☆ All the Stars ☆ (rarl)

Vol. 9 | Home With You

Three years ago
-
"Hey, wanna read?" Ron whispered, trying to cheer Sam up with a comic.

They were locked in the closet Jessie had put a lock on.

"Not really." Sam replied, wiping a tear of his face.
Ron sighed sadly. This sucks.
The two sat in silence, besides the familiar sounds of their parents arguing.
"It'll be ok." Ron said, trying to comfort him.
"Are you sure? Mom was hurt bad last time." Sam replied, looking down.
"I don't know." Ron said honestly.

"Hey, I love you Sammy." Ron said softly, giving his little brother a hug.
"I love you too." Sam said, hugging him back.

-

Today

Now Ron sat alone in the closet, hiding from Negan. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he thought of his family. He missed them. He even missed Pete.

"I don't know. This place is dusty. Doesn't look like they use this house much." Simons voice said, drawing closer to the closet.
"Maybe. You know what? We never searched this house before. Ron was in here sick. Might be something in here." Negan replied, sounding as though they were right next to Ron.

The door rattled as the lock prevented it from opening.
Ron felt like his mom had kept him safe once again.
"It's locked. Hm. Let's ask Rick about this." Negan said, sounding quite unhappy.
Ron sighed as their footsteps departed.

——

"Rick! I've got a question for you." Negan exclaimed, walking back to the group of Alexandrians.
"Yeah?" Rick said calmly.
"That blue house? It's got locked door. Want to tell me what that's about?" Negan asked, putting Lucille over his shoulder.
Ron must be hiding there, Carl thought.
"That house? No one lives there. The family died a few years ago, actually. I don't think anyone has really been in there since. They must have left a door locked before they died." Rick said, giving the partial truth.
"You think I believe that? I mean yeah, It's dusty. But why would the leave the door locked?" Negan said, not believing Rick.

Rick sighed.
"Well, the family, they had some issues. The husband was abusive. I heard a rumor that his wife put a lock on one of the closets for the kids to hide in when he'd start hitting them. It must lock automatically or something." Rick said, drawing from reality again.
"Really? And you just let the son of a bitch live here?" Negan said, angry for the family he didn't know he knew.
"I wasn't in charge then. I tried though." Rick replied, shaking his head.
"You weren't? Then who the hell was?" Negan said, surprised with that information.
"My mom." Spencer said, joining the conversation.
"Great! That's just great! She died huh?" Negan said, Simon standing behind him.
"Yeah. My whole family did. After Rick got here." Spencer said, not liking Rick all that much.
"Everything was peachy before Rick showed up huh? Oh well boohoo. My family died too. My boy Ron? His family died too. I don't know the whole situation with that though. But my point still stands. You're not special." Negan said, having great distain for Spencer.
Spencer was honestly speechless. The lack of sympathy? And Negan really brought up Ron. Spencer had never liked Ron or the Andersons all that much.
"Nothing to say huh? That's what I thought. I think we'll be leaving now. I just wanted you all to know that you are, indeed, getting what you're paying for." Negan said, rounding up his people, still oblivious to Ron's presence in Alexandria.