Marigold’S POV
“Alright, look straight ahead, aim, close one eye, and let it go,” I instructed Azalea from where I sat on the ground outside of the prison. Daryl stood by the wall of the prison, next to a piece of wood he drew a target on. After Carl and I had our moment, I told him how I had this strange feeling inside that something bad was going to happen soon. He immediately helped me inside where I told Rick and Daryl, who suggested training Azalea a bit so she knew how to protect herself. I was against it at first, because I showed her how to use a knife and a little bit of a gun, but a bow and arrow was different.
Carl sat by my side, watching Azalea as she took a deep breath, doing her best to hold the oversized bow in he arms as she let the arrow fly. Let’s just say, Daryl almost had an arrow in the head.
“Well little girl,” he told her, giving her an amused look, “For handling a bow bigger than your entire body, you’ve got some good distance, but let’s work on your aim…”
Azalea giggled, nodding her head as she ran over to Daryl, who attempted to show her how to hold the bow better. But I had to give props to her, she did do pretty well. That bow is like twice the size of her.
“We may need to go on a run and get her a bow her size,” Carl whispered in my ear. I looked at him, nodding my head as he shot me a small smile.
Me and him were…..being ourselves. There’s no label to put on us right now. We kissed, it’s obvious he knew I loved him and I know he loves me, but there’s no boyfriend/girlfriend label on it. But I mean, come on, there shouldn’t have to be. It’s obvious he kind of are.
“Mari! Get you lazy ass up and come help her!” Daryl shouted over to me. I rolled my eyes, giving Carl the look that said he needed to help me.
It had really only been about 2 hours since all that stuff with the suicide talk and the kiss, but Carl and I had worked out a plan. Basically, he was to be by my side all the time until I got used to my new foot because every time I sat down, it was hard to get up when you can’t tell you’re even touching the ground.
He held out his hand and I placed mine in his, letting him pull me up from the ground. I waved him off when he tried to put his arm around my waist to walk me over to them. I had to learn to walk on my own at some point.
I tried to block out the feeling of not knowing if my foot was on the ground and just tried to walk like normal; must’ve worked, because everyone looked impressed, even Rick who was watching from the door to the cell block.
“Alright Azalea, I got a new target for you,” Daryl gave me a little smirk as he saw where my gaze was looking. The minute Carl saw me looking at him, he immediately grew worried. I chuckled a bit under my breath, as did Azalea and Daryl.
I guided her arms back, placing them in the perfect position to shoot the arrow. I loaded the bow and told her the same thing I did before.
“Look straight ahead, aim, close one eye, and let it go, Azalea,” Daryl grabbed her hand and helped me up from my kneeling position and we watched as she closed her eye, aiming at a very worried Carl. She tilted the bow upwards a bit and let it go, watching it take Carl’s sheriff hat clean off his head.
We all broke down in laughter; Rick as well as we watched Carl breath a sigh of relief, bending over to take the arrow out of his hat.
“For a second I thought you we gonna try and kill me!” Carl exclaimed, placing his hat on his head as he ran to Azalea, picking her up in his arms as she squealed. Rick walked over to us, placing his hand on Carl’s shoulder as he smiled at us all.
I looked around at all of them, smiling at the sight of my family. I waved over to Beth, Maggie, Glenn, and the rest who stood by the door Rick was at a moment ago, and they all smiled and waved back.
Carl’s eyes met with mine and he shot me a smile, mine mirroring his. This was home, and it felt so good to have fun.
But I still had that feeling in my stomach, and Carl knew it. My smile was genuine, but it was hiding everything I had going on inside.
Someone was watching us. I could feel their eyes burning into the back of my head, even from up here.
As I turned m gaze towards the woods, I swear I could see the faint figure of a person disappear back into the woods. And whoever it was, they weren’t here to say a friendly hello. That’s when I could hear Blue’s voice deep inside my head.
Enjoy all the happiness while you still have it, Marigold. It’s all going to crash and burn very, very soon.