𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 - The Walking Dead

ꜰᴏᴜʀ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏᴜʀ || ʙᴜɢ

ᴀ/ɴ: ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ, ʙᴜᴛ ɴᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴛɢᴇ ɢɪʀʟs sᴛᴏʀʏ.

Ottilie's heart pounded in her chest as she fled the Governor's house, her mind racing with what she had just witnessed. The faces of the man and woman planted in her mind, the man look hurt, seriously hurt. He had blood down his face and his eyes were swollen. He didn't have a top on which highlighted his bruised stomach. Ottilie cringed at the thought, knowing how much it hurt to have bruises on your ribs. The woman however, didn't look physically hurt but she was scared, really scared.

Her little feet run across the street, looking around to try spot the bright eyes of her sister. She needed to find Aderlee, to tell her what she had seen, to make sense of it all. She knew her sister was brave, stronger than she was, but even Aderlee didn't know everything. Ottilie's small hands clenched her dungarees as she played with the lose part, something she always done. The part had warn over time, the blue colour now a shade of grey. The edges were rigged and fraying, creating a hole but the girl didn't mind, she would just fidget with the hole instead, essentially making it bigger but she didn't really care.

Ottilie didn't know if the man and woman were bad people, it was confusing to the six year old. Was the person who threw the punch the bad person or was it the person on the receiving end? It made her think back to her dad and how he infected their flower trail with his violence, that was a mean thing to do but so was the time Ottilie accidentally left a toy on the stairs making him trip and hit his nose. Did that make her a bad person? Maybe no one deserved to be hurt, maybe people get punished in other ways than violence.

She could feel the distant pain still in her rib from her last beating, it hurt to breathe sometimes as a sharp sensation consumed her chest. Sometimes she'd be happy that her mom wasn't here anymore, she didn't need to feel what it was like to hurt to live anymore. She didn't understand much considering she was only six but she likes to believe that her mom is in a safe place, maybe a place like their flower trail but this time free and protected from her dads infection.

As she hurried through the streets of Woodbury, her panic grew. She hated being alone, Aderlee was her comfort, she felt protected when she was with her. The town, usually busy with the sounds of people and activity, seemed eerily quiet. Shadows stretched long and dark as the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting everything in an unsettling orange glow.

Ottilie's breath quickened. She needed her sister. Aderlee always knew what to do, always knew how to calm her down. But Aderlee was nowhere to be found.

As she hurried past the playground, empty now, she felt a cold shiver run down her spine. Aderlee had been playing here earlier with Mika and Lizzy, but now there was no sign of them. The swings creaked in the breeze, the sound eerie in the fading light.

Tears welled up in Ottilie's eyes as fear took hold. The fear wasn't just for herself anymore; it was for her sister. She couldn't find Aderlee, and the thought of being alone in this strange, tense town as night fell was terrifying.

As she turned a corner, Ottilie spotted Merle Dixon up ahead, his broad back and unmistakable swagger sending a fresh wave of anxiety through her. She froze, her eyes widening as she noticed his hand. It was smeared with blood, fresh and dark against his skin. Her heart skipped a beat, a rush of panic flooding her system.

Memories of her father flashed before her eyes—the way he would sometimes come home with blood on his hands, his eyes wild with anger. Ottilie's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't let Merle see her. He reminded her too much of her father, and the thought of what he might do if the strange woman had told him she was down there made her stomach turn.