Torn Apart • TWD

Chapter 32 - possible serial killers

The room is nice, it's spacious with yellow walls and stickers of clouds on them, a big window with curtains that have animals on them, a cot layered with pillows and blankets to make it more comfortable with her bags at the foot of it and a crib in the corner of the room.

The crib had made Tessa pause upon first seeing it, it had made her think of Dolores which is something she has been actively trying not to do since she last saw the baby, but being in a baby's room has made that rather difficult.

She has been in the room for about an hour, Abigail left to let her settle in and Martinez came up to say goodbye and to hand off the remaining cookies which she eagerly accepted, and it's been silent since then.

The child rummaged through her bags, checking everything was where she last left it which it thankfully was. She has given them no reason to snoop through her items so they left the bags in the car this whole time.

Before leaving, Abigail asked the girl not to use weapons in the house, or more specifically the bow. She can keep them but can't go randomly shooting off an arrow which was one of the woman's concerns when she first saw the child's supplies.

Abigail and Edward are trying not to overstep their boundary and let her do what she wants within reason. Not knowing how much discipline she has been given by her father, the transition could be hard for her and the couple are trying to be sensitive about that.

Tessa is sitting on the floor leaning against the cot as she plays with a handful of little army men she had picked up from a random house a while ago. She had wanted to draw, but from experience, people don't like when she gets creative on walls as her parents had thoroughly explained, so she thought it best not to get kicked out of the house on day one.

The child is reenacting a battle, making small "pew" sounds as the soldiers fire upon each other and dramatically flinging the wounded figures away. There were some teddy bears left out for her that were most likely gotten for the baby, so she's ignoring them and sticking with her own toys.

Faintly, a loud knock echoes the house from the front door which brings her attention off the battle where a soldier just got his leg blown off by a grenade. Tessa lets the army men fall as she climbs onto the cot and looks out the window, peering down to catch Doctor Stevens standing outside the doorway with a medical bag before being invited in.

The girl slides off the bed to shove her bow, arrows and knife under it since the weapons were set around her like a shield, the knife in front, the other two at her sides, creating her own little bubble of safety so she could grab one from any angle to defend. She drags down the covers so they are hidden before resuming her playing on the floor.

Another few soldiers are dead and flung to the other side of the room before the adults stop conversing in the living room and finally trudge up the stairs to knock on her door to enter, to which she mutters a small, "Come in," as permission.

Abigail opens the door enough to poke her head through and give a smile at how Vega seems to have easily settled in before asking, "Doctor Stevens is here, are you up for letting her take a look?" The woman motions with her eyes to the child's wrist which is placed between her crossed legs.

Tessa nods so Abigail pushes the door open the rest of the way to show the two women standing at the doorway with Edward leaning against the wall and glancing into the room.

"Vega," the doctor sighs and drops the bag as she gets on her knees to pull the girl into a hug, "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Are you alright?" She lets the woman loosely hold her with her arms wrapped around the child's shoulders to not aggravate any injuries she has.