Haunted | Daryl Dixon

46. The Blame Game

"What the hell do you mean he's gone?" Evelyn demanded, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, as if it could stop the erratic thumping of her heart against her ribcage.

Abraham sighed, slight pity filling his already stressed expression, "I mean just that. Left, gone, went bye bye."

The woman's jaw clenched, in no mood to put up with shenanigans, "I got that, but where did he go?"

"Dunno." The red haired man shrugged, "Took off before we could get the answer out of him. Glenn, Mihconne, and Rosita went after him. Figured he didn't tell you because he knew you'd stop him from going."

Evelyn sighed, her stance deflating, knowing that it wasn't Ford's fault in the slightest that Daryl had angrily left Alexandria without a word.

After getting back to the community the day prior, the woman hadn't said a single word as she slipped into her house and went straight to bed, trusting the others to get Eugene the help he needed in the infirmary. As much as her mind had been racing, she had fallen into a deep sleep without a hint of trouble and didn't wake until the sun shone through her curtains the next morning.

It was her fault. Her fault that Denise had died. Had she not argued with Daryl- had she listened to him and had the community's doctor stay behind- then she would still be alive. Still be around for when her girlfriend returned. Still be around to help the people of Alexandria.

But she had pushed, and she had made it so Denise would leave with them. And now she was dead, and it was all Evelyn's fault.

"You gonna be okay?" Abraham regarded her with cautious eyes, gaze scanning up and down her face. He looked about ready to watch her burst into tears.

All the woman did was nod, though, pursing her lips together as she silently cursed Daryl for leaving without telling her, knowing that he too was angry about what had occurred the day before and was no doubt about to do something stupid. She also knew that there was no stopping him, he had left over a half an hour ago so there was no way of catching him.

With that, Ford returned to his post of keeping watch and the brunette woman turned on her heel, allowing her legs to carry her without really knowing where she was going.

Before she knew it, she had come to a halt in front of the small community church. She hesitated, unsure of what exactly she was doing there or if she should go in.

After a moment, she carefully opened the door and took a tentative step inside, Gabriel imminently rounding on his heel from the front of the room when she entered. A warm smile blossomed onto his face, "Evelyn, to what do I owe the honor?"

Another second of hesitation, "I... I don't really know." She admitted softly with a small shrug, her cheeks warming the slightest bit, "I just came here, I guess."

Gabriel's smile only grew as he took a seat on one of the pews in the front and tapped the space next to him, "Here, take a seat." He offered kindly.

The woman did just that, gently lowering herself onto the cushion and staring forward at the beautiful stained glass window in the front of the room, allowing a silence to encompass the two for a moment.

"I heard what happened yesterday," The priest finally spoke, "And I wanted to give you my condolences, I know you were there with Denise when it happened." Sadness took over his features, "She will be very missed by all."

Evelyn didn't respond, she just stared blankly at the wall before her. Almost no thoughts ran through her mind, no emotions rose to the surface at his words. She just felt numb, "It was my fault." The words left her lips monotonously, she didn't even register herself saying them, "I was the one that convinced Daryl to let her come with us. If I hadn't, she would still be here."

Gabriel's saddened eyes turned to the woman, "You could never have known-"

A scoff slipped past Wright's lips, the first bit of emotion passing over her features. Annoyance. "Of course I could have known." She spoke bitterly, "Something always goes wrong the second anyone steps out of these walls. It's just the world we live in. Nobodies safe. Ever."

The man's gaze held sympathy and sorrow, "You put too much blame on yourself for things that are out of your control." He informed her softly.

She shook her head slightly, a humorless chuckle escaping her, "I think I put the perfect amount of blame on myself for things that are entirely in my control."

"For as long as I have known you, you've always put others first. You're always the first one to step up if one of us is in danger or needs help. That's one of the things I know for a fact that everyone admires most about you. But with that, comes your- excuse my wording- self destructive behavior of feeling as though you have to carry all the weight of everything that goes on around you." He was still looking at her kindly, and she finally drew her own gaze to him, "I think I can speak for everybody in our group when I say that we would prefer that you put yourself first once and a while." A small, teasing smile played at his lips.

"I would do anything to keep the ones I love safe, even if they don't like it." Her tone was guarded and her words were defensive.

"I didn't mean-" Gabriel tried to calm her down, sensing her quickly growing anger.

Evelyn shot to her feet, pivoting to level a glare on him, "I don't need any of this 'words of wisdom' crap that you shit onto everyone else. I'm fine. Denise isn't here, and that's on me, but I'm fine because I accept that it's my fault. What's not helping is you trying to lie to me and tell me that I'm doing whatever kind of self-destructive thing you think is going on." The words were shot venomously.

"I was simply trying to-" He tried once more.

"Well, don't." She spat before turning quickly and stalking out of the church, slamming the door loudly behind her.

Just as she reached the gravel of the road, still seething and beyond irritated by Gabriel, a sharp, blood curdling scream echoed throughout the streets of Alexandria.

And it was coming from Maggie and Glenn's house.

Whatever resentment and agitation that Evelyn had been feeling was dropped in a matter of a second and she had taken off, legs carrying her as fast as they could possibly go on her way to Maggie's house, a pit of dread settling in the bottom of her stomach.

A/N: I know that this was a criminally short chapter, but I'm using it as a filler in order to get to the lineup (WHICH IS NEXT CHAPTERRRR)