South Tree * TWD

22. Big House

         IT HAD BEEN MANY months since they had a stable place to stay. Lillian thought it was years, she oughta be 37 by now but really it had been months. The only reason why she could tell was cause Lori was fat... Sorry, no, super pregnant. Her stomach was bulging. Lori looks how Lillian felt that one time she had eaten an entire bowl of worms 'n dirt ice cream  when she was real young. She felt like she was gonna explode, that's Lori.

Daryl said she looked different too. All of the kids did. They looked like they had all grown a little. Lillian was excited about that, she thought it was cause of her birthday. They had spent the entire winter trying to find a place to stay, running away from a massive herd that were closing in on them.

Lillian told everyone a couple of weeks while on the road, that it felt like her birthday cause it was the end of October and it felt like the end of October. They all smiled and said happy birthday to her, but that's it. They turned away with a blank face just as quick as they smile. Of course Lillian wasn't expecting a present or anything, just maybe a little bit more of an exciting reaction of her being 11 years old.

She never used to have big birthday parties, but once her mama took her to chuck e. cheese and she had the best time of her life. After all of it, she got a big rainbow slinky out of all of her tickets. She was very proud and showed it off at school for months afterwards.

So it turns out, that halloween doesn't get to happen because there's dead people trying to eat peoples brains. Lillian brought up the idea once to Daryl but he just shot it down. Like completely. Told her it was time to look around, "There ain't gonna be no halloween for the rest of y'er life." That's what he told her. Lillian was disappointed and appalled by his rudeness but they were all hungry and tired, Daryl didn't exactly have patience especially not for a little kid.

Lillian had told Colton about her birthday and that they were now finally the same age. Colton was excited for her because maybe they could all do grown up stuff together, him, Lilli, and Carl. Colton wasn't quite sure why Carl didn't really want Lilli doing stuff with them, it wasn't like she was annoying or a bad friend. Carl insisted that Lillian was always just too small to do the stuff that the two other boys do which was only slightly true. Colton thought that maybe Carl saw Lillian as competition. Regardless, he was good friends with both of them.

Lillian tried to bring up the mood sometimes, cracking a joke or two at Daryl but it never worked. Colton would laugh at her jokes but he would quickly get shushed for being too loud. Eventually the entire group just walked around silently, using body language instead of words. Daryl had told Lillian it was cause the noise would attract walkers but realistically, what was there to talk about anymore. They would talk about where to head to next, never really anything else.

Before they all went completely silent, Carl would brag about how he was gonna be a big brother and how cool that would be. Lillian wasn't exactly excited for a new kid to be around, especially not a baby. Babies are loud and need 24 hour attention basically, that left their group pretty vulnerable. Atleast, that's what she thought based on what her mama would tell her. When Lillian was real young, like maybe five, she begged her mom for a baby sibling. She didn't like being alone and a baby, her baby sister or brother? She would've been so happy, she wouldn't have to worry about being alone.

She remembered a long, long time ago, when she was like 3 or 4, this really pretty girl being at the house and play with her sometimes. Lillian was way too young to remember actual details but she remembered how the girl resembled her daddy, a lot. She didn't remember much of her and whenever she asked about her, her mama would get real mad and tell her that she better mind her own business. That was about the closest thing she had ever had to a sibling before. It made her sad that it didn't last long enough for her to really remember.