Haunted | Daryl Dixon

10. Mother

Evelyn's realization had been enough to scare her out of sleep for the past two nights.

Two days- two sleepless nights- she went without seeing Daryl. Well, avoiding him would probably be the best term.

She hadn't left her house for the past two days, and even contemplated skipping school. But considering it was her last day and they were supposed to be going over information about the graduation ceremony, she opted out of missing it.

If Evelyn was being completely honest with herself, she was scared shitless.

Not only did she realize that she was in love with Daryl, but Julie helped her realize that there was a chance Daryl loved her back.

Within the past two days, she also got letters from multiple colleges accepting her, but the one envelope she ripped open before all others was the one to Penn State. Her dream school.

She had screamed and cried in joy when she read that she had been accepted on a scholarship, and hadn't even thought twice about sending back her confirmation of going.

She thought of Daryl, about how excited and proud he would be of her. It killed her to keep it to herself for the past two days, but she wasn't exactly ready to face him again.

Just as Evelyn was finishing putting her shoes on to leave, her front door slammed open, making her jump.

There stood her father, quite possibly the most sober she had seen him in a long time. Meaning he wasn't swaying to stand, not meaning he wasn't drunk. There was a good chance he was.

The two just stared at each other for a minute before Nolan grunted and went to move past her.

"I got into college." Her voice startled both of them, she hadn't meant for the words to slip past her lips. Her father froze, his back to her, "Just in case you care. Penn State. I got in on a scholarship."

It was silent for a moment.

"Penn State..." Nolan whispered, "That's where Maria went."

Evelyn's heart clenched at the mention of her late mother. She swallowed thickly, "I know."

Her father turned around, seemingly contemplating what to do. Finally, he settled on putting a gentle hand on her shoulder and squeezing once.

"She would be proud." Was all he said, voice thick with emotion.

Evelyn could even swear she saw the beginnings of tears resting in her fathers eyes.

Never once had her mothers name been mentioned under this roof. It was hardly anything that she even thought about, it pained her too much to do so.

But hearing her father- of all people- tell her that her mother would be proud of her, she couldn't help but let a tear of her own trek down her cheek.

.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙

Though it had been the last day, that day at school had been the hardest of the year for Daryl.

At first he had thought Evelyn didn't wouldn't be at school- she wasn't there for their morning walk- but she rushed in five minutes after the bell, seeming as though she ran to make it to school.

As soon as he met her eyes, he knew he had to fight off every instinct he had to try and make sure she was okay. Before she even took her seat, he could tell that she was trying to transmit a message to him, to leave the topic alone and drop it.

Reluctantly, he did so, if only to give her peace of mind. But he fully intended on bringing it up later.

Evelyn had seemed so relieved when she sank down into the chair next to him that he hadn't brought the last two days up, that he couldn't even bring himself to do it for the rest of the day.