CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN !
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Daryl stayed awake the entire night, making sure that his daughter was okay. even more so, he couldn't sleep because of the anger that flew heavily through his body. why did this keep happening to her? he knew that she was young, so she trusted people way too easily. she needed to stop that. he had to teach her how to stop putting her trust into people that she didn't know. she kept putting herself in immediate danger.
aaron had asked daryl if he wanted to be a recruiter with him, as he didn't want to keep putting eric's life in danger. daryl had agreed, but since the events last night, he had much to ponder. did he really want to leave estella alone?
he watched as estella began to stir and breathe heavily in her sleep until she quickly sat up, a hand flying to her head. he hopped off his seat on the windowsill, and made his way over to her, sitting beside her.
"you okay?" he asked, she frowned.
"yes." she quietly replied. "did you tell deanna?"
"rick n' michonne did." he answered. her eyes went wide as she pushed the blankets off her and stood up.
"i told them not to. they told me that they'd kill me if i told anybody!" she panicked.
"no, no, that ain't gonna happen. they had to tell her, esty. what those little shits did ta ya ain't right. if we don't tell no one, nothin' is gonna happen n' they're gonna keep givin' ya shit." daryl said, standing up with her.
before estella could say anything, a soft knock was heard on the door. it opened, and otilie walked in with a soft smile on her face as she looked at estella, and then at daryl.
"rick told me to come up here and tell you guys that deanna wants to talk to you now." she said.
estella shook her head. "no. i don't want to."
"you've gotta, you've really gotta. i'm gonna come with ya, all right? nothin' is gonna happen to ya." he replied.
"but what- but what if they hurt me again?" she asked.
"they won't. i won't let 'em. go get changed outta ya pyjamas n' come downstairs. i'll wait for ya." he said, she nodded.
daryl stood by the front door and waited for estella to get her clothes on. she came down a couple minutes later, and they went to deanna's house with rick, michonne, and maggie. deanna welcomed them with a sad face that had replaced her usual warm smile.
they all walked in, seeing her husband, reg, stood next to deanna's desk, next to spencer. and on a sofa sat with guilty looks on their faces were alfie, todd, billy, and james. estella gasped at the sight of them, clinging to daryl's leg. he picked her up to reassure her that nothing was going to happen to her.
deanna sat in her seat behind her desk, and rick and michonne stood in their new constable uniforms next to the desk. daryl stood up, not wanting to sit down. maggie took the chair closest to the door.
"so, first off, i cannot apologise enough for what happened last night." deanna started. daryl grunted.
"they know that what they did is unacceptable." spencer said.
"so that's it, huh? they just get a slap on the wrist n' a 'bad!' thrown in their faces n' it's all fine?" daryl scoffed.
"well, they're kids- it's what happens." spencer replied.
deanna quickly shot that down. "no! that is not what happens in the walls of alexandria! daryl, i understand that what went on last night was completely wrong. so wrong. it shouldn't have happened."
"what we're trying to get to the bottom of, is how the boys knew of the things estella said in a private recording." reg said, looking at all four boys that looked at the floor.
"nah, this ain't right. what i'm tryna get to the bottom of, is why my kid was tied to a tree with some damn rope n' beaten the shit out of, n' sliced with a knife." daryl said, angrily.
"daryl-" he cut rick off.
"no, man, no! ya say this is a 'safe place' but ain't nothin' that happened last night soundin' safe ta me." he said.
"i understand. i do. this is horrible, and estella didn't deserve it." deanna said, looking at him. "this stuff doesn't usually happen, i thought we left bullying in the old days. kids fight, they do, but that is no excuse. i didn't expect my family, the people that are supposed to be welcoming you guys, to do something like this. i want them all to apologise."
spencer scoffed from the corner. "i mean, come on. you've got to understand that alfie's mom killed herself. she left them, he's too young to process that. when he's watched a girl say that she killed her mom, he's gonna be angry. it's the way it all works. he doesn't get his, and she took hers for granted."
daryl quickly put estella down, walking over to spencer and getting in his face. "say some shit like that again, i dare ya."
maggie looked over at estella, seeing the girl in the corner with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands over her ears. she was really going through it, and none of them knew what to do with her. they all felt helpless.
