Meet Me Under Our Willow (A Daryl Dixon Pre-Apocalypse Love Story)

Chapter 4 - Left Behind

Quinn : 8 years old : September

As I'm about to run out the door to meet Daryl, my Mom stops me.

"Sweetie, can we talk to you for a minute?" she asks, Dad standing next to her.

I glance at the door, but sigh, "Sure."

They guide me over to the couch and sit me down. They sit on the small table in front of me. Dad grabs Mom's hand.

"Quinn, how would you like to be a big sister?" Mom asked.

My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, but then realize what she means. My eyes widen and my mouth opens in shock.

"You're having a baby?" I exclaim.They both nod and grin. I squeal in excitement and hug them tightly.

"I have to go tell Daryl!" I say, pulling away from them and going to make a dash for the door.

"Wait a second, honey. There's something else." Dad said, grabbing my arm to stop me.

I sit down again, "What is it?"

"Well, with a baby on the way, we'll need to get a bigger house. There isn't enough room for four of us in this house." Dad tells me.

I just stare at them blankly, not knowing what they mean. Dad continues, "We're going to have to move to a different house. We've looked for one everywhere in Macon, but there are none that will work. But, we did find one in Atlanta and bought it."

"B-But ,Atlanta is so far away." I complain.

"Not really, sweetie. It's only over an hour." Mom assured.

"What about my school here and all my friends?" I ask.

"You'll go to a new school and make new friends." Dad said.

"But my willow tree is here." I said quietly.

"I'm sure there are plenty of other trees for you to climb at the new house, Quinn." Mom says. I look down to my hands that are sitting on my lap. I'm so sad, but anger is steadily rising.

"When do we leave?" I ask.

"That's the thing, honey...they'll be here tomorrow." Dad revealed.

My head snaps up, "Tomorrow?!"

"Watch your tone, Quinn." Mom warns.

"But, that doesn't give me enough time to say goodbye to my friends from school!"

"We're sorry, honey. We were going to tell you sooner, but we wanted it to be a surprise. We thought you would be happy." Dad explained.

"Happy?" I spat, "I'm anything but happy!"

I get up and run towards the door, hearing them call for me to stop. I ignore them and slam the door shut. I run as fast as my legs will carry me down the dirt path to the willow tree. When I reach it, I see Daryl pacing under it, and looks relieved when he sees me coming towards him.

"Hey...what's wrong?" he asks when he notices tears running down my face.

"We need to talk about something, Dare." I said, sitting down. He moves to sit next to me.

I wipe my tears, "My mom is having a baby."

"Cool." Daryl nods, "Why were ye cryin' about tha'?"

"I wasn't crying about that." I said, "I was crying because now that she's having a baby, there isn't enough room in our house anymore. My parents bought a new house and we're moving."

"Yer leavin'?" Daryl exclaimed, standing up.

I nodded sadly, "To Atlanta."

"Yer movin' all the way to the city?" Daryl said in anger. 

"I jus--"

Daryl cuts me off, "When are ye leavin'?"

"Tomorrow." I squeak.

"Tomorrow?!" Daryl explodes, "When were ye gonna tell me?'"

"Dare, I only jus--"

"Nah, save it. Have a good life without me in it. 'Nd don't expect me to welcome ye with open arms if  ye ever come back."

With that, he storms away. I watch the my best friend disappear into the woods without looking back. Fresh tears stream down my face as I get up and slowly make my way back to my house.

I feel numb as I climb into the car the next day without a goodbye from Daryl. We pull away from the house and I look back and watch it until it disappears from my sight.