The darkest days

5

Cecelia

14 years old

Today was my fourteenth birthday.......

Daddy has started to look at me oddly and it has started to make me uncomfortable.

I get dressed in a dark purple sweater and I put on some black pants.

I look in the mirror and I dab some concealer on my face to cover up the bruise on my cheek.

I put my purple ribbon in my pocket and I let my curly black hair fall down to my waist.

I make sure that my bangs are even and I slip my glasses on.

I slip out of the house and I start to walk to Daryl's house.

I walk up to the dingy house to find Merle drinking and chain smoking on the back of the pick up truck.

"Hey there princess.Looking for my baby brother?"

He asks after finishing his beer.

"Yeah,he was going to take me out for a movie tonight.It's my birthday..."I say quietly to the older Dixon.

I never really felt comfortable around Merle,Maybe it was because of how he was always drunk or because of how he would always talk about girls he saw that day.

I saw Daryl walk out of the house,wearing his usual ratty jeans,a grey shirt and his work boots and a jacket on.

Daryl has just turned sixteen so he was able to drive the truck now.

"Ya ready ta go?"He asks looking at me and nodding to the car.

I nod and he lights up a cigarette and hops into the truck.

"You love birds have a nice night now,Ya hear!"I hear Merle say before walking into the house with his six pack and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

A comfortable silence falls around us as we make it into the town to go see a movie.

"You know those are bad for you."I say looking at him

"Yeah I know."He says in a gruff voice.

"Then why do you smoke them?"

"I guess it's just a bad habit."I reach over and grab the pack out of his pocket and the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Then why don't I help you stop." I say looking at him.

"Okay."He says and he pulls into the parking lot.

I hop out of the blue rusty truck and I walk around to the driver side and I wait for him to hop out before i grasp his hand and drag him along with me to the movie theatre.

"Oooh Star wars!"I say looking at all of the movies that

are out."There's also 28 Days Later." I hear Daryl say

Behind me."Dare,You know I hate horror movies." I say frowning and he shrugs.

"It's your Birthday."He says putting his hand on the small of my back,I shiver

and I feel a warm feeling in my stomach that making it knot up.

I fidget with my hands a little before coming to a decision.

"Lets go see 28 Days Later."I say quietly.

"You sure?"Daryl asks,his eyebrow raised and has a smirk plastered on his face.

"Buy the tickets before I change my mind."

I say looking at him,blushing fiercely.

He walks up to the box office and buys two tickets to the movie.

Two hours and four minutes later of me constantly grasping onto Daryl's

arm and him stifling his laughter the movie finally came to an end and we drove home in silence.

"I'm never doing that again."I say shaking my head and blushing while Daryl explodes with laughter.

"It's not funny!"I say laughing and hitting his chest lightly.

I stand outside of my door and he wraps his arms around me and he warm knot comes back into my stomach.

"Then why where you laughing?"

He asks inching a little closer to my face with a smirk."I-I...."I say and I gulp a little.

He leans all the way and kisses me softly.

My eyes flutter to a close and I wrap my arms around his neck."I shouldn'  a done that."He

says pulling away and shaking his head a little.

"Dar...."I say feeling shame and hurt after he said that."That wasn't supposed to happen."He says in a

whisper and he gets in the truck and drives off,leaving me on my porch crying silently.