Daryl and Beth moved through the empty roller rink, clearing each room until they were satisfied they were the only ones here. He walked to the counter and put his crossbow down. Beth nearly skipped to him.
"We're good?" she asked.
"All clear," he said, she smiled wide and ran around him to the selection of skates behind the counter. "You sure we should be wasting time here?"
"We have food, water, we don't know where the others are... you have better ideas for how to spend the day?"
He hopped atop the counter an pulled an apple from his pocket, he took a bite.
"You're not coming?" she asked.
"Not much of a skater."
"Fine, more room for me." She found her size and pulled out a pair of purple skates from its cubby and quickly kicked off her shoes. Beth threw on the skates and tried to stand. The wheels spun beneath her and she came falling back.
She looked up to Daryl and held her hand out. He took another bite of the apple and laid it down. He jumped off the counter and took her hand. He pulled her up.
She stood awkwardly in front of him, her feet shuffling beneath her. She held his hand while trying to keep still.
"You done this before?" he asked.
"Once," she said. "When I was little."
"Alright," he said as he walked slowly ahead, towing her along. "Come on." He gently pushed her into the rink once they'd reached it. Beth drifted to the center, arms out for balance. Slowly she got more and more confident, kicking her feet to move faster and faster. Daryl leaned against the barrier and watched.
After Hershel was killed in front of her eyes, Daryl wasn't sure he would ever see her smile again. She didn't know if her sister was alive, she had nearly been killed time and time again. She had seen terrible things and had her hopes dashed and turned to horror. And yet, now, she simply put on a pair of skates and enjoyed herself.
Daryl wondered if anyone else in the world could be like her, but as soon as he'd asked himself the question, he already knew the answer, there was no one. She was something else, she was something special.
She floated around the rink, first stiff and cautious, then, revolution by revolution, she softened he stance, her arms relaxing at her sides, palms turned down like little wings, strands of blonde trailing behind like the streak a comet leaves as it makes its quick but bright pass across the sky.
#
"You were right," Daryl said. They had taken refuge in the clock tower overlooking the deserted town. "Ain't enough to just survive." He watched the sun fall behind the old homes, the sky behind it turning gold before night took over.
She watched him with a soft smile. "What makes you say that?" She asked.
"It's easy to give up when you think of the future and all you see is more fighting."
"So my skating really worked for you huh?"
He held back the urge to smile. "You played me Greene?"
"No... But I wanted you to see it."
"See what?"
"Fun," she said. "I think maybe you forgot what it looked like."
"Forgot? Not sure I ever knew it in the first place."
She looked around where she was sitting, suddenly something dawned on her.
"Damn it," she said.
"What?"
"This would be a good time to write in my diary but, I left it at the prison."
"What about that song you were workin' on?" he asked.
"What about it?" she asked. He shrugged.
"It's not finished," she said, taking out the crumbled papers in her pocket.
"What's it about?" he asked. She smiled, turning her chin up toward him.
"You want me to sing it?"
"I didn't say that."
"Okay, so I won't."
"Don't you need a guitar or somet'n?"
"Works better with one yeah, why is my voice not good enough for you Mr. Dixon?"
He turned back to the window and shrugged again.
"Oh my god..." she said.
"Hm?"
"You actually want me to sing."
He scoffed and turned his back to her completely.
Beth cleared her throat and closed he eyes. She sang. Daryl turned back, watching as she did.
"Oh, sweet girl, at the bottom of the ocean, at the bottom of the world, won't you turn your eyes to light, won't you turn your eyes to the sky?
"Oh sweet girl, has it been enough time, are you strong enough to climb? She's a little less refined, a girl with light-white eyes.
"Oh Sweet, sweet girl, place your hand in mine, we won't say goodnight, we won't think about it twice, you're the ocean, I'm the wild, once asleep, now like a child. .."
She opened her eyes. "Told you, it's not finished."
She seemed like a different person to him. Confident, strong. She looked like she knew who she was. Like how he wished he felt about himself.
He heard the echo of the song in his mind, realizing it wasn't just about her, but him too. He was a part of why she was okay. All at once, he saw himself through her eyes and what he saw was someone who was worth something.
