Maggie had finally gotten Rowen to eat some food last night, she had even managed to make her take a few sips of water. Rowen was getting better, albeit slowly, but she was getting better.
Rowen still hadn't left the cell, but she was up and moving around now. She had even had a small conversation with Aliyah, the latter brought Rowen a book that had been left in her old cell, the same book Rowen had shoved away days ago.
Romeo and Juliet.
So now Rowen stared down at the old book that sat in her hands, she still felt guilty about reading it, especially after her father expressed such distaste towards it, but the young girl reminded herself that he was dead, and that was all it took for her to open the book and pick up where she left off.
About an hour after Rowen started to read, she closed the book and set it down on the desk. She was bored, she had been in this cell for days, and she had been in her old cell for days before that. So Rowen decided to go outside, take a walk, maybe get some food. She hadn't worked out the details yet, she just wanted out, she felt trapped in the cell.
So she did, and the second her worn down Converse hit the pavement, Maggie was next to her, asking if she was okay, if she was hungry, what she wanted to do. Rowen ignored the woman's advances and continued walking.
She ended up by the main fences, walking around the perimeter of the prison. Rowen kicked rocks with the tip of her shoe as she walked, her head was down, watching the tiny jagged stone tumble along in front of her. Rowen was always told as a child that she needed to look where she was going, in theory she probably should, but she never did, so it was no surprise to her when she slammed into somebody, the two of them, both falling to the ground.
Rowen looked up, ready to apologize to whomever she just slammed into, only to be met with the familiar blue eyes and cowboy hat. Carl glared at the girl as he stood, "Watch where you're going!".
And before Rowen could respond Carl was walking away, Rowen stood, walking back towards the prison, towards her cell. That was enough human interaction for Rowen.
☆
Rowen had read until the sun went down, then she finally ventured out of her cell again in search of some food. She found some left over food from dinner and began pouring it into a bowl, everyone had gone to bed hours ago, Rowen couldn't sleep.
So the girl found herself outside as she ate, she looked up at the stars, the Little Dipper, the North Star, Orion's Belt. She had always liked looking at the stars, in third grade she found a book in the school library on all the different constellations, she stayed up late every night that week memorizing them all from her bedroom window.
Whenever she couldn't sleep, she would look out her window and look for them, now at the prison windows were in short supply, so she sat on the metal bleachers in the rec yard of the prison naming every constellation she could think of in that moment.
Once she finished her food she went back inside, she ended up back in her cell. Looking at the stars had always given her a sense of peace, gave her the little push she needed to sleep, except for tonight, that push never came. Rowen sat awake in the dark cell until she heard Rick's alarm go off.
And once she heard Rick get up and start moving around she did the same, she followed the man outside and into the garden.
"Jesus! Rowen- you scared the shit outta me!" Rick held his hand over his heart, Rowen stared at the man for a beat, "I can't sleep, is there anything I can do out here?" Rick nodded, handed Rowen a bucket and instructed her to feed the piglets.
Rowen was glad he had asked her to do that and not pull beans, Rowen hated tending to the plants, but she loved taking care of the animals. She did as she was told and fed the pigs, she walked back over to Rick who was pulling vegetables from the garden.
He told Rowen then to bring what he had pulled so far inside to the cafeteria, Rowen began to make her way back to the prison.
When she entered the prison, people were up and moving around, so she set the bucket next to the water basin and walked back towards her cell. When she got there Aliyah was lacing up her boots, Rowen wanted to turn and run in the opposite direction but, the older girl had already seen her.
"Rowen, I'm glad you're here. I wanted to talk to you about the run today, I'm going and I think it would be a good idea if you came too." Aliyah smiled up at Rowen.
Rowen didn't even know there was a run scheduled for today, but if she could go, she definitely wanted to. "Uh, yeah, yeah I'd like that." Aliyah smiled at her and nodded. Rowen thought the girl smiled a little to much to be normal in the apocalypse, but whatever butters your biscuit.
Aliyah left the cell with strict instructions to the red haired girl to get ready and then talk to Daryl. Rowen didn't like Daryl, he was grumpy, and he yelled a lot, but Rowen grabbed her belt and stuck various knives in various different sheaths.
The girl made her way outside the prison again, she almost immediately spotted the tall redneck checking over his bike. Before she could even say hello to the man, he was walking away from her.
"Hey!" She called after him, he stopped but didn't make any move to acknowledge the girl. "I wanna go on the run." The man turned then, he looked the girl up and down.
"No."
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[EDITED]
-Sadie⭐️
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