Ellie Dixon

Conflict in the Air

I interrupted. "How about when you murdered my boyfriend?"

"I told you that was a hunting accident. Walker came outta damn near nowhere." Dad responded.

"And I believed you... Until I talked to Leah."

"You know about Leah?" Dad asked, shock written all over his face and present in his tone.

"I came to visit you. Hell, I even baked you cookies. Except, imagine my surprise when I found her, instead of my father." I explained, his face getting more and more concerned with every word. With his silence, I continued. "She was pretty, seemed nice. She explained to me that the two of you were together which was pretty gross to hear, but I got over that when she let something slip."

"What did she say?" Dad pushed, his voice quiet.

"It's a shame your father had to kill that boy. But, I suppose it was for the best." I quoted. "Luca was fifteen years old. He was barely older than me. You murdered a child."

"I did what had to be done." Dad stated.

"He was a kid! A kid who wanted to get to know his girlfriend's father! He was good! What possible reason-" I started.

"He was going to hurt you." Dad interrupted.

"How, Daryl? How could he possibly want to hurt me?" I questioned.

"You don't want to know." Dad whispered. "Please, just forget about him so we can move on."

"Forget about him? How am I supposed to forget this? We've all done things to survive. Hell, we've done things for revenge. But killing for the sake of killing? That's Negan's level. That isn't us... Wasn't us anyways. I guess I didn't realise you'd scoop that low." I explained.

"Darling... You don't want to know the full story." Dad stated.

"Luca was an orphan. An only child. He had no family. I was the person he was closest too... I deserve to know why. If there's a reason why you murdered a child, I deserve to know why." I fought the tears in my eyes as the memories of a year ago came flooding back.

"We were looting a store." Dad's voice was lower, darker than usual. "He picked up a pack of condoms, and shoved them in his bag. He thought I hadn't seen, but I had. I asked what he needed them for and he told me that a friend had asked him to look out for them. I didn't believe him. Just as I was about to yell at him, walkers came by... We got outnumbered, and ended up backing further into the store. We were hiding out in the attic. We were looking through boxes to try and find stuff to lure the walkers out the front, so we could sneak out the back..." Dad trailed off, biting his lower lip.

"Well, don't stop there." I encouraged.

"He found an old magazine. It was from the forties, or something. I won't tell you exactly, but it was of a man forcing a woman to do something that she didn't want to do." Dad explained, I noticed a walker so without looking threw my boomerang and let it come back to my hand after it had sliced the head of the dead creature. "He was smiling as he looked at it... Said: that's how it's done, aye? I guess he forgot who he was talking too. That comment and what he grabbed from the store." Dad looked down.

"He was gonna rape me." I realised.

"I hit him, a couple times. I told him, that if he told me what he was going to do... I wouldn't kill him... But once he confessed to what he was going to do, and he told me that he was really a skinny eighteen year old and not fifteen, he said that he'd run away and that you'd never see him again... I was so mad. You're my little girl, there ain't nothing I wouldn't do to protect you... So, I just started beating on him. Then the door came down... I threw him to the walkers, while I got out."