Just Gone

[9] Out of Line

Go away, go away. Please, go away. I silently begged.

"I know you're in there, c'mon now."

I was in Merle and Daryl's tent, sitting on a sleeping bag. I hugged my knees close to my chest, watching the silhouette of Shane from where he stood, outside the tent. It hadn't been long since the group left for Atlanta, as soon as they did leave, I took it upon myself to hide in the tent.

I didn't respond to Shane, I knew I was in trouble for taking his gun, and aiming it at him. I didn't even want to know what my punishment would be.

With both Merle and Daryl gone, I felt more out of place than ever, although I wasn't sure why. Why did it bug me so much that they weren't here? I felt vulnerable.

Maybe tha's 'cause ya aimed a gun at a cop and you're gonna get beat. I reminded myself.

Yeah, tha's it.

"I'm not . . ." Shane sighed, to my surprise he sounded rather calm, maybe a little annoyed, "I'm not mad."

I stared at his shadow, confused. Why wouldn't he be mad? Again, I didn't say anything, hoping he would think that I wasn't there.

"Just come out, let's talk about this." He was silent, waiting for my response. "Come on, kiddo, we can do this all day."

I hesitated, "I'm not here."

I heard him chuckle, "really? I must've banged my head on somethin' real hard then, because I swear I heard something."

I suppressed a smile, thinking it was funny for a moment.

"I'm not going to yell. Just . . . we need to talk about what happened. You gonna come out? Or do I have to come in?"

I bit my lip, knowing he would very well come in. Looking around the tent, and thinking about who's it was, I knew it wasn't a good idea. Merle and Daryl wouldn't have been too happy to hear about Shane going in their tent.

I sighed, might as well get it over with. Gonna happen either way.

I got up from where I was sitting and went to unzip the tent. I crawled out, zipped the tent back up behind me, and stood up straight.

Shane stood a few feet away, his hands on his hips with an expectant expression.

"There, now we can talk about this." He said.

I gave a slight nod and slowly walked toward him, stopping a foot away. I kept my eyes down at my shoes, afraid to make eye contact.

"There are some things you need to know. One of them is that what happened, what you did, cannot happen again. Are you listening?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Do you understand what you did was wrong?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Then tell me, tell me what you did wrong."

I lifted my head, squinting my eyes to show my confusion.

He sighed, "I need to hear it, this conversation cannot be one sided, not this time. I need to know that you understand what I'm talking about."

I took my eyes off his, his gaze becoming intimidating. Looking around, I could see Dale a short distance away behind Shane. He was watching us closely, no doubt wondering how this would go.

But I knew how this would go, I'd been in trouble countless times. Although, I had never pulled a gun on Daddy, I didn't even want to think about my punishment. But I had to get it over with.