The Girl Next Door • Carl Grimes

Chapter 58: Broken Promises

Grace

The truck bounced up and down on the road as we drove. We crossed through states to bring Noah to Virginia. That's where his home was and where his family was. He said the community was gated. It was a chance for us.

Beth was talking with Daryl, so I went over and took a seat next to Carl. "Hi." I said softly.

"Hey." He responded.

"Looks like you're really happy to have Beth back." He said.

"Yeah, I am. I'm happy." I said.

"I saw you guys talking a lot over there. You gonna tell me about after the prison yet?" He pestered.

"Fine. Why don't you just read the letters, I can find our notebooks in the bag over there." I said, pointing to it.

"I guess. But I'll still want you to tell me about it. We've got a long road trip, you gotta keep me entertained." He chuckled.

"Alright, alright." I said as I walked over to grab the notebooks.

I pulled them out of the bag and walked back over to Carl and sat down next to him. I handed him the notebook that I had written in, and I opened the one that he had written in.

I started reading his letters, grasping onto every word that he wrote on the paper. His hand writing was always a little messy, but I saw a lot of effort put into these letters. Almost like he was trying to make it look good, it was almost like he knew that I'd one day be reading these.

I finished reading the first letter and I let out a small chuckle.

"What?" He asked, wondering if something he wrote had made me laugh.

"Oh it's nothing. It's just that you said something about our birthdays and I did too. Eh, finish reading and you'll understand." I said as I continued on to the next letter he wrote me.

As I was reading the next one, he laughed a little.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You're right, we both talked about the birthdays. It's like we share the same mind." He laughed.

"We kinda do, don't we? What am I thinking right now?" I asked, taking my focus away from the letters.

"You're thinking about how bad you want sweet tea because you think it's a Saturday." He said.

I was in fact thinking about sweet tea, and I did think it felt like a Saturday.

"Okay, now that was scary accurate." I laughed.

"Yeah, I'm good. Now you guess what I'm thinking." He challenged me.

"You're thinking about how lucky you are for me to not have sweet tea because I'd talk your ear off for the rest of the day." I said, thinking that was the only reasonable answer.

Carl

As I read the letter from Grace, I realized how much I meant to her even if she couldn't always express it. I watched her as she read my letters. She was so pretty. I mean, like gorgeous. She was covered in dirt, blood, and her clothes were dirty, and she was still the most beautiful girl in the world.

She asked me what I thought she was thinking about, and I saw the way she had licked her lips a little. She had to be thinking about sweet tea. I mean, she goes feral for the stuff.

I told her my guess and she was surprised by how I was so accurate. I then asked her to guess what I was thinking about.

Now her response wasn't wrong, I definitely had that thought cross my mind. But what was I really thinking about?