AND THEN I FOUND YOU » Daryl Dixon

5. HIS BOWL OF PORRIDGE

To be re-written

Jasmin's past week had consisted of laying in bed, eating at least five meals a day, and involuntarily throwing up half of it. They wasted so much food on her and she couldn't even keep it down which made her feel awful. She had begged multiple times for them to cut back but would always be told, "We're growing more food than ever, and it's going to good use."

Maggie visited her a lot while Glenn was working. They would often talk about their old lives, movies, music; anything to make the time pass. In turn, they got closer and a new friendship blossomed.

For the first time in her entire life, Jasmin could say she had a friend.

The white-haired man she'd come to know as Hershel hopped through the door on his crutches with a wide grin on his face.

"What's got you all cheerful?" She laughed.

He stopped next to her, holding out his hand. Hesitantly, she placed her hand in his and he pulled her out of the bed. She looked around and noticed all her belongings had been removed from the room and were nowhere to be seen. She quirked her eyebrow at him.

"Come with me," he said.

They reached the end of a concrete hallway and came to a small opening revealing cell block C. There was a small group of children crowded together on the floor playing some type of board game, but apart from that, there were barely any other people in there.

Each cell had a blanket hung over the doorway for privacy. Hershel moved the blanket aside as he led her into a cell that was right across from the stairs that went to the second level. All her belongings had been placed on the desk across from the bunk bed.

"What's all this?" she asked.

Hershel still had that same radiant smile on his face.

"You're new room."

Soon enough they both shared that same radiant grin on their faces. She no longer had to be stuck in an infirmary with plain white walls. Sure, the cell was a lot smaller, but it was more homely. There were posters hung on the walls, a desk with a wooden chair she could sit in to read, and a small shelf by the cell door where she could put her belongings.

"Thank you, Hershel." He had been kinder to her in the past week than Phillip had been her whole life.

He patted her on the back, squeezing her shoulder the same way he did when they first met. He understood that she had things going on below the surface, but never pushed. That she appreciated.

"I'll leave you to set up your things. After that, you should come and have breakfast with everyone else; meet some new people," he said.

She nodded her head, and he took off leaving her to set up her things.

She sat down on the bed with a sigh and stared at the wall in front of her, contemplating whether or not she would go out and have breakfast with everybody or just stay in her cell. The latter wasn't a very good option but being around so many people at once scared her. The way Maggie had talked about everyone, it seemed like there were a lot of them. Who knew how she would handle it?

Jasmin leaned forward and put her head in her hands only to feel the cold metal of her necklace hit the middle of her chest. Sitting back up, she reached down her shirt pulling the silver chain out, hesitating before opening the small compartment, revealing two small pictures of a man and woman – her parents.

Her dad had died before she was born and her mother hardly spoke about him but when she did, it was like he was her whole world. He made her happy. If only he had lived, maybe her life could've turned out differently. Maybe her mother would still be alive.