HEART OF GLASS¹ ━━ the walking dead ✓

[ 021 ] six feet under

HEART OF GLASS
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE !

[ season two, episode ten ]
TW ── attempted suicide

A few days had passed since the bar shootout, Shane's outburst, Randall's injury, and a shaken Marley was feeling slightly better about . . . well, everything. She had spoken to Maggie and Lori on the morning after she yelled at Shane, both of whom were the under the impression Marley had one too many things on her mind at the moment. Stress. That she needed to take a break ── to be within their sight at all times. As a result of this, Marley had been given the duty of watching over Beth for the most part of every day. The Greene girl had woken up from her catatonic shock a few days ago and was not in the best state, requiring someone to act as a guardian from the moment she woke to the moment she slept.

Marley was not opposed to the job. On the contrary, she liked to sit at Beth's bedside ── you know, she liked to talk to her, even if she ever only received one word answers, sometimes a sentence if she was lucky. And when Beth was asleep, or not up for conversation, Marley would read a book.

It was nice. Her whirring thoughts slowed down. A small distraction, that was all she needed. For the time being.

That afternoon, however, Marley had parted with Beth's bedside to help Lori and Maggie make dinner. Noticing her concern, Maggie was swift to assure Marley that Beth would benefit from some time alone ── only a half hour ── to think things through. To sleep. Although, the Greene woman didn't look at all convinced by her own words as she spoke them, so Marley forced a smile and carried on slicing through a cucumber, an ever-present worry for Beth's well-being lingering in her conscious.

When a few moments of silence had passed by, Maggie looked up at Lori and asked, "Did Rick say anything to you about Glenn when they got back from town?"

This was clearly something that had been on her mind for quite some time, which was evident by the intensity of her stare when Lori hummed to herself in thought.

"Just that it had gotten pretty bad."

Maggie sighed in defeat, "He's not the same. Says he froze. Blames me. Says I got inside his head."

Marley twisted the knife's handle in her hand, halting her work of chopping through the cucumber. She had been there on the night Glenn froze up, she had been right there by his side, aiding him, ensuring he was able enough to move from one end of the alleyway to the other. She wasn't quite sure why Glenn was pinning the blame on Maggie, of all people. There was Shane, for instance, who merely existed.