Clementine examined her face in the cracked mirror hanging from the concrete pillar in the barracks. Under her left eye was bruised and had turned a sickly green. Her lower lip had a cut in it, as did the bridge of her nose, although a bandage was covering that. Her right cheek was grazed, she guessed from falling onto the pavement.
A knock came at the door and Clem spun around on her heel.
Minerva stood in the doorway, leaning slightly against the frame.
"You can come in." Clem chuckled.
"Thanks. I was starting to feel weird standing there." Minnie joked.
The redhead walked over to Clementine and her smile dropped a little.
"How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a car. But the painkillers mean I can't feel much of it for at least a few hours a day, so you know, silver lining right?"
Minnie's laugh trailed off into an exasperated sigh.
"...You look like hell. Sorry."
"I'd say 'you should see the other guy', but I haven't even seen them." Clementine said slyly.
Minnie rolled her eyes.
"You've been hanging out with Louis too much."
Clem took her jacket from the corner of the bedpost where it was hanging and tried slipping it on. She winced at the shooting pain that erupted from her side when she did.
"Need some help?" Minnie asked softly.
"No I-" Clem tried again to get her other arm into the jacket, but the pain got even worse the more she stretched, "actually, yes."
Minnie stepped closer and stood behind her. The redhead took the dangling sleeve and brought it closer to Clem's left arm, delicately guiding it through.
Minnie then moved around in front of Clem and straightened her collar. She brushed the hair out of Clem's face, revealing butterfly strips above her eye, keeping a deep cut closed, and gave her a kind smile.
Clementine's heart jumped, she quivered slightly at Minerva's touch.
Clem had been in numerous gunfights, walked through herds of walkers, almost drowned in a frozen lake, and Minerva was making her the most nervous.
"Where's your hat?" Minnie asked, looking over Clem's shoulder to her bunk, "I've never seen you without it."
Clementine's smile dropped. She turned around and surveyed the bunk, turning over her pillow and tossing the blanket aside.
When it wasn't there, she knelt down and checked under the bed.
No such luck.
"Come on... where is it?" Clem muttered to herself.
"It's not there?" Minnie asked, leaning around Clem for a better view.
"Obviously not!" Clem snapped.
Minnie recoiled slightly, taken aback by Clem's tone.
Clementine immediately regretted it. She took a deep breath and composed herself.
"I'm sorry. It's just, that hat was... it's special."
"It's from family, right?"
"How did you know?"
"My sister. She wears this necklace that used to belong to our mom. Once, it came off in her sleep and she freaked out the same way you did."
"My dad gave me my hat right before all this started. That was the last time I saw him alive."
"Shit. Back then, the beginning, it was an awful time."
"Yeah, it kinda was." Clem sighed, "I must've lost my hat at the docks when I got jumped."
YOU ARE READING
The River (Clemerva)
Fanfiction"I haven't been avoiding her. I mean, I have. But it's not... I just don't want to talk to her until I know exactly what I want to say. Fuck, relationships are hard." The redhead sighed. "I wouldn't know, I haven't been in one before." Clem shrugge...
