Ephemeral - Alia Dixon

8

It's been a few weeks now. Alexandria's standing again and well up. We've even made it a bit bigger now and made security better. More lookouts, cars with speers infront of the gate so not too many walkers get through and we've tried to stabilize the walls a bit. 
I've even managed to finally cut my hair. Made Enid cut all of it off. Well, not all but a little below my shoulders. Dad was shocked when he saw it. I can't remember when I had short hair the last time. I always used to love my hair more than anything but other things are just more important now. 

I smile as I put on the new katana my dad brought home. I've told him I always wanted one since we've met Michonne. It looks so comfortable and honestly it's much better than a machete or anything else. Well, not better than my knives. Got them all back after the attack, Glenn made sure of it. Even the one I killed Ron with. I know I did him wrong but he would've killed all of us if he'd done that and I think I'm finding my piece with it slowly. It still stings and guilt washes over me when I walk past their house but it's getting better. At least I am able to walk by now. At first I couldn't without having a panick attack. That's what Denise called it when my dad brought me over because he found me in my room. 

"You comin'?" Allen asks me, peeping into my room. I turn around towards the boy with the now even shorter brown hair. He had allowed me to cut it too. It's a twin thing between us, no haircuts without the other getting one too no matter how small it is. So, we both decided to cut it off. It suits him though. Makes him look older. He opens the door further, looking at me with a smile.
"Where are we going?" I ask him a bit confusedly. 
"Where are you going?" Carl asks from behind him. Allen steps aside a bit, looking at Carl. His eye was healing but he still wears this bandage and I don't think he'll ever take it off. It's clear how self concious he is about it. Allen once asked him if he can see it and Carl threw a whole fit. He screamed at him loudly before walking out of the room. Fun experience.
"Fighting. Wanna come?" Allen asks but Carl looks at us with a surprised face.
"I- I can't" he says, confusing Allen.
"Why not?" he asks making me giggle.
"He's going outside with Enid" I say, Allen and I both laugh as Carl turns bright red. I've discovered them going out together about one and a half weeks ago. They like to sneak outside the walls and do god knows what. When I asked Carl he wouldn't tell me. So, I let it go.
"I'll just leave now" he says shily, making me and Allen laugh even more. 
"Okay, let's go" I say before putting my belt on and walking out of the room. He walks right after me as I walk down the stairs and out of the house. I wait for him to catch up to me on the front porch before we walk towards the gate together. Obviously we don't go out. We stay here behind the gate on the grass, trying to pin eachother down until one of us gives up.

"Practicing again?" Glenn asks with an amused smile. He watches us when he's on watch. Same for the others. My brother and I have asked if we should take some watches too but everyone refused. My brother and I are sixteen years old, about to turn seventeen somewhere this summer. We thought it'd be fine but everyone said no, so we use our time otherwise. 
"Always" Allen says with a grin as we take our weapons off and throw them to the ground before getting into position.
"Rules, brother?" I say in a mocking tone.
He rolls his eyes with a smile. "No biting, no weapons and no breaking bones"
"Alright, you ready?" I ask him and he chuckles.
"Always"
I chuckle. "Yeah that's why you loose everytime"
The grin fades of his face. "I don't"
"Glenn," I shout loudly, still remaining eyecontact though. "Who wins more fights?"
"Definitely Allen" he says and Allen shoots him a glare to which Glenn raises his hands in defence. "Sorry, man" Glenn chuckles.
"Three" I start, my fingers twitching already.
"Two" he counts with a smirk.
"One" I say before he swings at me first. That's always his first mistake. I never throw the first punch, only in situations where it's necessary. Here, it definitely isn't. It's not in most cases. It's better to wait for your opponent and watch what he's going to do. You can block the first punch then and throw them to the gound. I dodge his punch easily before pushing him to the ground behind me with a chuckle.
His second mistake is getting angry when he fails to hit the punch. He's a bad fighter when he's angry. Not like me. At leas that's what dad says. Apparently I'm a magnificent fighter when angry, maybe even better when I am. 
So, he swings at me again and I dodge easily before punching him to the jaw. We carry on like that for a moment until he's on the floor and asks for a break. We do it a few times again until we're at a tie.