Torn Apart • TWD

Chapter 34 - Hope

"Well?" He quirks up a brow with his eyes not leaving her face.

"It-it's my last name," the girl tries but it's too late, nothing will convince him that she is telling the truth. The man is paranoid and she doubts that he would believe her even if she was being truthful. Tessa sighs defeatedly to try to salvage her mistake over a name which is apparently 'not for someone of her culture', as the man's eyes light up, "My daddy told me to never to tell anyone my name, address or to go with them. Since you kidnapped me, I still tried to do what he said for the other two."

The confession has given the Governor a smug glow, the child wants to stab the man as he takes a drink from his cup with an air of superiority surrounding him as he revels in being right.

"My last name is Dominguez," she chokes out while looking shameful for lying. Tessa has taken her aunt's full name now, which she is certain is identity theft, but probably won't get in trouble with the woman being dead.

"That's all I wanted," the man grins with narrow eyes, "Anything else you haven't mentioned?"

My dad, hurting Merle, wanting to escape, freeing Michonne, where I'm from and fantasising about murdering you, "Nope."

"Good," he nods and stands, setting his drink down and then ushering her up. "Martinez will take you home," the Governor walks her to the door and only nods to his subordinate before closing the door once the girl steps out.

"Hey Vega- that is your name right?" Martinez jokes and Tessa rolls her eyes as they both start walking back to the house.

"Yes, and it's not my fault daddy told me to do everything to stay safe," Actually, it was her dad, her madre, her tia, her abuela, her abuelo, her grandpa, and virtually any other relatives she has that told her to.

"And it's a good thing for you to do, but not with us. You can trust us," what baffles the girl is that he looks like he genuinely believes what he is saying.

"I know," she mumbles. Honestly, Tessa wouldn't even trust these people with the knowledge of her favourite colour, worried they would manipulate anything they know of her to use to their advantage. The townspeople may seem relatively trustworthy but definitely not the Governor or his soldiers.

Abigail has one eye looking through the gap between the curtains and out the window as the two get to the street with her home. The woman isn't quite sure why she felt so worried for the child when she was out of her sight, but she could only guess it was due to her maternal instincts which first made their appearance when she had gotten pregnant and had gotten out of control when an actual kid moved in with her.

Though she and Vega have only had a handful of interactions, Abigail is wary of people who aren't her or her husband to be alone with the girl, so much so that she almost refused a request from the Governor to let him talk with her.

The woman opens the door to them as they are approaching, surprising the child with how she knew they were there when Martinez hadn't even knocked yet. "Hey, Vega. Did you have a nice talk?"

She only nods in response and Martinez keeps his mouth shut, not seeing the need for Abigail to know of the last name and make her distrustful of the girl over one little lie.

"Okay, well I think it's time for bed," Abby says softly without any sternness. She is only testing the waters to know if the child would agree that she needs sleep or if she wants to stay awake for a bit longer.

"Bye Martinez," Tessa says as she walks into the house without even looking back at him. She is tired and wants to test out how comfortable that cot is.