"stop it!" maggie screamed, startling everyone. "estella is over there! she's listening to every damn thing y'all say! the girls having panic attacks on damn panic attacks and y'all haven't come up with a punishment?!"
"listen-" spencer started, maggie quickly cut him off.
"no, you listen! your son and his friends have done something wrong, so wrong. what happened to their mother is horrible, but it ain't estella's fault. if you even saw half the shit that she went through, you would do the damn same! so please, for the love of the god damn lord, sort this shit out! be a parent! be a man! punish your damn kid!" she shouted.
"i have a punishment for them." deanna nodded, standing up. "i have a punishment for all four of you, and you're not going to like it. whilst i finish up some last bits, you are to stay away from estella. if i catch you even look in her direction, the punishment will worsen."
with that, daryl walked over to estella and picked her up, walking out of the house and back to the house. he put her down when they got inside, and she sat down quietly on the sofa. ottie walked over to her immediately, and put her arms around her as she hugged her.
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it was almost time for daryl to go out with aaron in hopes of finding some new people to join alexandria. his bike was now up and running, he'd fixed it pretty well.
he walked into the house and up to the bedroom where estella had been spending most of her time. she had claimed that bedroom, now. when he walked in, she was laid on the bed above the covers, staring up at the roof with a blank expression on her face.
"hey, esty." he said, sitting on the side of the bed.
"hi." she replied.
"i got my job. i'm takin' eric's place in tryin' to find people for this place. i'm gonna be gone for a little bit." he told her.
she quickly sat up. "you're leaving?"
"temporarily. i'm not leavin' ya forever. i'll be back in like a week." he said, she shook her head with force.
"no, dada, please. let me come with you. i don't wanna stay here without you." she begged, standing up.
"ya can't, esty. we'll be on the road all the time. ya fine behind these walls, everyone else is still here. i've asked maggie n' glenn to look out for ya." he said, softly.
"no, i wanna come." she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "you can't leave me here alone. w-what if you don't come back? what if i lose another daddy?"
daryl let out a small sigh. "you ain't gonna. i'm gonna come back, i promise. i ain't leavin' forever. the best thing i can do is keep ya safe behind these walls. ya safe here."
"how can you say that? i'm not safe here! you saw that yesterday!" she cried.
"i'm sorry, i have to. i ain't havin' ya on the road, not when i have other things to do n' can't keep my eye on ya."
"you don't have to keep your eye on me! i can kill walkers, you have seen me kill walkers. i've killed fifty eight of them and each time i've been okay. please, daddy, please don't leave me here." she begged.
"it's my job to keep ya safe, n' it's also ma job to be out there n' helpin' aaron find new people. i'll be back 'fore ya know it. maggie n' glenn are here for ya." he said back.
"then ask aaron if i can come with. please. please. please." she said, tears steaming down her face.
looking at her like that, he couldn't say no. he knew she didn't like to be places without him, and especially after what happened yesterday. he knew that he had to take her.
he stood up with a sigh. "all right. i'll ask aaron. if he says no, you ain't comin' n' that's final."
he walked out of the bedroom and went to find aaron. he explained to him what was going on, and it took a little bit of convincing, but aaron finally let her. he said that it would make people trust him a lot more if there was a kid.
he grabbed her crossbow from the armoury, along with her handgun and her knife, and handed her them. she put them in her belt around her waist, and put her crossbow on her back along with her arrows before making her way to aaron's car as daryl was going on his bike.
"ya follow the rules. ya do everythin' we tell ya to. if ya don't, we bring ya straight back home." daryl warned. she nodded.
"okay." she replied, looking down.
he nodded, ruffling her hair before walking away and getting on his bike. estella just looked out of the window in silence as she watched everything go by. trees, walkers, but no people. car rides now were so different to car rides back then. before the turn, you'd see people walking with their kids, or kids playing ball in the street. people watering their plants, mowing the lawn. now, nothing.
aaron looked at her as he drove. he saw that her face was sad, and her lips were in a deep frown. since he had known her, she had never been this quiet. usually, he would be chewing anybody's ear off that she was next to. now, silence. she had two bruises around her eyes, and a visible cut on her lip. she still had a bandage around her arm.
