Torn Apart • TWD

Chapter 35 - boring old shit

"This way boy," Tessa pats the side of her leg to gain the dog's attention after he had strayed from the path the two were on upon spotting a squirrel and trying to follow it.

Hope's red leash is tightly looped around the girl's wrist, making her knifes sharp edges press into her skin as her arm lightly swings in match with her steps.

A few days have passed since she first met the dog and saw what she assumed was Merle's big bald head as he drove the car which was transferring new prisoners to the building she found Michonne in. Those days have added up to a week in Woodbury altogether, and the child is completely screwed for an escape plan.

Tessa hadn't left her room for three days after coming to the realisation that this town was making her weak, so she had barricaded the door and ignored the couple's attempts at getting her out as she littered the floor with papers of scribbled-out plans and plots, each of them worse and more dangerous than the last. On one of the papers, she had just written a three-step plan of getting a gun, shooting up the town and then running during the chaos.

Abigail and Edward had thought that she was missing her father and adjusting to life without him, so they catered to her to try and help, brought her meals, ignored her when she was out of her room as she ran to the bathroom, and they didn't ask questions or force her into leaving the room.

That was until Abby had confided in her friends about how she was worried about the girl and word had reached Nora who approached the woman with a suggestion; use Hope to make Vega come out.

They had all seen how taken she was with the dog, and how disappointed she was when she couldn't go out to play with him, so they first tried to ask the child if she wanted to play with Hope, but they didn't get a response. Next, they brought the dog into the house and let him scratch on her door, the girl just stuck her hand out a small gap so she could pet him. Then they got her to open the door wide enough for Hope to squeeze through, and the dog came out hours later with a wagging tail and restless little steps because he needed to pee.

It all led to the realisation that the dog was the key to getting this child better, so Nora informed the girl through the closed door that she would be getting temporary custody, and that his health and happiness were her responsibility.

Tessa doesn't know what exact reason it was that she opened the door to ask if the woman was being serious, it may have been that no one in their right mind would give up their dog for days, it may have just been the shock, or it could of been the phrasing which brought the child back to Dolores once again.

Escape plans weren't all the girl wrote of in that room, under layers of papers there were more than a few with detailed images of her siblings. Lola would be in line next to the triplet when they were babies, or it would just be one paper for each child's portrait, but all in all, each of them made Tessa's heart clench and distracted her mind from the task at hand. So all the papers with the kids on them have been folded and shoved deep into her bags where she hopes to forget about them as she doesn't have the heart to rip them up.

Now, Nora didn't really think the girl would take all of Hope's responsibilities, but she has had experience in this before and just jumped right in. Now with her escape papers hidden under the cot, her room has his dog bed, bags of his food, favourite toys, brushes and leashes, everything Hope needed to be comfortable.

The adults were worried that Hope wouldn't like the sudden move, and he was slightly stressed in the beginning which can be blamed more on the confusion of what's happening, but he had easily adjusted as the dog apparently loves to have the constant company that the child provided. Nora has to work so Hope usually stays at their house alone with a neighbour dropping in to feed him and take him out, but now that he is always with Tessa which has made him a very happy dog.