A week or two went by and Carl and me had gotten closer. We had been nicer to each other saying hi and stuff like that. It was nice to see him not completely angry all the time. We had started to grow plants and found some animals.
I'd been on three runs since. We were in the search for food especially. We found a lot at first so it was going well. We were starting to take more people in as we cleared more cell blocks.
We found the bathrooms too so we were able to hook up the water pipes to the fresh water stream we found and voila. Showers. It was nice being able to do all of it.
I spent a lot of my time worrying about Michonne. She kept going out in search of the governor and I was constantly worried and I think Carl was beginning to notice too. Even he was worried about her.
Since the attack Rick wouldn't allow Carl a gun. He needed time to get his sanity back and he was understanding of it after a while. Rick wasn't doing as many runs and he started farming.
I on the other hand was on clean up duty most the time. We would clear cell blocks and I had to clean the blood. I wasn't really mad about it but it wasn't my favorite thing to do. We had D block almost completely cleared.
I took a shower and looked in the mirror after. I looked at my arms. They were gross. Scars from a fire lined around them. I got dressed and looked at my hair. It was getting long. I couldn't put it all the way up because the scars reached my neck. I liked them hidden. I put half of it in a ponytail and braided it down.
I walked out to the cafeteria. It was almost dinner time. There were a few things the main people had to talk about. We started a group leadership. Rick, Carol, Hershel, Glenn, Daryl, and Sasha.
We ate with everyone but the woodburians were on one side and we were on the other. My meal was a can of corn. We had more people which meant less food for each. The plants were still growing so we had to really on runs.
I ate with everyone else, we were all content with each other. I wasn't mad at Rick anymore because Michonne was back and I began to understand why he did what he did. Daryl I was more upset for.
Merle had zombified but he slowed down the Governor from what I heard. I didn't like Merle but Daryl didn't deserve that pain. He was a good person too.
"I'm thinking since we've been finding more food we should let some people in." He suggested as Rick nodded.
"Well how do we know if we should trust them?" Rick asked looking to him.
"We ask them three questions." Daryl suggested. "Ask me how many walkers they killed, how many people, and why." He explained. "If we still don't trust em then we don't take em."
"Who would go get these people?" Rick asked trying to get more information.
"I would." Daryl responded.
"Well have a meeting about it then we will let you know." Rick responded. It was a very leaderly thing.
After eating I hung out with Beth and Judith. Beth was usually taking care of her which was nice. We talked about normal things. Especially things we liked before.
We had a lot in common other than singing. We both liked chocolate chip cookies, our favorite subject in school was math, and we both were strong. Beth hadn't had the chance to show that yet but I knew she'd fight to survive if anything else were to happen.
After talking for a while I walked out and noticed it was dark. My room was a few cells away. I walked into my room and saw a figure there. I took a deep breath in fright and realized it was Carl.
"Jesus." I sighed looking to him. "Trying to scare me?" I raised my eyebrows.
"No I was just bored. And I thought of my three questions." He replied looking to me as I nodded and turned on the light. I plopped down on my bed.
"Alright shoot." I said looking to him as he sat on the stool.
"First. I noticed you always wear that flannel. Are you covering something?" He asked.
Why did he have to start with that. I sighed lightly. "Well you always wear one too." I retorted trying to leeway from the question.
"Well yeah it's because I just do but I've never seen your arms before. You even wear it when it's 100 degrees." He replied looking to me with a small smile.
"I don't know. I'll wear a different one I just like long sleeves." I said avoiding the question as much as possible.
"And that's it?" He asked. "That doesn't count as a question." He realized he asked one again.
"Are you sure?" I asked looking at him with a chuckle.
"Yes." He replied with a sigh. "You're good at making this difficult."
I chuckled. "Yeah I guess but you asked me a weird first question."
"Well I guess I'll ask my next one then." He shook his head.
"What's your favorite color?" He asked.
"Seriously?" I responded surprised.
"Seriously. I want to know." He replied as I laughed lightly and he smiled.
"Blue." I replied looking at him. "Kind of like your eye color but lighter." I replied with a smile. "What's yours?" I asked looking to him.
"I thought I was asking the questions." He replied looking at me.
"Come on. Just tell me." I replied flailing my arm at him lightly as he dodged it.
"I will if you tell me why you wear the flannel." He replied simply.
"Next question then." I replied looking away.
"So you are hiding something." He said looking at me.
"Just ask the third question." I said looking at him not wanting to get upset.
"But-" He started.
"Can we just drop it. Please?" I asked crossing my arms.
He sighed lightly. "My dad is showing me how to farm tomorrow. I asked and he said you could help us instead of staying inside. Do you want to?" He asked looking at me.
"Yeah. I'm always up for learning new things." I replied with a nod.
"Alright. I'll let him know." He said as he stood up and walked to the doorway. Will you ever tell me?" He asked as he turned to me. I could only see his figure from the moonlight shining behind him as I sat on my bed.
"I don't want-" I started but didn't know how to say it. "I can't-" I tried again. Nothing. "I'll just see you tomorrow." I finished. It's not that I didn't want him to know, it's just that I didn't want to show it. I didn't like it and I didn't want to be pitied.
"Meet at the field at 6:30. Don't forget to eat breakfast." He said as he walked out.
