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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: YOU'VE BEGUN TO FEEL LIKE HOME
( tw! mentions of assault )
🥀🖤
KING EZEKIEL HAD been kind enough to offer the group to stay the night in the Kingdom. They had each been given a room in a building that looked like an old retirement home turned into apartments with shared dining and bathroom areas. The group had joined the rest of the Kingdom for dinner. It seemed like everyone took turns on kitchen duty. Melanie had enjoyed her meal, which included fresh vegetables from one of the kingdom's many gardens. Melanie couldn't remember the last time she had had fresh vegetables. She understood why the Saviors wanted a deal with the Kingdom but she wondered how King Ezekiel had managed to keep the deal a secret from all of his people.
After dinner, everyone was shown to their rooms for the night. Melanie and Margot had been given a room to share. Melanie had hoped she would get her own room so she could invite Carl in. She knew Margot, Michonne, and Rick would be against it, not wanting the teenage lovers to be alone in a room with a bed together. Melanie wasn't planning on doing anything with Carl. She only wanted to kiss him and fall asleep in his arms. The last time Melanie had thought about sex, it was in the basement. Sex was something that Melanie had become wary of. After being forced over a hundred times, she didn't even know if she wanted to have sex anymore. She also knew that she and Carl were a little young for it and that they ran the risk of pregnancy without protection.
A part of Melanie also wondered if Carl would even want her in that way. Her naked body was a scarred and charred battlefield with sharp edges and thorny pastures. She didn't know why anybody would want to touch it or come near it. She didn't understand why Carl even liked her. She was a broken girl who had been through too much in her short life. She was a broken girl who didn't even know how to love someone properly. Sometimes, she didn't even think she deserved to be loved after all the horrible things she had done.
Melanie sat outside the building they were staying in, her legs dangling off the porch as she waited for Carl. She thought about everything as she waited for him, still wondering why he wanted her. No matter how long she thought about it or how deeply, she couldn't fathom why he would want her. Melanie was beyond broken and used up. She had almost become too far gone before she had met him. Carl was so good like sunshine despite everything that had happened to him and Melanie was like midnight rain, dark and brutal. They were so different but maybe that was what made them perfect for each other.
"There you are. I couldn't find you," Carl said as he sat beside Melanie. Melanie looked at him with a smile as he smiled at her. It was like Carl noticed Melanie had been overthinking as he asked her, "You okay?"
