Don't Look Back - A Carl Grimes FanFiction

Don't Look Back.

Rayne's pov

"Goodnight, mom, I'm going to go to bed!"

"Night honey, and happy birthday once again! I can't believe you're already 12! You're growing up so fast!"

"Mom, I'm not that old, not as old as Reese! He's 18! He practically needs a hip replacement."

"I know, but Reese doesn't let me hug him anymore, not since, your father-"

"Mom, don't bring him up, I'll see you in the morning."

I walked up the stairs into my bedroom, I can't believe she brought my dad up, we haven't talked about him for five months, and I'd rather not bring him up, especially on my birthday.

But, before you think he was a bad father, he wasn't, he was one of the best, sadly taken by the coldness of warfare in Iraq. We had good times and those are the times I want to remember him by, not by him getting deployed. When he died, our whole family suffered, Reese left us and got an apartment, my mom and I barely making the payments on the house.

You're probably wondering how I earn money, and the answer is I hunt animals, skin them, sell their fur and meat, but things have been slow lately, and I'd be lucky if I found a scrawny deer. It's not like I hunt with a gun and scare them away with the noise, I hunt with a bow and arrow, not a crossbow, but a Barnett Vortex, it's my baby.

I put on my pajamas and crawled into bed and pulled my covers over me, tomorrow I will go out and check the traps, see if I can catch a deer or maybe even a squirrel.

I woke up, covered in a light layer of sweat, probably from the mountain of blankets I had myself under. It was a bad habit I had.

 I went downstairs to my mom, Reese was there too, because we were celebrating my birthday today, and because Reese had to go get some testing done for cancer. Luckily, he didn't have any. That was better than any birthday present, knowing he was going to be ok. Reese might have left us, but we hold no hard feelings towards him, he is 18 after all.

Mom took the day off, she works at the CDC building in Atlanta, Georgia. She was lucky too, it was a miracle they let her have the day off, they hardly let anyone miss a day for a funeral, let alone a birthday. 

Mom let me go hunting first before we had the cake, since she knew that's what I enjoyed doing. I grabbed my Vortex and a sheath of arrows, containing 20 arrows. I quickly put on my Nike's and headed out to the woods in my backyard. I looked for any tracks and luckily spotted a deer track heading North so I followed it until the trail stopped. I looked up and saw a 10 point buck, with no does or fawns around, which was odd. I loaded my bow, aimed it for the head, and shot. The arrow went clean through, I guess it was my lucky day. I dragged the deer back to the house and dropped it on the porch. Nobody would steal it, because we had no neighbors, the closest civilization to us is three miles away.

I dropped my bow and cleaned my arrow on the grass, then I gathered my things and went inside. I cleaned myself up and put on some nice blue jeans and a black blouse. I went downstairs and was greeted by mom, Reese, his girlfriend Fey, and my best friend, Beth. 

Beth and I met in kindergarten and we instantly clicked, she invited me over to her house, which is on a farm, and I rode a horse for the first time there. We haven't seen each other for about three months, because she transferred from my school to being homeschooled. I missed her so much. After we got done hugging, I faced Reese's girlfriend Fey and hugged her, she was the sweetest person to ever grace this planet and I was glad she was with Reese. We got the cake out and it was my favorite flavor, chocolate. We each got a piece along with some ice-cream.

After we all got done with the food, it was time for the presents, my mom got me some more arrows, which was what I really wanted and hugged her tight for a good 30 seconds. I then sat back down and opened Fey's gift to me. It was a hunting knife, not just any hunting knife though, it was a Fallkniven, the one that costed $450.00, I was so grateful. I hugged Fey and didn't want to let go, it was the nicest gift ever. Reese got me some new Nike's to go hunting in, since my old ones were starting to get worn and torn. Beth got me a nice leather jacket that I will definitely use when I go hunting.  I called a group hug and hugged everyone. It was now 9:00 and it was time for bed, I would skin the deer early tomorrow so it won't go to waste.

I woke up the next day and went to the bathroom, got my skinning knife and headed outside to skin the deer from yesterday. Luckily the skin wasn't tough, so it was easier to cut through. After I had skinned and gutted it, I prepped the meat for being sold. I prepped the skin as well and it was time to go and sell it at the farmer's market in town. I would have to wait for my mom to get home, rest, and then we could go, I put the meat in the freezer and waited for mom to get home.