blank ceiling. The floor is still just fresh plywood . Piles of comic books, markers, and games litter the floor. On top of a cardboard box, a stereo system is set up with several boxes of CDs littering the floor. There's a pillow with a sleeping bag, a poster on the wall, textbooks scattered across the wooden boards, and the oddest thing, a rope dangling out an open window.
"Who was here?" I ask, pulling the rope back inside and sealing the window. I make a note to lock it as well so that whoever has been sneaking up here won't be able to anymore.
"I don't know." Carl picks up a comic book.
"We should go back over. We're gonna have some dinner and get set up. We're all staying at the other house tonight. We need to play it safe." Carl nods, grabbing another comic book. "I'm glad you found some reading material," I remark before walking out of the room.
☾
Dinner is good. Carol takes charge of cooking the whole meal herself. When anyone would try to even give a little bit of help, they were waved away. Daryl even allows me to have a piece of his opossum. It isn't bad, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting.
Bowls of cooked food are set on the counter for everyone to take from. It reminds me of our time at the church. The only difference is that I don't feel bad indulging a bit more since Deanna made sure to let us know when she dropped off the basket of canned goods that there was far more in the pantry. I fill my plate with scoops of green beans, baked beans, and corn. I'm skeptical to do so, but I even set a few slices of SPAM on my plate. Some people move to the living room, sitting on the furniture and floor to make room for everyone. It's certainly a tight fit when we know how much space we could have if we just utilized the other house.
"Take more," Rick says, sizing up my plate. I'm so used to rationing food for myself that I hadn't realized how small my portions actually were. I go back to the kitchen just in time for Carol to place a plate of fresh pasta and a pot of steaming sauce on the counter. I fix a helping on my plate. Spaghetti used to be one of my favorite meals as a child. I can't remember the last time I got to have it.
When I get back to my seat at the dining room table, conversation has arose. There's hope about Alexandria. There's some doubt, too. Everyone seems to be voicing their opinions, not even slightly nervous as to what others will think. I try to stay clear of voicing mine. I don't want to sway others, and I don't want them to sway me. I think that I've already formed an idea about this place. I'll probably add onto it over time, but that can happen later. I want to make my own opinion.
I end up not being able to finish my vegetables. I eat all of the spaghetti. When I try a piece of the SPAM, I almost throw up. Daryl, who's been sitting beside me the whole meal, can hardly believe me.
"You don't like it?" he asks incredulously. I shake my head vigorously, making a gagging noise. "That's it." He swipes the SPAM off my plate and takes a big bite, exaggerating his love for it. I laugh at him.
"It's all yours," I say, raising my hands. I take my plate to the kitchen and scrape the leftovers into a plastic container, not having the heart to throw them into the garbage. After going so long starving, it's hard to finish my food, but it's just as difficult to let it go to waste. I set the container in the fridge, still unable to believe I'd ever see a working one again, the cool air blowing from its interior onto my skin.
When everyone gradually finishes eating, dishes are brought to the kitchen. Maggie, Carol, and I scrub everything clean. Carol had wanted to do them herself. Ever since we've got here, cooking, cleaning, and caring for others has been her top priority. I think mothering is Carol's purpose. The only reason she allowed Maggie to help her is because I think everyone understands that she needs to do something to keep her mind busy. Maggie is thinking too much. I know how painful that can be. I join in on the dishwashing process because I feel bad for the others having to do the entire clean up themselves when there are so many people and so many people also means so many dishes.
Setup begins in the living room. Since not everyone can fit, a few people scatter a little farther out, but still close by. I roll my sleeping bag out next to Carl's. The whole thing gives me flashbacks of our long nights, praying that we'll wake up the next morning if we manage to fall asleep at all. The only difference is that I'm not freezing. There's heat in the house. I still pull a thin blanket over my body because it comforts me.
The silence that fills the house manages to be so loud. A few people read books or magazines. Others watch out the windows, trying to make the time pass more quickly. I thought about taking one of the books Deanna had given me to read, but a task like that seems too difficult right now. I find myself sitting at one of the chairs in the dinning room beside Carl with a coloring book. There's a picture of a frog and some flowers that I have to shade in.
Judith coos as Rick rocks her before setting her in her pack-and-play. I turn to see Daryl staring down at her from his seat, trying to make her laugh.
I hear the bathroom door open and Michonne comes out with a sigh. "How long was I in there for?" There's a big smile on her face.
"Twenty minutes," Rick replies quietly.
"God, I could not stop brushing." Rick walks towards Michonne and they begin speaking in voices too low for me to hear. A knock at the door startles everyone. I turn around in my seat, watching as Rick cautiously opens the door.
"Rick, I-" Deanna begins before the door can even open all the way. "Wow. I didn't know what was under there before." She must not have seen Rick before dinner when she came to drop off the box of food. "Listen? I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were all settling."
She pauses, looking around at all the faces in the room. "Oh, my. Staying together. Smart."
"No one said we couldn't," Rick counters, holding his hand around the door.
"You said you're a family. That's what you said. Absolutely amazing to me how people with completely different backgrounds and nothing more in common can become that. Don't you think?" She's right. I marvel about that every day.
"Everybody said you gave them jobs."
"Mhm. Yeah," Deanna responds proudly. "Part of this place. Looks like the communists won after all," she laughs.
"Well, you didn't give me one," Rick sighs.
"I have. I just haven't told you yet," Deanna says confidently. "Same with Michonne. I'm closing in on something for Sasha, and I'm just trying to figure Mr. Dixon out, but I will." I look to Daryl who's scowling in Deanna's direction. "You look good," she says to Rick before stepping back out the door and leaving. Rick closes it behind her. The room fills back up with silence.
________
A/N: Just a short chapter but I hope you still liked it!