Barely Alive // TWD // Daryl Dixon

Chapter 21 - Frenzy of Rage

"Hard times never last. Let your hope keep you joyful."

? Lailah Gifty Akita

Carl's POV

I slowly opened my eyes and realized it was already morning. I groaned, not wanting to get up and start another shitty day, nevertheless I sat up and stretched out my arms and as I did my back cracked. I looked down to my left and noticed Cecilia wasn't there anymore. I sighed and finally stood up.

I looked down at my father, who was lying on his back with his hands resting on his stomach, sleeping. The blanket Cici left for him only covered him from the waist down.

I turned around, grabbed the bag of Cereal from the floor and headed to the kitchen, I didn't want to admit it but I was starving, we hadn't eaten since the prison was bombed.

Cecilia was in there, sitting on a stool, with her elbows resting on the small round dining table that was inside the kitchen, and she had her hands holding her head as her long blonde hair hid her face. She raised her head a bit, looking out of the window but I still could see a glimpse of her eyes, that had nothing more than fear.

Slowly, I walked in, making sure to make a little bit of noise so I wouldn't startled her. She heard me and turned to look at me. She offered me a smile but I could tell it didn't reach her eyes, it was fake.

Honestly, Cecilia didn't look good at all, she had a long bruise along her jaw and part of her neck, and had little ones all around her face and her lip was swollen and broken. But that wasn't the worst, I already saw how bad she was from the attack at the prison, she even cleaned her face yesterday so she looked better in that sense but this morning she looked really pale, she looked sick. She looked frail and weak, and as I looked at her hands, I noticed they were slightly shaking.

I didn't know if I should bring it up or not, it was obvious she wanted to hide how bad she was from me. I wasn't sure if she was like this because she was in fact getting sick or because we hadn't eaten in almost three days.

Despite my worries, I smiled at her and headed to the counters, looking for some bowls. I unconsciously grabbed three and three spoons. I set them on the table and sat down on the other stool. I grabbed one bowl and served myself some cereal, I grabbed a second one and served some for Cecilia, I hesitated with the third but finally I served some cereal on it as well, when I was done I pushed a bowl towards Cecilia but she just shook her head at me.

"What?" I asked confused.

"I'm not hungry," she muttered.

"That's not possible," I told her, pushing the bowl even closer to her. "We haven't eaten in days, have some."

"I'll eat later," she told me with a heavy sigh. "Save it for me."

"Cici," I said in a fatherly way. "You..."

"I'm not feeling well," she finally admitted. "I'll see if the shower works, maybe that will help me."

"Alright," I said in defeat.

Cecilia pushed the stool back and stood up, I noticed she had a hand over her stomach, meaning she was still in pain, yesterday I saw the bruise on her stomach and it was really bad. Seconds later I heard her going up the stairs in a fast pace. I sighed and decided to take my bowl upstairs, I went to the green-painted room and sat on the bed. I slowly ate my cereal with a spoon out of habit, not that I needed to eat it with the spoon.

I knew I couldn't eat much, we were low on food so I tried to eat the cereal as slow as possible, chewing everything several times before swallowing it. As I ate I heard the shower, meaning it did in fact work.