Ellie Dixon

Barns and Peletiers Don't Mix

We'd cleared out the barn and stayed there to avoid the rain after we filled up as many water bottles as we could. We'd lit a fire and secured the doors. Abraham was in one corner, slowly finishing off a bottle of liquor he'd found, Sasha was in another corner wallowing in self pity (not that I could blame her after all she'd been through), Maggie was laying on the floor with her back to everyone. 

Around the fire was my dad, mum, Michonne, Mama Rick and Glenn. Everyone else was just kinda... Spread out. Me, Sophia and Carl were leaning against the wall closest to the fire. Carl had his hat over his face as he was trying to get some shut eye. Sophia's leg was shaking and she kept fidgeting with her fingers. "Hey, twitchy, what's up?" I asked her, keeping my voice quiet in the barn.

"Nothing. I'm okay." Sophia smiled unconvincingly.

Carl was now interested and concerned, putting his hat on his head properly as he scooted forward to look past me and at Sophia. "You can tell us if somethings wrong."

Sophia nodded and took a deep breath. "It's just... Barns and Peletiers don't mix, ya know."

I gave her a pitiful look in the silence, before Carl spoke. "Why?"

I slunk my head down before knocking the hat down his head so it covered his face. "I'm sorry, Soph. I'd offer for us to sleep outside but being struck by lightening isn't on my to-do list."

Sophia smiled. "It's alright. I just miss my brother is all."

Carl re-adjusted his hat. "Oh right, sorry... I didn't forget Jacob, I just kinda blocked the whole barn thing outta my mind."

Sophia nodded. "What came out of the barn wasn't Jacob. It was an empty shell of what used to be my brother. Jacob died in the woods, like me and El nearly did."

"Shouldn't you three be trying to get some sleep." Michonne called over.

"We are sleeping." Carl defended.

"With our eyes open." Sophia added.

"We tend to talk in our sleep." I nodded.

"You're all horrible liars." Glenn told us.

"You ever hear you shouldn't wake a sleepwalker, Glenn?" Carl asked.

"We could've woken up with a headache." Sophia shrugged.

"Or death. And not woken up." I raised my eyebrows.

"I don't think that's possible." Rick stated.

"I do. Now, we gotta return to sleep after being rudely awoken." I huffed before laying down. Sophia and Carl copied my movements. My head was on my bag as I stared up at the ceiling.

I'd seen my dad walk away. He did that a lot though so I didn't really react. Then I saw Maggie follow after him with a concerned look on her face. Once Maggie was followed by Sasha, I got up. I saw the three of them trying desperately to hold the double doors closed. Through the loud sound of wind and rain, I could hear the loud growling of walkers. I ran over and stood by my dad, pushing my entire bodyweight into the door I was against. Rick, Glenn, mum, Carl, Sophia, Michonne, Rosita, Abraham, Noah, Tara and even Eugene and Gabriel. Everyone was working together to keep those doors closed.

The next morning, I woke up sideways to how I'd gone to sleep. My head was on Sophia's stomach and we legs were across Carl's chest. He was awake and just slowly rubbing his hand up and down my calf. "Did I wake you?" Carl questioned.

I sat up. "If I could fall asleep while you were wheezing away, I can sleep through anything."

"Wheezing? I don't snore." Carl declined.