crooked heart → the walking dead ⁵

[ 001 ] the after.

CROOKED HEART.

chapter one, the after.
[ original episode ]

FOUR MONTHS AFTER.

EMPTY.

SHE HAS BECOME an empty shell of a person.

Laid in her bed is a girl. She's only nineteen years old and yet. . . she's lost so much. First it was a woman named Amy, a man named Jim, Jacqui, Sophia, a man named Dale, Shane, T-Dog, her mother, Oscar, Axel, Andrea, Hershel, Bob, Beth, Tyreese, Noah, Reg, Deanna, Abraham, Glenn, Benjamin, Sasha, Cole, Francine, Eric, a traitor named Morales, her brother. . . her father.

She wonders to herself who else she will lose.

Daryl's gone.

He left Alexandria in search of her father. They never did find a body. They never found Rick's reanimated corpse walking around. Many people believe Rick was blown to pieces, that's why they didn't find a body. Some believe Rick is still alive, somewhere out there.

The girl knows better than to hope.

All they found was Rick's gun, his colt python. It rests on her dresser. Taunting her.

Getting out of bed has become a chore for the girl. It takes everything in her to just push herself to use the bathroom. It hurts to move, it hurts to breathe, it hurts to think. Hell, it even hurts to be alive.

Rick Grimes is dead.

And Odessa Grimes might as well be.

It's been hard for her people to watch as she rapidly spirals further and further down the dark hole they call depression.

A gentle knock sounds in her room. When the door is pushed open, she doesn't even roll over to see who it is.

"Odessa?" Michonne voice fills the darkly lit bedroom. "We're having dinner, if you'd like to come eat with us."

Us.

Us is no longer Rick, Carl, Michonne, Theo, Brielle, Judith, Daryl, and herself.

No.

It's just Michonne, Theo, Brielle, and Judith now.

Odessa hasn't eaten dinner with her family in four months. She doesn't eat much of anything anymore. After recovering from her previous eating disorder, the loss of her father triggered a horrible, deep depression. Eating is one of the last things on her mind.

Odessa doesn't say anything back to Michonne. So the woman sighs, "I'll put your dinner in the fridge in case you want it later."

They both know Odessa won't leave her room.

She hasn't in weeks.

It's been a long time since the people of Alexandria have seen Odessa's face. They ask Michonne and Theo if the girl is okay but they all know the answer.

Odessa Grimes might as well join the walkers.

Her skin is an unnatural pale white, her cheekbones stick out of her face and her collarbones jut out. Her eyes are sunken in and commonly bloodshot and red-rimmed. Heavy purple bags lay under her eyes. Her lips are dry and bloody from where Odessa picks at the skin.

Cori has come to the gates of the Alexandria several times in the past four months worried for Odessa, her girlfriend. She tries to get Odessa out of bed. When Odessa doesn't budge, Cori tells her stories about the Hilltop and how's it's began to flourish. She tells her about how Maggie is doing an amazing job at leading the Hilltop with the help of Jesus and Cori. She talks about how Flynn is learning rather quickly on how to fight.