Bleeding Love | Daryl Dixon

Chapter Two.

Age 10:

Tears ran down my face just like every day for the past ten years....it was nothing new, my dad hated me, I hated him end of story. The only difference being that he could hit me and I couldn't hit him back. Sometimes he would hit me so hard he would knock me out, and every day he would threaten to kill me if I told anyone what he did to me. But there was someone who knew, someone who knew everything that happened behind closed doors, because he went through the same exact things as I....My best friend Daryl.

Daryl was my age and in my class at school, both of us being in the fifth grade. Daryl moved in next door two years ago, and ever since that day we had been exceptionally close. We spent virtually as much time together as we could...often times we would sneak out of our homes late at night when our dads were passed out and just sit in our tree, watching the stars.

At school kids weren't very nice to the two of us, we didn't have nice clothes or shoes, and if our dad's didn't pay the water bill we didn't smell very well. We were quiet, and pretty much only spoke to one another, but we spoke enough so the teacher didn't call our dads. That would be a catastrophe for the both of us if the school called our homes. We both made sure to always finish our work, and do really well in our classes in the fear if we failed, our teacher Mrs. Adams would call the retched men we lived with.

Last year, Daryl and i stole some makeup from a drugstore in town...it probably seemed like a strange thing to steal, but when your constantly getting knocked across the face either with a fist or whatever was laying around, you learn to cover these things up.

We didn't have any other neighbors, our two small homes were sort of on the outskirts of town, and I had to walk over a mile to get anywhere else. So there were no other people to hear our calls for help, our yells of despair as our fathers beat us way into the night. My bedroom window faced Daryl's, and I hated when I heard the slamming of doors, the cracks of a belt or even Daryl's voice calling for help, or him asking his father to please stop....it broke my heart.

Merle was fourteen and had started high school a few weeks ago, too bad for him he got caught stealing a pack of cigarettes and was sent to juvy, I'm sure it was nicer there than it is here. Merle caught a break i believe...he was in school longer in the day, and had friends who drove so he didn't have to come home right away...Daryl wasn't as lucky, and since Merle left their dad took more energy out on Daryl.

I looked down at my worn in too small converse sneakers and sighed. My dad had actually pulled out his gun this morning, told me if I was late for school he would shoot me in the leg. Terrified I grabbed my shoes and ran outside for the bus without bothering to change my pajama bottoms, hence why I was crying this morning. The other kids looked at me like I was some wild creature who crawled out of the lake, and I just sunk down farther into my seat. I knew I probably looked terrible, my hair a wild mess with tears falling from my eyes and unmatched clothes....but I was used to their stares by now.

The bus door opened again, and I already knew it was Daryl who got on. I looked up and saw he had his black hoodie pulled up over his head, even though it was still warm outside. He caught my eye in the back of the bus and quickly came to sit beside me. I could smell the scent of cigarettes the second he plopped down beside me, but I was used to it as both of our houses reeked of the smell....that and alcohol.

A normal person would look at Daryl's angry face and ask if he was alright, they would ask what had happened that made their fists clenched and their eyes water...but not me. I quit asking if he was ok a year ago because the answer was always the same, we were never ok....not really. The only time we ever felt like we were remotely alright were the nights our dads passed our drunk and we snuck outside to see each other.

I reached over and unclenched Daryl's fists before holding his hand in my own. He looked over and gave me a grateful smile before squeezing my hand back. He looked over and took in my appearance and sighed. He slowly took off his black oversized jacket before wrapping it around my slim shoulders, I wrapped it tightly around me and smiled up at him. We had about a twenty minute ride to school, I rested my head on Daryl's shoulder and stared at the passing countryside until we made it to school.....

Lunch came quickly and I sat staring hungrily at the blank table. I watched as the other kids in the cafeteria ate their lunches happily and converse with their friends, and i just sat jealous as I had done every other day. Dad kept forgetting to fill out the paperwork for free lunch. Someone sat down to my right and i once again already knew it to be Daryl, he was always the only one to want to be around me. "Dad actually went shopping, brought you lunch" Daryl said quietly, and I looked over to see him handing me a sandwich and a red apple. I smiled brightly at him before devouring the peanut butter and jelly he handed me. "Thanks Dare" I said softly and crumpled up my sandwich bag.

"Tree again tonight?" I asked him as we walked back to our classroom. I was still wearing Daryl's hoodie, only I had zipped it up to cover my pajama top I was still wearing. Daryl nodded and smiled "Of course" He said and we walked into our classroom for our science and math lessons, the last ones of the day.....