RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

perfect

"GET YOUR ASS back here!" 

She sat at the dining room table, chewing slowly on her cereal, trying to listen better to their conversation. Ash and her father always argued, and it was always about the same thing. He had just gotten back from jail, again. Their father always told him if he went back, he'd be cut off. She's lost count of how many times that never happened.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Dad." She could hear the somberness of Ash's voice in the next room over. He hated that he had disappointed their father again. He's let it be known that he only means well.

"You are throwing your life away! And for what?" Their father's voice still boomed even though Ash had began to settle down.

"For you!" Ash responded hotly. "For Willow and her daughter! You've seen the bills, we can't afford  it! We can hardly afford keeping food on the table!"

Willow's stomach turned as she got up and dumped her bowl out. She was happy to be home after everything she endured with the group of men that kept her, but the constant bickering and arguing between her brother and father made it almost unbearable. 

"So you get a job, not sell drugs and get yourself caught up with gangs!"

"I've been trying! Don't you think that was my first resort? You think I enjoy this?"

The loudness of their voices quickly quieted down when they both saw her standing in the doorway. It was almost like they put on a mask with how quick their expressions changed.

"Didn't know you were up." Their father said, adjusting the oxygen tubes under his nose.

She crossed her arms, tugging at her sweater a bit. "Yeah."

Ash moved to her side swiftly, gently grabbing her shoulder and leading her back to the kitchen. "I'm sorry you heard all of that."

She looked at him with a blank expression. "It's not anything I haven't heard before."

Ash sighed, sitting down with her at the table. "Look, I'm trying to do everything I can to make this work. With dad's meds and your baby, it's-"

She nodded. "I know."

He leaned back in his chair and smiled, though his eyes were sad and tired. 

Fake smiles weren't strangers in the Dempsey household.

"But he's right, Ash. The things you're getting involved in, they're horrible. There's got to be another way to go about doing things." She also leaned back in her chair, her back slightly aching from her restless nights. "I wouldn't mind getting a job-"

He immediately shook his head before she could finish. "No."

"Ash, I'm not gonna stay in this house forever." 

Ash was always very protective of her. Most of the time it was a blessing, but other times it was a curse. Ever since she has been back, he has been up her ass and around every corner, as if someone would take her again in their own home. She understood why he felt that way, but it was nearly suffocating.

He brushed his hair back with stressed hands, his leg bouncing under the table. "Not yet, Willow. We just got you back."

-

Sweat beaded on her chest, her body jolting up and her eyes wide, tears brimming her waterline. She's had dreams like this before, it was nothing new. It felt different though. She's had more hope now than ever that her brother is alive and close, and it's killing her to not go out there and look for him.