Lost then found • Daryl Dixon

Chapter Thirty-nine

Daryl's POV

It was quiet, so quiet you could the wind rustling through the leaves, the birds chirping in the sky. It was peaceful. The sun was shining bright onto the meadow and reflecting back on the yellow flowers that covered the field. It was beautiful.

A little girls laughter broke the silence. I walked closer to the tree line, watching as she ran through the flowers. She could be no older than five. She smiled and laughed, hands running through the flowers as she ran. Her golden hair bounced on her shoulders and a new warm feeling spread in my chest.

"Momma!" she squealed as she ran to a woman. Her back was turned to me, her brown her reached her middle back and her white dress touched the floor, matching the little girls.

The girl jumped into her mother's arms, her mother spinning her around laughing together, basking in their own happiness. I took a step closer again, wanting to be in there watching from the sidelines as the little girl buried her head into her mother's neck as they held each other close.

"Daddy!" the little girl shouted as she lifted her head up. She was looking at me, the word 'daddy' being the one single word that pulled my heart from the despair and heartbreak.

Her mother turned to me, her smile getting brighter. It was a smile I have loved since the moment I saw it first form.

"Daddy!" the little girl shouted again, waving her hand over to me.

"Daryl!" To hear those words come from her again lifted the final weight off my chest. She reached her hand out for me, willing me to walk to her and take it. How much I wanted that.

"Daryl, come home to us!" she called, "Daryl!" She kept calling, repeatedly making my way towards her my own hand now reaching for hers.

"Let's go home, Daryl."

"Dar-Daryl!!" My eyes fling open as I jump up. Beth stood beside me, a confused and worried look on her face. "It's first light, we should be going," is all she tells me before moving away to pack her things.

A dream, that's all it was—a dream. But it felt like so much more, the pull Lee had on me, the love I felt vibrating off of her and the little girl, I wanted it. I needed it back. I need Lee back.

•••

We kept walking, unsure of what we were even walking towards or going to now.

My mind was a mess, the calls from Kaylee still ringing in the back of my head. I regretted being woken up if that meant I got to hold her again, even if it wasn't real and only a dream. All I wanted was to hold her again.

"Do you really think their dead?" Beth breaks me out of my spiraling mind.

"Huh?"

"Maggie, Glenn?" She sighs, "Kaylee? Do you really think their all gone?"

Flashes of saying goodbye to her, telling her I'd find her, then the last glimpse I had of her races through my mind.

"Maggie and Glenn? I dunno, maybe they got out in time. But Kaylee..." I close my eyes, trying to breathe right, "Kaylee...I saw her go down."

"That doesn't mean—"

"I saw her get shot down Beth, and I didn't do anything! I just stood there and watched," I tell her through gritted teeth, tears threatening to fall at any second.

"This isn't your fault Daryl." She places a hand on my shoulder but I shrug her off quickly. "I'm sorry," she tells me before moving away.

We kept walking in silence from there, not saying a word to each other. My thoughts being the one thing not being able to shake it off. That was Lee's effect on me since the moment I had met her in those damn woods outside the farm. She drew me in wanting to know her, to protect her, for her to be mine. From that day on she never left my mind whether she was laying in my arms peacefully asleep or separated. She was always the main focus.