Everything Changes (Sequel To Daryl's Girl)

Chapter 35

Daryl's pov

The road back home was long and nobody said a word. We'd done what needed doing and got Carol, Maggie and Lily back in one piece, but something didn't seem right. All three of them just sat quietly contemplating, not saying anything to anyone. Even when we got back, everything was quiet. Something had happened back there that they didn't want to talk about, but what? It was like somehow, they'd lost a piece of themselves. After everything we've been through, they weren't who we knew them to be.

Throughout the night, I tried talking to Lily about what happened, but I got the same response every time. She'd keep saying everything was fine when I knew it wasn't. There was something going round inside her head and it was making her lose who she was, like she was returning to the girl we'd first met back on that highway outside Atlanta, who struggled to stand up and fend for herself.

As morning arrived, I decided, after still getting nothing out of her, to give Lily her space and headed out of the house and over to the guard tower. Rick had wanted us to help rebuild it, as well as setting up some more barricades along the walls and front gates, similar to those we had at the prison. I figured if she didn't want to talk, the least I could do was keep her safe. To keep everyone safe.

We worked together building the wall back up, but after a while, I found it difficult to concentrate and decided to take a break, making my way back over to the house, where my bike was parked out front. My bag still attached. That was when I looked up at the house again, glancing back to my bike and hesitated. I wanted to go in and check on her, but something was holding me back. It was best if I let her be for a little longer.  

Having made up my mind, I crouched down and detached my bag from my bike. I expected to find it empty, but to my surprise there was something sitting at the bottom. I opened it to find the little wooden figure that the man had calved out in the forest. The same man who took the bike that was now in front of me.

I felt the rage build up inside as I looked at it in my hand, twisting it between my fingers. I should've killed him, and that girl. Should've never gone back to help them after what they did. I'd let this place blind me to what it was really like out there. Going out to find people was stupid and sooner or later it was gonna end up with someone else dead. I didn't want to be the cause of that by bringing someone back here who didn't deserve to be here, like them.

Unable to control my anger, I tossed the figure away and watched as it bounced on the ground, not noticing Carol standing watching me on the porch. 

"Didn't even notice." She said and I turned to face her as she sat down. "Got your bike back." It was then I spotted something in her hand.

"Yeah. You got another one of those?" I asked, gesturing to the cigarette as I sat on the step next to her. I didn't even know she smoked. 

She pulled out a pack and took one, handing it to me. I then put it in my mouth and used my lighter to light it. 

Since we got back, she's spent most of her time over at Tobin's house. Almost as if she's been trying to avoid and distance herself from everyone. It wasn't like her. Just like Lily, there was something going on inside her head that she just wasn't willing to say out loud.

"Those people you met. The ones in the burnt forest. They took it from you?" She took a puff.

"Yeah." I answered, doing the same.

"You saved them right?" She continued. I didn't answer. I did what I thought was right, but now, I wish I hadn't. "Sorry. It's who you are. We're still stuck with that."

"No we ain't. I should've killed 'em." 

Carol turned her head at my words, but I could see it written all over her face, she disagreed. Again, just like Lily, it was like she was becoming the woman she once was back outside Atlanta and on the farm. That weak woman who's only job was keeping her daughter alive.