(Temp hiatus) Observe (the walking dead)

Stop being a brat

Ava banged on the door to the house Rick and Carl were staying in, Roman standing groggily beside her. If it were up to him, they would have stayed in bed longer.

The duo waited a few minutes, growing suspicious of no one answering the door. Ava opens it, "Rick? Carl?" She calls out, but receives nothing in return.

She walks into the living room of the house to see Rick asleep on the couch, but Carl no where to be found. "Check upstairs," she orders Roman. He nods and jogs up stairs, Ava can hear him opening doors as she tries to shake Rick awake.

"Rick." Nothing, "Rick!" Still nothing. Ava checks his pulse and its faint, but it's there.

Roman jogs back down the stairs, "he isn't up there." He breathes out.

Ava nods, pursing her lips. "Stay with Rick, I'll go find him."

Before he could answer, Ava was already out of the door and jogging down the street, "Carl!" She shouts, hoping the boy could hear her from wherever he was.

"Carl!" She shouts again after a minute of no answer. Then she hears it, growls and what sounds like Carl struggling.

She books it over to the noise to see three walkers over the boy as he attempts to shoot them, failing each time. Ava pulls one off, shoving it into a tree to throw its balance off before grabbing the other two by the back of the shirt, tossing them to the ground. She pulls her axe out and swings it at the head of the walker that was thrown into the tree; killing it.

She then pulls her knife out, throwing it to impale the second in the head, and slamming her axe into the skull of the third after pulling it out of the first one.

She pants heavily as she looks at Carl, who is now beginning to stand up. "I had it!" He shouted.

"No! You didn't, Carl!" She shouts back, stepping closer to the boy. "You're being stupid, and stupid gets you killed. You know that. Don't do that shit again because you were lucky I got here when I did." She breathes yells, scolding the boy.

She places her hands on her hips and scoffs, shaking her head. "Get your ass back to the house, now." She demands, pointing towards the street. He lowers his head and brushes past her. "And when Rick wakes up, you're apologizing to him for being such a little brat. He won't tell you how it is but I will."

"You're not my mom, I don't have to listen to what you say." He scoffs, still walking with Ava following loosely behind.

"No, I'm not your mother. But I care about you, and I care about your dad. You know that everything he's ever done has been for your sake, right? Start showing him some gratitude and respect for once." Ava says, scoffing.

She didn't want to talk to Carl that way, she didn't want to talk to anyone that way. But Ava was getting tired of the behavior. In the world they're living in now, there wasn't any time to be immature and somehow he still was.

She also can't deal with everyone else's pity party when she has her own stuff to worry about. The only reason she was up bright and early, much to Roman's dismay, is because she couldn't sleep at all. She couldn't stop thinking about those eight people. Ava took eight lives.

Never in a million years did she imagine she would turn out to be a murderer. Octavia Wilson, the scared, timid girl. The same girl that would give her lunch money to the homeless on her way to school because she thought they deserved it more. The girl that, despite being scared, would pick up bugs and pack them outside because she didn't want to hurt them. The saying "wouldn't hurt a fly" was made for Ava, but here she was, a murderer.

The angel and devil on her shoulders argued about whether or not it was okay. Was she an awful person for killing those people? Or was she heroic because those eight people wanted to kill her and her family? She couldn't decide.

Before Ava realized, they had stepped onto the porch of the house and into the building. Carl rushed to the living room to see his father still asleep, Roman sitting next to the couch on the floor.

Roman saw the boys demeanor, and he saw Ava's. He noted that Carl looked annoyed, maybe a bit sad. While Ava looked pissed off, if that could even begin to describe it. He bit the inside of his cheek before nudging Carl, "I wanna show you something." He says, standing up.

Carl makes no effort to follow him, "cmon, man. Ava is too uptight to do it with me." Roman smiles, looking at the girl. She doesn't get offended, she knows he's just trying to get the boys attention.

Carl sighs and stands up, following Roman out of the house. Ava stays next to Rick, monitoring him every once in a while.

Roman and Carl make their way down the street and to the house Roman and Ava were staying in. "What are we doing?"

"I found a bunch of food, which was cool. But I also found a huge can of chocolate pudding." Roman smiles goofily at the younger boy, who's beginning to smirk a little. A big change from his once sullen mood.

The two boys get a few spoons and the tin of pudding before heading up stairs and onto the roof of the house, something Roman saw Ava do last night.

While they're eating, Roman takes that as an opportunity to address the elephant on the roof. "What happened out there? With Ava."

Carl was quiet for a moment, "she yelled at me for being stupid and said I need to stop acting like a brat and apologize to my dad..."

Roman snorts, causing Carl to glare at him. "Sorry, it's just- I believe you, but that sounds nothing like Ava."

"I know. That's why it was worse. Makes me angrier that she's right." Carl sighed, reflecting on his behavior. "You know you're being rude when the people pleasing shy girl scolds you."

"Well, yeah. She wouldn't say anything if it wasn't something to worry about. To be honest, man, it's been really annoying watching you and your dad fight all the time." Roman laughs, going for another spoonful of pudding.

"She didn't have to be mean about it, though." Carl mutters.

"Didn't she though? I mean, think about it. Would you have listened if she wasn't?" Roman tilts his head,
Looking down at Carl.

"I guess you're right. What should I do?"

"I think you should take the meaning of her words to heart, not the words themselves. They were probably harsh, and she's probably kicking herself over it already. Just apologize to her, she'll apologize back. Trust me, Ava is nothing if not forgiving."