» Time Is Dancing « | » Carl Grimes «

» WHAT WE BECOME PT.2 «

The Elephant In The Woods

I squinted against the sun as I pushed aside bushes and twigs, allowing my daughter to skip carelessly down the path as her mind wandered. "If elephants are real, then how come I've never seen one?" She mumbled thoughtfully, the brim of her hat flicking up.

"Because they don't live in this part of the world." I sighed, chopping down a branch that blocked our way. "We live in America and elephants live in...another country."

Heather frowned at the information, peering up at me with confusion. "Country?" She repeated, an air of mystery surrounding the word.

"Uh, yeah. They're these big chunks of land, and they're separated by water." I responded, my hands gesturing as if there was a map right in front of me. "Sometimes you could go from one country to another by airplane."

Her eyes were full of wonder as I spoke, the sparkle never dimming even with the boring subject. "I wanna know about the world before." She pestered, tapping on my arm for attention.

"What do you wanna know?" I asked through a tight smile, the cheerful front an attempt to keep my daughter happy. I couldn't let her know the deep concerns working on my mind- 'she can't be out here, she can't survive out here.'

She thought for a long moment, her finger tapping on her chin until she came up with an answer. "Did you have a Mom?" She inquired in a hushed voice, her eyebrows raised innocently.

"Not really." I shrugged, wondering if she could feel my trembling hand in hers. But it was time now- maybe talking about it would lift that weight off my chest, allow me to truly recover from the past. "There was a lady who was supposed to be my Mom, her name was Isabel."

"That's a pretty name." Heather muttered as she kicked loose stones. Her eyebrows furrowed as a thought suddenly dawned on her, her teeth chewing at her lip absentmindedly. "Is she gone, too?"

I stepped onto a chair with a wobble, reaching above my head to heave the pole out the rings. The fabric fell to the ground, swamping Isabel completely as she started getting up. I held the pole at one end, lifting the other up with a lot of effort. I wasn't expecting it to be so heavy.

She was drawn to my fumbling, trying to find me with her eyes covered. She sort of resembled a ghost on Halloween, the sheet covering her body as her arms stretched in front of her.

I didn't spend much time thinking about it as I ran the pole through her head, dropping it to the ground along with her limp figure.

"Sorry, Mom." I muttered, my breath catching in my throat. Maybe I would've been slightly more heartbroken if I gave half a damn.

"Yeah, she's gone." I bit my lip, the discomfort setting into my bones. It was a strange and unfamiliar feeling to talk about this again, especially to Heather.

She squeezed my hand gently, her eyes full of genuine sympathy at my story. "I'm sorry." She offered.

"It's okay." I smiled down at her, hopefully reassuring her that I was telling the truth. Because it really was okay, and that's something I wanted her to understand. That family is what you make it, whether it's by blood or bond. "I've got a new family now, and I couldn't be happier."

So, maybe that was a lie.

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"I'm still hungry, Mom." Heather complained, her hand loose in mine as she dragged down. She had stopped bouncing a long time ago, her steps now shuffling slowly with exhaustion.

"We'll be there soon." I promised, although I wasn't quite sure I believed it myself. Then again, the path we were on was starting to appear familiar- I vaguely remembered pointing out the birch tree we just passed to Daryl several months ago. "Besides, I don't have anything to hunt with."