The Girl Next Door • Carl Grimes

Chapter 97: Saint? Really?

Grace

I heard footsteps approaching me, the wooden floorboards creaking beneath us all. We were all sleeping inside the main room of the big house that Gregory lived in. I didn't like that guy, not at all.

"Grace..." I heard Maggie call out quietly, trying to not wake the others.

I looked up at Maggie who was standing in the doorway. I quietly lifted myself from the floor and crept over to her.

"Hi." I stepped outside with her. We sat down on the steps. The night air was cool, the leaves were rustling. Everyone else was asleep.

"Grace," Maggie broke the silence. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blamed you earlier. It's not your fault." She rested her hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay." I whispered. It really hurt me a lot to hear Maggie blaming me earlier, but I understood it. I understood that she was upset and shocked. She's been thought a lot.

"Hon, there's someone here that I think you'd maybe want to see." Maggie stood up as she reached her hand out to mine.

I nodded and took her hand. She guided me over to her trailer where I had been with her in just a few days before. I didn't know who she was taking me to, maybe Sasha? I wasn't sure why she thought I'd want to see Sasha. Not in the sense that I didn't want to see her- but in the sense that it wasn't a surprise really. I don't know.

Maggie pulled open her door and held out her arm like she wanted me to enter before she did. I saw a tall figure facing the wall, I couldn't tell who it was. I turned back and looked at Maggie with a confused look upon my face. Maggie gave me a subtle nod that seemed to me like a "wait for it" expression.

The figure turned around, and I couldn't believe my eyes. There he was. Right in front of me.

"Daryl?" I choked on my own disbelief.

Daryl didn't even speak. I just ran up to him and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around me tightly and protectively. Even after we'd been hugging for a little while, he held on. Almost like he was squeezing me harder every single second, like he couldn't let go.

"Daryl- how are you-" I couldn't even finish my sentence as I felt him loosen his arms from around me.

"Jesus found him and brought him back." Maggie stepped closer to us, explaining the situation.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry I didn't get you out when I was there." I looked at Daryl, feeling guiltier than ever.

"What do you mean when you were there?" Maggie got that authoritative tone and poise again as she stepped even closer to me, almost like she was my mother or something.

"Well... I sorta-kinda-maybe went to the sanctuary." I blurted out, my words were rolling over each other as I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to see Maggie's reaction.

"You what?" Her voice grew sharp and her hands moved to her hips.

"Carl and I... we snuck over to the sanctuary." I said quickly as if I were ripping off a bandaid, which in theory I was. The only thing was that Maggie's reaction would sting more than a bandaid.

Maggie didn't even say anything. She just stood in front of me with her mouth gaping wide like she was expecting me to say something else. Daryl was standing quietly a few feet away from us, just listening. He wasn't even reacting. He hadn't even said a single word. The saviors must have really messed him up.

"We thought that maybe we could do something if we knew where they were located. I mean- they know where we are. So why shouldn't we get to know?" I tried to justify my actions to Maggie even though I knew there was no middle ground with her.