I went to bed with it on my mind. That was my first mistake.
I woke up and coughed. There was smoke all around my house. I got up and looked around but couldn't see anything. "Lyla! Lyla Rose!" I heard my daddy through muffled coughs. I ran down stairs and headed for my parents room. I didn't see them inside but I saw the window open.
"Lyla Rose!" I heard my dad say again but he was upstairs this time. The fire was in the living room. I went over to it to see if it was spreading quickly when something bursted.
I flew backwards and I woke up.
I was in a hospital bed and there were doctors around me, one on my arm stinging me with something. I started screaming.
"No!" I said as I sat up. I was sweating like crazy. I wiped my face and looked around I was shaking. I immediately looked at the clock.
6:30
"Shit." I said quietly as I ran out still in my clothes from the day before. No time for breakfast now.
"You okay, Ly?" Beth asked. She was the only one who called me that now, which I liked. My dad used to too.
"I'm fine. I gotta rush, sorry. See ya later." I said as I ran toward the field. I got out and I saw Carl with Rick. I probably still had bed head but I wasn't that mad.
"Hey." I breathed a little. "Sorry. I overslept." I said looking at them.
"Don't worry about it." Rick replied. "Now how about we get to it. You both start planting some sticks in and then wrap the tomato plants around them. Make sure you don't mess up the plant. Do it like this." He said before demonstrating. We watched and then got to it.
After going for a while I was starting to get hot. I was already sweating from the nightmare but the heat made it worse. I hadn't really worked outside before so I figured it was pretty normal.
"You got the stick?" Carl asked as I nodded. I was feeling a little dizzy but I did it anyway. Before I knew it I was starting to get confused. "You okay?" I heard him say, his voice muffled.
"Yeah I'm-" I tried to say before everything went dark.
I woke up and I was cold. I looked up to see Hershel. "Nice to see you awake." He smiled lightly.
He gave me some water and I drunk it grabbing the straw when I saw my arm. I quickly grabbed the blanket around me to try and cover myself but I was feeling a little weak.
"Hey slow down sweetie. You're okay." He said as he put his hand over my arm.
I took some deep breaths. Pulling on the blanket took my breath but I managed to cover most of it.
"When's the last time you ate?" He asked looking at me as I sat there trying not to cry.
"Dinner yesterday." I sniffed. "How long have I been sleepin?" I asked looking to him.
"Just about ten minutes. Carl and Rick are waiting outside. They brought you in." He explained to me. "No wonder you passed out. You didn't have any food in you. You had too many layers on." He said as I started crying lightly. That means they all saw it.
"What's wrong?" He asked looking at me as I laid down on the bed covering my body with the blanket. "Lyla Rose." He said looking at me.
"Please go away." I asked through muffled sobs as I heard him stand.
"I'll leave some food for you on your nightstand. Make sure you eat okay?" He said as I didn't reply and he walked out. He closed the curtain on my doorway and he walked out. I sat there crying for a little before sitting up to eat.
I ate everything on the plate which was a little extra then usual and I drank the water. I sat in the corner on my bed next to the wall sipping on the water.
Carl walked in and he sat on the other side of my bed as I pulled the blanket over myself more. My flannel was no where to be seen and I only had a tank top on. He stayed quiet for a little bit and I did too. "Are you okay?" He asked looking at the wall.
"I've been better." I replied sipping the water.
"What happened?" He asked as he looked over my way but not directly at me.
"I forgot to eat breakfast so I pa-" I started.
"That's not what I meant." He said as he looked at me in the corner. He was trying not to raise his voice but he did a little bit anyway.
I took a deep breath. "About three years before the munchers started rising there was a bad fire at my house. I was trying to get out and then I was looking for my dad." I sighed thinking about it, skipping the details. "The tv wires caught on fire. I was walking past and something exploded. Then I woke up in a hospital. The fire got all the way from my neck to parts of my stomach. It left scars along with the shards that made it in my skin. I had to stay in the hospital for a couple months." I said as a tear fell out of my eye.
"Can I see?" He asked looking at me as I held the blanket tighter.
"Didn't you already see it?" I asked looking at him.
"You didn't want me to so I didn't look." He replied looking to me with a nod.
I believed him. I was grateful that he did that. It was kind of him. I decided to show him. It wasn't like he could take a picture and show it to everyone anyway. I handed him my water. He took it and put it on the table.
I sighed lightly looking at him. I took off the blanket covering my shoulders and he looked at my arms. I looked at them too. There were various pink and white splotches of varying sizes. You could also see a few over healed bumps from where the shards were in. There were less of those than there were burn spots.
He grabbed my wrist lightly to look at them. "You shouldn't be ashamed of them." He said looking to me.
"Yeah I should. They're disgusting." I replied crying.
"No they aren't." He replied looking at me as he held my hand lightly still looking. "They are your battle scars. It's how you know that you're strong." He said as he looked up to me.
He smiled lightly, trying to comfort me. It was working. I leaned forward and hugged him. "Thank you for not laughing at me." I said with my hands around him as I cried lightly. I didn't want him to see me crying so much.
"You're strong Lyla Rose. Remember that." He replied as he hugged me back. Not long after he left and I got some rest. I was glad to have a friend like him to comfort me. I hoped it stayed this way.