crooked heart → the walking dead ⁵

[ 003 ] no rest for the wicked.

CROOKED HEART.

chapter three, no rest for the wicked.
[ original episode ]

TEN MONTHS AFTER.

"DO YOU EVEN TALK?" Negan's voice pierces her ears as she walks past the brownstone.

Odessa's eyes snap down to see him standing at his window. She makes a face. "I do," she responds. It's been two months since she started talking again. After. . . the incident.

"Wow!" Negan exclaims with a wide, sarcastic smile. "I never though I'd hear that annoying ass voice again."

"It's a shame you still have one," Odessa snaps. "Maybe my dad should've cut a bit deeper."

Negan shrugs. "Maybe he shoulda."

"Keep on and I will," Odessa says.

"You couldn't last time," Negan smirks.

She raises her eyebrows. "Do you really wanna test me, Negan?"

"Nah," he laughs, "go on, Miss Grimes."

As she walks away, she rolls her eyes. She wants to hit him, she wants to kill him. The people of Alexandria once believed that Odessa would come to terms with Negan's imprisonment. That she would make peace with the past and darkness. That day has yet to come.

Some days, Odessa wishes Negan and the Saviors had burnt all of Alexandria. She knows it's a horrible thing to wish but this place. . . it's hell. There are some parts of her that want to stay, but there are others that want to run. She wants to take Brielle and Koda and leave.

Even now as she opens the door to her house, she hates the way this place makes her feel. She hates the way Michonne and Theo and Negan make her feel. She hates the way Carl's grave makes her feel.

When she opens the door and steps into the house, the silence of it slams into her chest. She hates it. She hates everything about this house.

"Dessa?" Calls a voice. Michonne rounds the corner. Siddiq is right behind her. The Grimes girl freezes in her tracks. "Come sit down. We have to talk."

Her heart starts to pound faster as she walks into the living room. Siddiq and Michonne sit on the couch. Odessa sits down in the red-orange chair. A two month old RJ lays in his bassinet beside the couch. He's napping, thank God.

"What is it?" Odessa asks them.

She watches with wary eyes as Michonne and Siddiq share a look. "Mom?"

Michonne turns her eyes back to her daughter. "Siddiq and I have been talking. . . and we think it's best for you to finally face your demons."

Odessa eyebrows furrow. "Face my demons? What the hell does that mean?"

"Well," Siddiq starts. "We think it's time for you to sit down with Negan and talk to him."

"What?" Odessa asks. "You want me to go sit down and have a friendly chat with that man?"

"We want you to sit down and communicate with him," Michonne says. "It's been two years. It's time we all move on, Odessa."

Michonne's words slam into Odessa's chest. Her jaw goes slightly slack. Her heart falls to her stomach. The words hurt.

It's time we all move on, Odessa.

How could Michonne even suggest that? She was there that night! She saw what Negan did to Glenn and Abraham. She saw the way Negan mentally tortured Rick, Odessa, and Carl. She saw Negan take Odessa and Daryl back to his home where they were tortured both mentally and physically for days on end.