Worlds of Thought

chapter 1

daryl reached the gates of hilltop, it was the middle of the night and far too dark to see who was standing watch.

"hey you stop right there!" a voice he knew shouted

"its daryl." he huffed back. After moments of silence the gates opened, revealing a very pissed off sasha.
" daryl what the hell are you doing here what happened?!" she said as daryl trudged through the gates.
"didn't wanna be at that circus no more. only person to talk to was a damn tiger" he snorted. sasha sighed with a smile as she led the way to the Barrington house.
"maggie is going to be seriously pissed, you're lucky she's asleep or else she would kick your ass and wake up the whole place." she waved her finger at him as they walked up the steps "Jesus is in the library he's always up late reading, i'll have to ask him if there are any rooms or trailers open for you."

paul was asleep, curled up on an old vintage couch in the library, book in hand. he was barefoot, wearing a loose sweater and rolled up sweatpants. god he really did look like some hippy, daryl thought. paul woke with a start when daryl and sasha entered the room.
"did we wake you?" sasha asked
"no no! i was just dozing off im fine!" paul rubbed his eyes doing a double take when he saw daryl.
"daryl why are you here did something happen at the kingdom is everything alright?" he jumped to his feet and made his way to them panicking
daryl could see the exhaustion in his eyes, which were surrounded by heavy bags.
"nah, jus uh.. wanted to uh.. everything's fine"
daryl tried to make a reasonable excuse. He honeslty jsut wanted to be home, as close as that could be. he missed his family and after being separated for so long and being held under the painful wrath of negan, he just needed to be home. he also needed to talk to maggie. they'd shared an embrace when him and paul first got back to hilltop but daryl couldn't stand the weight of what had happened to glenn.
"o-oh um okay" paul looked at sasha and raised an eyebrow
"he needs somewhere to stay" sasha said with a smirk and looked at daryl. sasha knew paul liked daryl and loved getting under his skin about it
"don't you have an extra room?" sasha smirked

he looked at her and coked his head, giving her a look of 'sasha im totally going to get you back for this, you ass'
"well we're currently full in the house and all the trailers are full it might be a little cramped in sasha and maggie's place.." paul started,"but if you want.. i do have an extra room in mine? only if you want though." paul turned to looked at daryl with wide eyes
daryl grunted, "thas fine." though he really wanted to be close to maggie and them, paul's place was fine. he didn't fully trust the nutjob yet but, paul was a nice guy, well put together, and a hell of a leader and he had gone all the way to the sanctuary to help daryl, he was grateful for that.
daryls only worry was that paul would hear his night terrors. but knowing he spent his nights in the library avoiding sleep, put daryl at ease.

"okay well ill see you two in the morning gotta head back to my watch shift." she started to leave but stopped, "daryl you better see maggie tomorrow, she'll be pissed you came here by yourself but, she misses you." daryl nodded. she smiled and gave him a small hug and headed off.

a deathly silence hung over the library and the crossbow on his back started to feel like it weighed a million pounds. daryl looked at the floor and shifted awkwardly on his feel. "well, i'll grab my shoes and we can go to the trailer then yeah?" paul trotted over to the couch and slipped his boots on. "lets go." paul smiled and patted daryls shoulder. by instinct he flinched, and paul noticed. and it broke his heart, he had picked up that daryl didn't hate all physical contact it was just a matter of who and why. he was envious that sasha was able to hug the man.

paul's trailer was in the very back, which daryl liked, he enjoyed how secluded it was. he followed paul up the small shaky steps and into the tiny space. books and trinkets were crammed onto the ceiling to floor shelves that lined the walls, making the place seem even smaller. a grey couch sat in the living room and a little kitchen with a table and two chairs sat next to it, in between was three doors, that daryl guessed to be the bathroom and the bedrooms.
"its, a mess i know i usually don't have people over here... i like to pick up stuff when i go out on runs" paul said scratched the back of his kneck. "the bathrooms in the middle and you're rooms on the left. you can shower or something if you want, the journey here is long and it looks like you took on a lot" paul said motioning to daryls blood stained clothes and face. " you can leave your stuff where ever, im going to stay up for a while and read if you need me." he pointed to a book on the kitchen table

daryl only looked at paul and grunted a thank you and awkwardly walked to the room that was now his.
"i don't care how long you stay here. make yourself at home... and if you decide you want to talk.. you know about the sanctuary, i'm here, i know we aren't as close as your family but.." his voice trailed off. daryl stopped with his back turned to him,his hand on the doorknob.
" thank you paul." he opened the door and closed it behind him.

he took off his boots and sprawled out on the bed. he hadn't realized just how tired he was until now. daryl rolled over and looked at the door, a sliver of light shining through the crack from underneath. he watched it for a while and was dozing off when we saw shadows of two feet approaching the door, they seemed to hesitate, then disappeared.
he guessed it was paul probably checking up on him. he was nice like that, and could get used to being around the annoying hippy. though daryl didnt really think he was all that annoying, he was quite interesting and liked hearing paul talk, he just never knew what to say in return.
his eyelids grew heavy as thoughts of what he would do tomorrow swirled around his mind, and like that he was sound asleep

jolting awake daryl found himself on the ground next to his bed, and his body pinging with pain
he must have gotten worked up and fallen out of bed from the nightmare he was having.
its a reoccurring dream only slightly different every night
a horrifying collage of the last few weeks
negans brutalities, killing his friends and making him suffer in that cell.
daryl sat up, back against the bedand hoped he hasn't made too much noise, he didn't want to wake paul up. the sliver of light form under the door had disappeared, but the signs of dawn had just started to show through the window, so daryl got up and put his boots on, and made his way outside.