Ellie Dixon

Chicken Coop

A lot had happened. Rick wouldn't let me, Carl and Sophia go kill the Saviours with them even though I've already taken out one community of people so I personally don't see the big deal. Mum and Maggie had been kidnapped; they fought their way out and were A okay. Oh, and Denise had died. The Saviours had attacked my dad, Denise, Rosita, Abraham and Eugene, but they were all dead now... The Saviours I mean, of course and Denise. Tara and Denise had been dating, Tara didn't even know about Denise yet, because she was doing a long lasting supply run with Heath. I was giving Abraham the cold shoulder, and he'd moved out of our house and into the other house which we call House 2. This is because he and Rosita had broke up. Abraham left Rosita to immediately start dating Sasha. Rosita didn't tell me what he said, but he wasn't nice about it, so on behalf of my cousin, I'd been ignoring him. My chickens were still running around in my garden, since I hadn't had a chance to build them a coop yet. The hen with fertile eggs did have somewhere to sit on them to incubate them though.

Everything with the Saviours happened two weeks ago, so other than the disastrous events, we'd been living in harmony. Oh, we were also worried about the other Saviours (since we apparently didn't kill them all) attacking us. Again, put all that aside? Harmony... Until, I slipped my hand under my pillow to keep my fingers warm, and I felt a paper envelope. 

I groaned, sitting up and pulling the envelope with me. In the mirror on the opposite side of our room, I could see Sophia sitting up in her bed. Her hand was over her mouth, her eyes wide, watery and distressed as she read her own letter. So, I opened mine.

Dear, Ellie

I'm so sorry to do this to you, especially after everything you went through growing up. You deserve a good mother, and in the time I was with you, I hope I was just that. However, I can't stick around. Please, please don't come after me. Take care of your sister, she'll need you right now. I can't kill people anymore, it's not who I am. I can't stick around because I love you all so much, I'd kill for you, and I can't keep doing that to myself. I've been thinking about Jacob a lot recently, and how he'd be horrified at the monster I turned into. I hope you know how much I love you. You are my daughter. And I'm sorry. I know this will hurt you, but I need to do this. Stay safe. Protect yourself and our family.

All my love - mum xx

"No, no, no, no." I repeated to myself, running a hand through my hair.

"She's joking, right? She's got to be joking?" Sophia's voice came from the bottom bunk, it was clear she was trying not to cry her heart out. "Mum!" Sophia screamed, running out of the room, presumably to search all of Alexandria for our mother.

Cries escaped my mouth as I just lay back down in bed, scrupling up the letter and throwing it to the other side of the room. I held Teddy to my chest as the tears soaked my face and my pillow, my body shook with pain. "Ellie?" Rick's voice came, walking into the room.

"She's gone. Mum left." I told him.

"What?" Rick asked, panic in his tone.

"She wrote a letter." I weakly pointed to the crumpled up piece of paper on the other side of the room.

Rick went over and read it, his eyes scanning the paper before he put it down on the desk. "I'm going to get her back." He stated, strongly, before leaving the room. More cries of pain left my mouth as I squeezed Teddy. Slowly, I heard his footsteps re-enter the room. "Can you come down here, please?"

I put Teddy down and shuffled to sit at the top of my ladder. "What is it?" I sniffled.

"Come here." He told me quietly, reaching forward and grabbing my sides. He pulled me down and held me in his arms, before sitting down on Sophia's bed. He held me in his lap as he gently rocked me back and forth, his arms gripping me in a strong hug as he rested his chin on my head. "We'll get her back."