Barely Alive // TWD // Daryl Dixon

Chapter 34 -- The Other Side Of The Truth

"Being alone never felt right.

Sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right."

- Charles Bukowski, Women

When Daryl and I finally made it back to the others it was already dark. I went to sit on the floor, with my back against a tree while Daryl went to talk to Rick, he also gave the raccoon to Rosita, who was starting a fire.

It wasn't until after eating that Daryl finally joined me. He sat next to me, leaning against that same tree, he slowly reached for my hand and gripped it, I smiled, luckily it was my good hand. I held his hand and slightly gave his a squeeze.

As time passed, I slowly found myself right next to Daryl, our arms touching, I rested my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his hands around my waist and resting his own head against mine. We hadn't been like this in so long and I was going to cherish it.

"Can I tell you something?" he asked me.

"Sure," I whispered.

"After the prison, I truly believed everyone else was dead, I thought that only Beth and I had made it out and if that wasn't the case then we would never see the others again or they would just die eventually. We actually found some people from the prison dead, just confirming what I feared," he told me in such a gloomy tone. "I had just given up."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I just did," he told me. "But one night I asked for a sort of sign to let me know what you were alive and I got it."

At that I turned around to see him right in the eyes, which were now a very dark shade of blue, he sighed and looked down at the floor as he shifted a bit, getting more comfortable.

"Just seconds after I asked for it, I saw a shooting star. At first I was filled with hope and happiness but then I just started thinking it was just a coincidence, I got depressed all over again and I asked for a second sign, just to make sure I wasn't getting my highs up for nothing, just to crash down on the floor later," he told me as he glanced at me before he looked away again.

"You got the second sign?" I asked.

"I did. The next day, Beth and I searched a house, I went upstairs. One of the girls that used to live there was an athlete and there was an article about her glued on the wall, I read it. Do you know what was the girl's name?" I shook my head. "Cecilia. Her name was Cecilia Peters and she was blonde and had blue eyes... just like you. It took me a while to realize that was the second sign. I even took the room's tag with her name on it... just as a reminder, you know?"

I nodded at him before turning my head again and resting it against his chest, I slipped a hand behind him and wrapped both arms around him, I heard his heartbeat slightly rising, I enjoyed being able to be so close to him, just like this, together.

"That's when I started looking for you, that's when all my strength to carry on just came back, I didn't know if I was ever going to find you but I wasn't going to give up."

"I also lost hope," I admitted. "Rick and Carl kept telling me that if anyone was alive, then that would be you." He smiled at that. "It's normal to assume the worst happened and that you've lost everything you had after something like that."

"But we didn't."

"Not everything," I whispered. "We lost many people and the prison, though."

"I know but we are all together now."

"Not all of us," I said in a low tone.

"Yeah, Beth's gone," he muttered in a low tone.

"Actually," I said, turning once again to look right at him. "I was talking about Oliver."