I hate you (Daryls daughter/ Carl love story)

Count to ten

Guys I just want to thank you for all the reads! I have almost 500K WHAT?! That's actually insane lol. Thank you all so much for your patience and sweet comments! I promise I read all of them even though I don't always respond.

It was a really hard semester Lol looking back on it, it was almost ridiculous.

My friends got involved in a love triangle! Plot twist: they're not as romantic in real life. There was so much miscommunication (and LACK of communication) and figuring out adult friendships is very strange. Especially when one of them calls me immature and out of control :)

Keeping up with my family and with mental health was a bitch as well. But I'm in a much better place now! Still working on stuff but womp womp.

ANYWAY enough of my life. 

Onward!

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She thought she'd be able to sleep just fine. In fact, she'd gotten to sleep just fine. She'd been so incredibly tired that the second she crawled into the bottom bunk and her head hit the pillow, she was out. She didn't think it would be easy since most nights on the bottom bunk weren't good nights.

There was something that felt safe about being up in the air, tucked away from all danger. 

Next thing she knew, she was waking up in a cold sweat. 

Everything was shaking. 

No, not everything.

Just her. 

She tried to quiet her breathing. She didn't want to wake anyone. 

She placed her hand over her chest as if that would make it calm down. 

She couldn't think. 

There was a strange ringing in her ears. 

Not again.

Please not again.

She squeezed her eyes shut. 

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"Diana." 

She furrowed her eyebrow a bit at the sound of a new voice. It sounded like it was coming from a wall in front of her. Or like it was from underwater. 

"Diana!" 

The voice was clearer. 

"Count to ten with me, ok?" 

She couldn't fathom the idea of opening her mouth and speaking, let alone it being a coherent sound. Still, she tried. 

"One..." The voice started, her mumbling along with it. 

"Two..." She started realizing that she had pulled her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. 

"Three..." Her forehead was pressed hard into her thighs. 

"Four..." She began to move her fingers. 

"Five..." She could wiggle her toes too.

"Six..." She opened her eyes a bit.

"Seven..." She took a shaky breath.

"Eight." She attempted to sit up a bit.

"Nine..." She managed to fully sit up.

"Ten." 

It was quiet for a moment as Diana tried to gather her thoughts.

"You with me?" The voice asked, a hand reaching up to her face to brush a stray tear away. 

She opened her eyes. Her vision felt... blurry. 

Carl.

She recognized his freckled face after a moment.

"Can I sit by you?"

She hadn't realized that he was kneeling beside her, one hand cradling her face and the other on her arm. 

After a moment of collecting herself she asked, "How long have you been here?"

"That's not relevant to my question." Carl told her. Slowly, he eased himself next to her, leaning his back against the prison wall. "Is it ok if I touch you?" He asked softly. When he received a nod he cast his arm around her shoulders. He waited a bit as if to see if she had any negative reaction. He relaxed when he didn't see one. 

Diana continued to stare at the wall in front of her. After a moment... "I don't know what happened." She tried to explain, thoughts still racing. She didn't like the way her throat seized up and tears pricked at her eyes. 

"It's ok." He told her as they started to spill down her face. He pulled her a bit closer to him when her shoulders started to shake. 

"I'm sorry." She whispered. She'd never felt so embarrassed in her whole life. 

"Don't be." without even thinking, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Small and soft. She almost hadn't even noticed that he'd done it. "Did you have a nightmare?" 

"I don't remember." She felt her lower lip tremble. She felt... so out of control. She didn't know if she'd had a nightmare. She didn't remember...

 He pulled her to his chest. "That's ok too. Just listen to me breathe. It's ok." 

She let him hold her as she tried to collect herself. She could hear his heartbeat right in her ear. It was steady. Much more so than her own. 

She took a deep breath and just listened...

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Sorry that it's short gang! I'm packing for college and working on the next chapter! I originally was gonna let this be one big chapter but I wanted it to be separated :)