Ephemeral - Alia Dixon

41

1 month later

"A haunted maze with people who play walkers?" Carver asks a little sceptically, holding my hand tightly as we walk around the common wealth. Today's halloween and everyone is walking around in costumes. Sadly, I couldn't bring Carver to wear a costume, so we're just wearing regular clothes. There are a variety of stands everywhere, providing lots of fun for the kids as well as for us.
I smile as I see my dad, RJ and Judith walking out of the maze. Dad and I have been taking care of the two of them for the majority of time. My brother has chosen to stay in Hilltop with Maggie while the five of us have moved to the common wealth. I wanted a bit of normality, same for the kids.

One of Jerry's kids runs up to me and I hug her tightly.
"Wow, you look so cool" I say and she giggles shily. I look at Jerry and his kids only to see that they're all dressed as tigers. What else.
"Lovely costumes you have, Jerry" I say with a smile, which he can only return.
"Right?" he asks, clearly proud of himself before he walks away with his kids again.
"Carver, come play with me!" RJ says before he grabs Carver's hand and pulls him towards one of the swinging apple stands. I smile as my boyfriend runns after him, as if he had no choice against the five year old child. Judith has already gone of and when I look around, I spot her with another girl. Maybe a little older than her but who cares? This place is fantastic for the two of them. Great education, kids their age and normality. God, these kids have never celebrated halloween before. Not until now.
We stand a little back, my dad and I, watching the people around us as they have fun. Not much later Carol walks over and starts talking to my dad but I don't engage. Instead I keep watching the people and smiling. Rosita's showing Coco the animals at Ezekil's stand, Jerry and his kids are walking around and trying everything out, Carver is trying to fetch the apple that RJ is throwing around with his mouth and Judith's eating cotton candy with her new friend.

I only listen when Connie and Kelly walk over.
"Hey. You two look busy" Carol states and I can't seem but to notice the smile that forms on my dad's face as he sees Connie.
"Connie's a reporter for the paper, and we've got a full day, so..." Kelly says.
"How's work" my dad asks.
Connie starts signing while Kelly translates. "It's nice to be reporting again, but Commonwealth news isn't exactly hard-hitting"
"Have you met Pamela yet?" dad asks and we all take a glance towards the woman behind us. Apparently she used to be a big deal in the old world and even manages to rule this place now.
"I've interviewed her once before the world fell" Connie signs.
"Yeah, and you also got her uncle kicked out of congress, so.." Kelly says, making me chuckle.
"That was you?" Carol asks while Connie just grins and shrugs.
"We got to go. We have a lot to do before the masquerade ball, so..." Kelly translates.
"See you later" my dad says and Connie smiles at him before she and her sister walk away.
Carol and I grin at eachother as my dad stares after her.
"You should ask her to dance" Carol says and my dad looks at her with a stern look.
"You definitely should" I state and cross my arms infront of my chest.
"I gotta get to work" he says, clearly trying to get out of this conversation.
"Yeah, catch up later?" Carol asks and he nods.
"Yeah" he says before looking at me.
"Don't worry. I'll take them back to our place afterwards. They're going to be fine"
My dad smiles at me before he walks away. I look around and find Carver and RJ walking back over too.
"I'll see you later?" Carver asks, pulling me closer with one hand on my back, kissing me softly. I smile at him.
"Yeah, I'll see you" I say. He says hi to Carol and gives RJ a fist bump before walking away too. Him, dad and Rosita want to become one of the soldiers here. Pretty reasonable if you ask me. I didn't want to though. Instead, I got a place as a teacher, which is why I spend even more time with Judith and RJ and the kids here. It's nice to talk to them and help them with their problems. Normal people problems.

Time after time the place starts to clear and everybody starts packing up their stands. I walk over and smile as I see Jerry's kids and RJ playing pull the rope with Shiva's leash. When I first told Carver about Ezekiel and Shiva he didn't believe me that he used to have an actual tiger. I've managed to catch Carver up on pretty much everything around here, telling him about everybody and everyone. I left out Negan though or rather the brutality of that night.
My smile fades.
"Ezekiel, come play!" RJ says to the man who's putting the bunnies away right now.
"Nothing I'd love more, but I've got to take care of these little guys" he says, mentioning the animals.
"Us, too" Jerry's wife says, making us all laugh a bit.
Jerry then brakes the kids up and takes the leash from them. "Let's thank Ezekiel for letting us se Shiva's colar. Eh? It's the cherry on top of that sweet costume, right?" he asks his son who nods. He soon shakes his head though as Jerry wants to give it back. "I'm sorry, bud. We've got to give it back"
Ezekiel seems to think before he hands the colar back over to Ezra. "You know, Ezra. Your dad saved this from Hilltop when it burned, because he knew how precious it was to me. But there's something actually more precious, and that is your family. So, this leash is yours, on two conditions. One, that it always makes you as happy as it made me, and two, that you honor Shiva's memory and always think of her when you play with it"
Without hesitation Ezra walks over and hugs Ezekiel tightly. "Go have fun, buddy"
"Ezekiel, are you sure?" Jerry asks. We all know how much that tiger meant to Ezekiel.
"Yeah, just be careful. It's a chain" he jokes and they both laugh before hugging eachother. Jerry's wife and I give eachother a look as we wach the both of them with smiles.

"Come on, RJ. Let's go" I say and take his hand as we both make our way back to the apartment. We take Judith with us on the way back and all get inside. Loud music is playing again from the apartment above us and I swear to God, I would've gone up there already if it weren't for my dad. He told me not to start shit and I listened but seriously, it's way too loud for the kids to be here. Carver and I have our own apartment though, but we still spend quiet some time here because of Judith and RJ.
We're drawing when my dad and Carv walk inside.
"Did you get lost out there?" Judith asks my dad who walks in carrying food for all of us.
"Sorry, there was a long line at the kitchen" he says, closing the door behind himself and Carver before handing the food over.
"How was your day?" my dad asks but we all look at him a little confused, since we've not understood anything.
"What?" Judith shouts over the music.
"How was your day?" my dad shouts back and I clench my jaw. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Bran puts his hand over mine, making me relax and smile at him. He places a kiss on my cheek as we all dig into the food dad and him brought us.
"It was great" Judith says. "I made a new friend. She got me a record, You ever heard of Motorhead?"
My dad and I look at eachother with a knowing look before we both grin. We all used to be big fans of music, especially rock before the world ended.
"That's good stuff. Come here, boy" my dad says before he feeds dog. I tried to give him a new name but my dad refuses. Apparently dog is a great name for a dog.
"Daryl?" Judith asks. "Can I get an allowance?"
"Can we wait a little while until my job settles, then we can talk about it again?"
"So we can stay?" Judith asks.
"Do you want to stay, even after Alexandria is all cleaned up?"
"I do" RJ says.
A sad smile forms on my face but I get it.
"It's nice" Judith says. "I think as long as my mom knows where to find us, I want to stay"
I smile at her. "I think we can arrange that" I say before pulling two ten dollar bills out of my pocket. I hand each of them one.
"Buy something with it. But something good, like gummybears or something. Alright?" I say and the both tackle me to the ground and hug me tightly.
"Alright" I say, laughing as I try to get up again and get done with my food.