The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 16

Meredith

EVERYONE BUT CAROL stood around the three graves created for Annette, Shawn and Sophia. It was horrible to be standing over three graves, let alone standing over one. But at the same time, it was a relief to finally be done and over with Sophia. I mean, I really thought that we were gonna find her. Or rather...I thought that it was me that would find Sophia. I'm sure everybody did, but I really thought it was going to be me. I wanted to find her, I wanted her to be okay. Not for the sake of me, but for Carol. Especially her. I hated this. It sucked. It felt like I back in time. Five years ago. 

Hershel read off words and all from the bible. People were sad, crying, staring off into space. All I could do was stare at Sophia's grave. Eventually, I found myself slipping my hand into Daryl's and holding onto it tightly. He didn't flinch, he didn't try to pull away. He actually squeezed my hand back. I know how much finding Sophia meant to him. I mean, he was out there looking for her every single day and nobody even asked him to. He was so close to finding her. But from the looks of her, when she stepped out of the barn, her body was decayed pretty bad. Sophia died the day she went missing. She was bit, and she got away, bled to death and turned. Roamed the area til somebody stuck her in the barn.

I was the first to walk away from the graves. Standing there just wasn't helping my passed memories. It didn't really help anything. I walked up the path, getting around the tree and stopping at it. I blew out a huff of air, trying to hold my breath in order to calm my nerves. 

"Meredith." I inhaled deeply, pulling myself together and slowly turning to face the man behind me. Daryl holds a stare with me, waiting for me to answer that I was okay.

"I'm fine." I brush him off.

"You're not." He shakes his head. I furrow my brows at him.

"Okay, yeah." I nodded. "I know. She wasn't even my child and yet I'm over here falling apart more than her own mother. It's nothing against Carol. I swear." Daryl looks down and he exhales deeply.

"That's not what I was talking' about." He said. "Yeah, we were all determined to find Sophia. But you? You were too involved. You didn't have to do that. You drove yourself crazy."

"What?" I frown at his words.

"You're pissed what Shane said about giving up on her. I get that." He nods. "But Sophia wasn't three, she wasn't a baby. She didn't just get wander off into the woods because her imagination told her otherwise. She wasn't Bonnie." He says. Hearing Daryl say her name was like taking a baseball bat to the stomach. 

"How do you know-"

"You've said her name over and over again in your sleep. I heard you. And you said it this morning, right after Shane said that we should move on from finding Sophia." He says. I slowly shut my eyes and let out a sigh. I lowered myself to the ground and sat down, leaning against the tree. Daryl walks over to me, standing over me before kneeling down. I knew he wanted to know about Bonnie. I mean, I can technically not tell him about her. But being that I've said it over and over again, without realizing it, he's too involved. Not that he purposely put himself in that position...

I leaned my head back and huffed out a breath. 

"Bonnie was...my best friends daughter." I begin. "Erica was my best friend. And Erica was like a sister to me. Which meant that Bonnie was like my niece. I'd watch Bonnie for Erica on days that she worked late at the hospital. One morning, we were at home, hanging out, doing the normal things we did. Bonnie was a smart kid, too smart for a three year old." I huffed out the smile, playing the memory of Bonnie in my head. Until the horror took over. My smile fades and I look down. "But I turned my back for a minute. Just a minute and she was gone. I looked everywhere for her. And she was gone. Police got involved. First 48 hours, it was just a missing person. But the second it hit that 49 hours...we were looking for a body. Three weeks we searched, hoped and prayed that Bonnie would turn out alive." I shut my eyes close, a tear rolling down my cheek. "Instead, we find her dead, leaning up against a tree. Her throat was cut, she had bruises all over her body. Blunt force trauma to her head. Somebody wanted her dead and they got that chance. And to this day, we never found out who it was. Bonnie was murdered and we'll never know why. Police tried blaming me for my..." I stopped myself, furrowing my brows. "Even then, they tried targeting me as the killer. But they claimed to not have enough evidence showing that I did it."