Faith In The Wild •CARL GRIMES•

Something Different

The boy spun around and fixed his eyes on me, I just stood there..  frozen in the moment of my prayer being answered.

His deep ocean blue eyes met my pure, hazelnut brown ones, I stood in utter shock.

B-but I just saw you die, and now you're standing in front of me, perfectly fine? My mind tumbled in circles.

This was something I always prayed and begged the Lord to give me.. Well would you look at that? God answered my prayers.

--"Bella...?"--  He whispered.

My breath caught in my throat, the happiest tears that have ever touched the edges of my eyes, overflowed them.

I lost all care for how badly I felt, and I made my way as quickly as I could to the middle of the barn where he stood, and he passed his baby sister to his dad, then welcomed me into an embrace that I longed for.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and nearly knocked him over from hugging him so excitedly.

His hat fell and landed beside our feet, yet neither of us let go.

"I thought I'd never see you again.." I cried into his shoulder.

--"I thought I'd never hear your voice, or see you smile, or ever get to hug you again."--

There it was.

We were pressed so tightly together that I could feel his heart beating against my own, it was like they beat in sync.

"I can feel your heart beat.. isn't that so cool?" I whispered with a smile, a genuine smile. One that I felt like I hadn't had since my 9th birthday.

--"Yeah, that is cool. I can feel yours too.."-- He chuckled through his happy tears.

--"I missed you, Bella."--

"I missed you, too, Carl." I mumbled back.

"But, I missed you... More." I said under my breath with a smirk.

He pulled back from the hug, and looked into my eyes with that... look, the one that sent my heart shooting up into my throat and caused my stomach to do summersaults, kind of look. And he knew it, too.

I've always known I felt something for Carl, I just didn't know what exactly. And at the time I realized it, we were just kids. So it was safer to say that whatever I felt for him.. was platonic.

I knew his dad, and the rest of his group had their eyes glued to us and Rick probably didn't like his son to be an inch from a girl he doesn't know anymore, but did we care? Not really. Of course, I respected his family and their wishes, however... Everything around us kind of became oblivious to us the moment our eyes met.

--"Okay."--

"Okay?" I asked.

--"Yeah, okay. You win. But just because you win, doesn't mean you're right."-- He smiled sarcastically.

And man, did I miss that smile.

"Fair enough."

Rick cleared his throat, interrupting our conversation.

--"Yeah?"-- Carl asked from over his shoulder, seeming annoyed.

"We need to get a fire going, and get as much rest as possible, then we're back out on the road tomorrow." He said.

--"And go.. where exactly?"-- He responded, turning to face his dad. --"All we've been doing is running and running, everyone is on their last nerve because we're all starving and exhausted. Oh, and parched because you can't seem to let your guard down to drink some water that someone was kind enough to leave for whoever needs it more than they do."-- Carl mouthed off.