I have my own room in the mansion, now. It provides a great view of the gate and everything, so I know when someone's coming or going. It's really bright at sunrise. The bed is a real bed, it's comfier than the mattress in Jesus' trailer, but not comfy enough to keep me bedridden. I'm not allowed to do much outside of the mansion, but it's for the better of my welfare to prevent another incident. My meals are delivered to me, Jesus himself comes to check on me every now and then when he's not with his prisoners outside the gate, and when he's with his prisoners he sends Enid. Sometimes she just sits in the room with me and tells me everything that's going on and sometimes we just don't talk, sometimes she just stares at the ground for a long time until she feels as if I'm doing well enough to be on my own. I limp to the window and then back to my bed whenever I get the chance, just because. Most of the time I write, write instead of sleep, write instead of eat, write instead of talk. It brings me comfort, I don't have to pretend that I'm not okay behind the pencil, the things I can't say to the person I can't tell I can communicate behind the pencil.
Enid told me Aaron came back, and he's brought a baby with him. Her name is Gracie. Carol wrote back, in her letter she explains that they took the outpost bit by bit, that they thought they had won, but that they had been gathered up in the open when they ambushed them- the Saviors. It was over in seconds, she recounts, and that Ezekiel, Jerry, and herself were the only survivors who made it back. Rick says that the plan is working, he says the roamers have fenced in the Sanctuary, and that the snipers are watching over the entire perimeter so that no one makes it out. He's headed to carry out the next phase of said procedure, informs us that he will congregate with all of us at the Sanctuary in two days to, quote, end this. I watch Jesus as he gathers a brown sack and takes it outside to his prisoners, unaware his actions are being scrutinized by Maggie, Gregory, Enid, and myself. They come out shortly behind him, the rest is far from my view, though I can hear them discoursing indistinctly.
"Jesus." Maggie calls, then again. I don't hear anything further than this, but seeing Gregory and Enid walk out seconds later is a pretty good indication that there is- or is about to be an altercation. I wait, and wait, and then I keep waiting by the window until I see Maggie's figure reenter the gate, her expression is stressed. I quickly limp back to the bed, as I quickly figure out that Enid might be coming to see me. She barges in in the process of me stowing my diary under the mattress- we look at each other with no expression, I plop down on the bed and she sits next to me instead of her usual place on the chair.
"What was that?" She asks without looking at me, picking at her fingernails. "Carl gave it to me. What was that?" I ask, referring to the situation with Jesus outside. She looks up at me, her ponytail swings in one fluid movement with her as she turns her whole body to front my side. I kick my heels and fidget with my hands in my lap anxiously, anxious to hear what shenanigans he's been up to this time. "He was feeding the Saviors a bumper crop of turnips in the root cellar that they left behind after the raid." She elaborates. I scoff; he is feeding the mouths of killers, monsters, he is giving away nourishment to the same thieves who stole them from us before. "I thought about what you said...I need to go."
"You need to, or you want to?" I ask calmly, shift my body to face her.
"I need to go to the Sanctuary. I can't count you in. I'm sorry." She averts her eyes to the bed, trying to avoid looking at me.
"It's because I'm hurt?"
"It's because you're healing. It's because I don't want you to get hurt, again." I sigh, but I cannot tap into the anger that I want to feel, I'm not angry. I feel like there is a leash on my anger, keeping it within the bounds, and I am holding that leash. My response is merely a resigned shrug of the shoulders; she lifts a suspicious eyebrow, as if she's thinking exactly what I am, as if she too is pondering where my ill temper went off to. "That's it?" She says bemused, almost as if she wants me to lash out.
YOU ARE READING
Alone
Fiksi Penggemar"It takes two to survive in this world. It's an I save you, you save me kind of thing." He said. ""No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."" After losing her parents to a traumatic experience, Prisc...
