A Brother's Influence (A Daryl Dixon Story)

Trying to find a life

Just three simple little words and it changed Daryl's life. Or they could of. Does anyone ever see a disaster when it happens in slow motion? Or are life's distractions beautiful enough to make you believe in happy endings? Daryl didn't know the answers to any of these questions so he decided to take it one day at a time and he just hoped that Chloe would hang in there. 

It took a few days for the slimy feeling of Merle to dispense but Merle eventually left again. Leaving the house a mess and the fridge empty, as usual. But he was gone and that was all that mattered to Daryl. He set in cleaning the house and clearing out the garbage. Damn, Daryl couldn't believe what a pig Merle was. How hard was it to get up and throw something in the trash can? When he finished he took a ride to the market to stock up on some basic items. Adding to the basket a bottle wine to replace the one that was left when Merle arrived. Daryl wished Chloe was coming over tonight but she promised Amber they'd take a ride into the city to go shopping and since Daryl had occupied most of Chloe's time since she's been here, he had no choice but to be lonely tonight. 

Once the groceries were put away, Daryl decided to do a little hunting just to relieve some stress that had built up in the last week. Then he rethought the idea and decided to go fishing so he gave Jr. a call to see if he wanted to hit the lake. Sure as shit, Jr. would be ready in 10 for Daryl to pick him up. The two didn't do much talking on the way out to the lake but that was normal. Once on the boat though, Jr. struck up a conversation. "So, I hear you've been seeing a lot of Amber's cousin."

It's a question but not.  Daryl just shrugged his shoulders as an answer. He didn't feel ready to talk about Chloe. Things were just starting to feel normal again since that night when Merle came home.

"All right, why don't you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know man, it's still all too new, maybe I just don't want to jinx it."

"Come on Daryl, you of all people deserve some happiness."

"I don't deserve her man and one day she is going to wake up and realize that, then she'll be gone," Daryl took a deep breath, "maybe I shouldn't get too attached," he gave a smirk that told Jr. a very sad story.

"I can't give her anything. I don't know how long the job is going to last at the mill, when that's over, what do I do?" there was a desperate tone to Daryl's voice that Jr. had never heard before, but Jr. also had never saw Daryl fall for a girl.

"It'll work out, you just gotta trust, and some times they keep people on at the mill, it's time that good stuff happens to you man, you've been served more shit than your share." Jr. tried to convince him.

"Sure, ya I'll trust."

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The fishing trip relaxed Daryl a little and when he got home, he cleaned and stored the fish. He jumped in the shower afterwards and then sat down on the couch ready to watch some television. It was about 9:00 and he usually didn't get to bed until around 10:30. So he was real surprised when he heard someone knocking. He went to go answer it and when he opened the door, some backwoods guy, yeah more backwoods than Daryl, stood on the porch. "I need Merle."

"Merle ain't here."

"Well I need that son of a bitch, he owes me $200 for an eight ball he bought off me."

"Like I said, he aint here." Daryl had just noticed one more guy behind the backwoods guy. The backwoods guy then pushed himself into the house and knocked Daryl down. While he was down, the other guy kicked Daryl in the stomach twice. "Then if Merle ain't here to pay me, I guess I'll take payment out on you." The man picked Daryl up by his hair and swung back his fist and gave him three quick shots to his head.