Daryl's Girl

Chapter 15

I went over and over about what I was going to say as I walked over to the RV door? How I was going to say it? Even when I do, would Daryl even believe me? I had to hope that he would. If he didn't then who else would?

Just as I reached for the handle I heard voices coming from inside and I stopped. Taking a second to listen. It sounded like Daryl and Carol.

"A flower?" I heard Carol ask. I hadn't even noticed she hadn't been sitting with the others around the fire.

"It's a Cherokee rose." Daryl replied. "The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land. On a trail of tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much because of loosing their little ones along the way from exposure, disease and starvation, but a lot of them just disappeared. So the elders said a prayer, asked for a sign to uplift the mothers spirits, to give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers tears fell." I couldn't help but smile as I listened. Under that hard exterior was someone who really cares, whether he wanted to admit it or not. "I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother, but I believe that this one, it bloomed for your little girl." 

I had to fight back the tears threatening to fall. I didn't even know Daryl had a brother and it made me wonder what happened to him. Was he alive? Dead? Missing? Either way, I knew better than to ask, but by the sound of it, he was in exactly the same situation as both Carol and I. He'd lost someone with no idea on if he was ever going to see them again.

That was when I heard sniffling coming from inside and, as much as I didn't want to interrupt, I took a deep breath, knocking on the door and slowly walked in. "Lily." Carol sniffed with a smile. A white rose resting in an old beer bottle on the table in front of her.

"How you holding up?" I smiled back.

"As good as I can be." She said, wiping her fragile tears with the back of her hand.

I had to admit, she's one tough lady. With everything going on, she still cares about other people, putting all her trust in them. Maybe a little into me. I just hope that sooner or later we do find her daughter alive and well. It helpful to know that everyone's out there looking. I know that's all I'd want if I were her. Maybe that's what my group were doing with me somewhere.

"Sorry about interrupting, but can I to speak to Daryl?" I asked. Both Carol and Daryl looked at each other and nodded.

Just from the way they look at each other, how they are around one another, everyone can see there's something going on between them. Even a blind man could see it. Whether that was a strong friendship or maybe something more. A bad feeling in my stomach at the thought, but I couldn't let that distract me.

I snapped from my thoughts, said goodbye to Carol and walked out of the RV with Daryl behind me, where I lead him over to the mound of rocks that were for Otis' funeral, over on the other side of the field. I felt it best being away from the group where no one could hear us. That way there'd be no distractions and I could just get out what I wanted to say.

Once I was comfortable with how far away from the others we were, I stopped and turned to face him. He looked back at me and I could see the confusion behind his eyes and it just made it seem like I was making it a bigger deal than it needed to be. All I had to do now was decide which story I was going to tell first. Shane or Hershal? Thinking it was probably better to get what Shane had said out of the way first as it doesn't just affect me. It impacts the rest of the group. I just had to work out how to say it.

"This is going to sound absolutely insane, but I feel like you're the only person I can really talk to." I began, only my words started awkwardly coming out my mouth at one hundred miles a second. All our conversations before had just happened naturally and, with what I had to say, this one just made me uncomfortable. First things first though, I had to be sure that I wasn't just wasting my time. "I just need to know, do you trust me?"