Carl Grimes Imagines

Home

I liked going on runs. They were the only form of fun around here lately. I know that there's not really anything fun about it, but I get to go on them with my best friend, so it was okay.

Carl and I were in an old patch of woods, careful to remember where we came in so we could leave the same way. We were a few miles from camp, approaching an old neighborhood we were told about to find stuff for Judith and anything else useful. Most of the trip was quiet. A few walkers here and there, but nothing we couldn't handle.

I stop and turn around to wait for Carl, when I suddenly got a very big flash of deja vu. These woods, I know these woods. Suddenly I could hear the laughing of little kids and the bells of bikes on the old trails from all those years ago, I was amazed they were still in my subconscious. After never hearing it for so long, I would've thought they'd be memories lost in the wind.

Carl noticed my hesitation was more than just waiting for him. "Y/n, you okay?" He snapped me out of my trance and I placed a beaten palm on one of the trees. Suddenly the cold was nonexistent. Without answering him, I bolted ahead through the bike trails, knowing that one of them would lead us there. To where we need to be.

Carl raced after me, confused by my strange behavior. He could understand my familiarity with the environment, and that was enough for him to trust I knew where I was going. We raced through the woods until we emerged into the empty neighborhood.

My neighborhood.

"It's still here. It's all here." I ran around the empty neighborhood not seeing a walker in sight. A small miracle. I felt so unbelievably happy, even with the heart wrenching memories this place leaves behind. I could see Carl watching me in amusement, but I didn't care.

And then I stopped. In front of me was a large two story house, white colonial, with a broken stair railing. Carl came up behind me, understanding what this place was. What it used to be.

"You lived here?"

"Yeah, before all of this started." I placed my hand on the leaning rail that amazingly hasn't fallen over yet. "My dad always meant to fix this. Mom would always get on him about it." I smiled sadly at the small memory the porch had brought to my attention. I wish my parents were still alive to see this place.

Carl knocked on the door, then opened it, drawing back his knife, with me following right behind. We cleared the first floor of the house, and I got a good look inside. Everything was just how we left it.

"I'll go clear the upstairs. You find things to bring back to camp." I nodded and watched Carl disappear up the stairs, and a certain photo on the fridge caught my eye. It was of all of us, my family. I could hear Carl's footsteps coming down the stairs and into the kitchen where I was.

"I remember when we took this. It was the summer, we would always go down the street for barbecues. It was the last one before the world ended." I could feel Carl wrap his arms around me, hugging me from behind. I leaned back into him, briefly looking in his tired eyes. Those eyes I loved so much.

"I miss home," I told him.

"I don't."

"Why?"

"Because I am home. Home is wherever you are." I smiled at him.

"You're so cliché."

"You love it."

"I do. I love you." I couldn't stop the words from coming out. Carl smiled.

"I love you, too." And spins me around, kissing me.

"I think my parents would've liked you," I told him. And it's true. He smiled again, kissing my temple. It's hard to imagine things being different, or even a future for that matter. It's hard to get out of the present when surviving doesn't let you think in any other mind frame but at that moment. All that's there are ghosts of the past. A past that seems so much better than the future.

Once we got what we needed, I took the picture from the fridge and left, closing the front door and stood with Carl on the front porch.

"Ready?" He asked me, putting my hand in his.

"Yeah, let's go home."

I know it's short, but I think it's cute. Sorry about all the parts and everything, but a lot of them are so long they need to be separated. Thanks for understanding and reading.