"you know, when i was around your age, people were never nice to me, either." aaron spoke. "my parents weren't, and people at school weren't. they didn't like the fact that i didn't like the things that they liked."
when he didn't get a reply, he continued to speak.
"they liked sports, kicking soccer balls around the field and making a mess. i liked space, and colouring. they didn't like that i was different to them, so they would wait for me after school, and they'd call me a nerd, they'd hit me. they used to punish me for things i couldn't help." he said.
"how did you deal with it?" her voice was so quiet, she wasn't sure if he'd hear it, but he did.
"i remembered that i couldn't change who i am, or what i liked, or what had happened in my past. i blocked it out. i began to understand that not everybody was a friend, and that there really is evil in the world. granted, i had a few tantrums here and there, and tried to fight back but got my ass beat." he laughed, "but i realised that i was better than them, because i wasn't going around making other people feel bad because they weren't the same as me."
"but you didn't kill your mom, aaron." she sighed.
"yeah, that i didn't do. but like i said, you can't change what happened in your past. i didn't know you then, or your mom, so i don't have an opinion. those boys shouldn't have an opinion either. your family are good people, and they said that your mom deserved it, so i believe that. you are a good person, estella." he said.
"i don't know if i am a good person anymore." she replied.
"you are. this world can complicate things for everyone, but if you were a bad person, you'd do bad things to people that were undeserving of it. you're a good person." he said.
"there's bad people all over this world. why do you go out looking for people to bring in when they could be bad?" she asked, finally looking at him.
"because they good be good." he simply said.
"but what if they're not?"
"then that's my mistake." he replied. "besides, your dad has a good way to tell good people apart from the bad. i trust him enough to make some good decisions."
they drove until it got dark, and then got out of the car. daryl got off his bike, and estella took out her crossbow as they stood in some random field. there was one walker, so estella shot it in the head with an arrow before retrieving it.
"there's more of them around here than there used to be. don't know if any people are-" daryl cut aaron off.
"shh. someone is." he said quietly, pointing over to a light in the distance.
"is that a fire?" estella whispered, stepping forward.
"looks like it." daryl replied.
"what if it's just a lamp someone's left?" aaron asked.
"it wouldn't be. lamps are dim, fires are a lot brighter. you can't dim down a fire." estella replied, daryl smirked.
"i've taught you well, kid." he said, making her smile.
"should we go there now?" aaron asked.
"no, it's too risky in the dark. we'll go in the mornin'. that way i can see tracks if whoever it is ain't alone." daryl said.
they spent the night in the car, trying to get as much sleep as possible until the morning when they started walking again. they walked to where the light was that night.
estella gasped loudly, her hands slapping over her mouth at what she saw next. a body, except it wasn't in one peace. it was all chopped up into different pieces. she had never seen anything like this before, and judging aaron and daryl's faces, they hadn't, either.
"whoever did this, took what was left with 'em. this just happened." daryl said, stepping over a log to get closer.
estella followed quickly behind the two of them, her crossbow raised just in case. they walked quietly, not wanting to draw attention to themselves if anybody was nearby.
"oh my gosh." estella said again, covering her eyes.
this time, there was a woman tied to the tree, just like estella the other night, but this woman was bleeding horribly. she was dead. she was naked, and her organs were spilled out of her stomach. she had long blonde hair, too.
"this is disgusting." estella whispered, turning around.
"she's tied up, and they fed on her. tore her apart. this just happened?" aaron asked, looking at daryl.
"yeah." daryl replied, going closer to the corpse.
"how the hell did this happen?" aaron whispered to himself.
daryl pulled her head up by her hair, and estella furrowed her eyebrows as she got closer, seeing a 'W' carved into the woman's forehead. it was still bloody, but the blood had began to dry around it. that was no walker.
she began growling and trying to get at daryl, but she wasn't really a threat because she had no free arms to get him with. daryl just took his knife out and stabbed her in the head, above the W that was carved.
"why does she have a W?" estella asked, confused.
"i don't know." daryl replied, "just stay close."
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author's note 💌
this was more of a filler chapter
rather than anything else but still,
i hope you enjoyed!
i just finished writing this book
also 😬😬😬
word count: 2793