The World As We Know It // c.g.

>Memory<> Chapter 16 <

Carl's POV

"Wh...what do you mean? Do you not remember anything?" I questioned, still excited that she has finally awoken and shocked at her lost memory.

She looked down at her arm which was in my hand. A quick gasp what inhaled by her mouth as she discovered the fresh, thin cut lines plastered to her wrist forever now.

"What did I do?" She breathed, still looking at the scars. Her head arose, exposing her shocked face, filled with disbelief.

I took a quick glance over to my dad who did the same to me.

"I'm going to go let Hershel know that you have woken up." He told Lainie who nodded at him. She now looked upset as if she were disappointed with her own self.

"Lainie, do you remember when we took a walk around the prison the other night?" I asked her calmly, trying to find out how far back her memory goes.

"Yes, all I can remember after that is going to sleep and now I've woken up in here. Carl, please tell me where these scars came from." She begged, a slight creak in her voice as if she were about to cry.

"Well, when we were walking out dropped my hand and ran away from me into our room. I came into our room and you yelled for me to get away but eventually calmed down and I fell asleep next to you. I woke up and you weren't there so we went to search for you and found you in the woods, soaked in your own blood." I explained, on the verge of tears myself now.

She closed her eyes and let a large tear fall into her wrist, exactly where one of mine fell days before.

"But Lainie, I have one question for you." I said, raising her chin with my hand. "Why did you run away from me?"

She suddenly stood up from the bed and pulled me into a great embrace. I pulled her as close as she could physically come to me as we both looked up at the doorframe where s soft shuffle has come from.

It was Hershel holding a small orange pill container in his hand.

"Lainie sweetie, I need you to take these pills. They're anti-depressants."

Lainie's POV

"Lainie sweetie, I need you to take these pills. They're anti-depressants." Hershel softly spoke, motioning towards a small orange bottle.

"Why do I need anti-depressants though? I feel fine." I said, confused as to what Hershel was thinking. He gave a shocked and confused glance at Rick.

"Um, Hershel. May we go talk outside for a moment?" Rick asked as Hershel nodded and they walked out of the room and to the left. I began to her soft murmurs that I could not determine which one they belonged to.

"I'm glad you're okay." Carl whispered, squeezing me slightly tighter, causing me to realize that I was still in his arms.

Rick and Hershel had only been outside for seconds before I saw them enter, both looking slightly upset.

"Lainie, honey. I need you to take these pills because of what had happened three days ago. You may b-" I quickly cut him off.

"Three days?!" I screamed at them, far too loud for the calmness of the situation."I thought it was only one night?"

"Lainie," Carl said, I was still in complete shock. He raised his hands and placed them on my shoulders."Remember, I told you we found you in the woods. Well when we came back you were in a coma and stayed like that for three days."

I stepped away from him and sat back down on the bed, burying my face in my hands. I remembered Carl's question about why I had run away from him that night. I remember but I don't want to share why. Not now, not in front of all of these people.

I jumped up from the bed and wrapped my arms around Carl.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for causing trouble. I'm sorry for running away. I'm sorry for hurting you..." I cried into his shoulder. He raised my head and held onto my hands.

"Lainie, you need to take the pills, okay?" He spoke, motioning towards the bottle, still being held in Hershel's hand. I have a slight nod and walked over towards Hershel who handed me the bottle.

I removed the top and picked out one of the small plastic pills from inside. I placed it in my mouth and picked up a water from the table besides me and swallowed it.

"I'm going to go to sleep." I said looking down at my feet and walking out of the doorway down towards our room.

Carl soon appeared behind me and placed his arm on my shoulder. We didn't speak until we reached our room. I laid down on the bed and Carl did the same. We lay face to face and his arm rested against mine, rubbing his thumb across my dirt covered skin.

"Lainie, can you please tell me why you ran away?" He asked calmly and soothingly.

"You're going to think I'm insane." I laughed as he stayed almost with a serious look on his face.

"I would never think that you're insane." He spoke softly, giving me a gentle kiss on the forehead.

"Well," I began, rolling into my back to face the bottom of the top bunk. "I've been having dreams about Derek hurting me a lot since I've got to the prison. Much more than I used to have. Then one night I had a dream of being beaten again. But when I looked up, it wasn't Derek hurting me, it was you..." I trailed off.

Carl pulled me into a tight hug, resting his head against my shoulder. "I would never hurt you in any way." He said, putting emphasis on the words never and any.

"And I thought to myself, 'I've had dreams about Derek hurting me and he does hurt me in real life so I thought that since I've had a dream about you hurting me that it would soon come true too.'" I finished, still locked in his arms.

"Lainie, if I've ever hurt you before or if I ever hurt you in the future, please let me know." He begged. I nodded my head.

"But I have one more question," he began. "Did Derek ever hurt you before the world became like this?"

"Yes, but almost all pre-apocalypse times were prior to the pain." I said, and fell asleep in his arms once again.

Again, not much to say except for that shameless self promotion😂 but we are almost at 300 reads!!!!

Bye loves,
Macy <3