Stressed Out - Twenty One Pilots
When Cecilia arrived back at the farm, she entered the front door to find Maggie, Hershel, Beth, and Patricia all sat patiently in the living room. Cecilia mentally did a head count, one falling short.
"Where's Otis?" She furrowed her brows when she didn't get an answer straight away, just sombre glances.
"Him and Shane went to go get medical supplies for the boy. That's the only way he can survive." Maggie responded, sounding very hesitant to tell her.
There had been no dramas like this since Cecilia had arrived, and all these intrusions and risky events became almost alien to those at the farm.
Cecilia nodded, heading towards the spare bedroom that Carl rested in, lightly knocking and opening the door. Rick and Lori were sat in the far corner, beside Carl's bed.
"Hey guys." Cecilia introduced herself quietly, Rick sitting up straight in his chair.
"Hi Cece. Come in." Rick invited her in, Cecilia closing the door behind her.
"I don't wanna intrude for long, I just wanted to see how he was. And how you two were." Cecilia stepped closer to the edge of the bed, her thumbs twiddling together.
"Yeah, we're all managing." Lori nodded.
Lori's face showed bravery for her little boy, but Cecilia could read that she had little to no hope.
"Hershel is an amazing man when it comes to things like this. Maybe his past procedures haven't been on as big a scale as this, but I know him and Carl won't give up without a fight." Cecilia stated to reassure them, which it did. Even if it was only minimally.
Just at that moment, Carl's eyes fluttered open, his mother and father shifting closer to him, both holding his hand.
"Hi, sweetie." Lori greeted him, tears brimming both of her's and Rick's eyes, grateful to see their boy moving.
"Mom, the deer. It was beautiful. It was staring right at me. I could almost touch it." Carl described, like nothing else drastic happened that day.
That little boy had a bullet hole in his stomach, and he decides to talk about the deer.
"That's wonderful, sweetie." His mother cried, Rick stroking his thumb across Carl's knuckles.
Carl's head lolled towards the other presence in the room, his eyebrows furrowing. Rick noticed his confusion, clearing his throat and giving Cecilia a proper introduction.
"Carl, this is Cecilia. She helped out when the accident happened."
Carl smiled up at her, his parents mirroring his expression.
"Nice to meet you, dude. You're incredibly strong for getting through this." She held out her hand, Carl shaking it back weakly.
"Thank you. And thank you for looking after me." Carl thanked her, Cecilia actually surprised at how mature he sounded.
"No worries." She waved off the comment, placing her hands in her pockets.
She noticed his eyes stared at the ceiling without emotion, he went stiff and pale in an instant, his parents leaned over to try and identify the problem.
"Carl?" They both repeated over and over again, desperately trying to receive any form of response from him.
It took him a few seconds, but he did respond.
He broke out into a massive it, Lori and Rick jumping back in fright.
"Whats happening?!" Lori screamed, Cecilia kept them away from Carl using her arms, Rick frantically staring between her and Carl for an answer.
"Don't touch him! He's having a seizure. If you try and stop it, it makes it worse." She spoke over the clanging of the bed against the wall, leaning closer to Carl and talking to him.
"It's okay, it's okay, Carl. Don't worry. Everything's gonna be alright. Just calm down. Don't worry. Shhh, shhh." She continued to soothe him, Rick and Lori using those words to calm themselves down. Although they were still shaken, they were ready to hear an explanation and/or instructions.
Once Carl had finished, Cecilia readjusted him into his original position, before she told his parents what to do if they were placed in that situation again.
"If that happens again, just do what I did. Don't try and stop him because it could hurt him more. Don't hold him down. Say comforting things to him like I did. Just make sure he has a pillow under his head." She combed his hair back to where it naturally fell, the two seating themselves once again.
"Thank you." Rick spoke for them, Lori staring at her boy intently, watching his chest rise and fall.
"No problem."
She let them be with Carl, heading back out into the living room and closer the door behind her.
They all sat in the living room discussing what they were going to do with the big group, still waiting for Shane and Otis to come home hours after they'd disappeared. Rick and Lori went outside, Hershel and Patricia heading into the room to keep an eye on Carl.
Cecilia heard crying coming from Lori and Rick, but avoided listening to their conversations.
"I don't know how long he can hold on for." Hershel admitted to Patricia close enough to the door so that everyone in the living room could also hear, the sun beginning to set.
Just as Rick and Lori opened the door to come back in, an RV could be seen pulling into the fields, parking near the barn. A motorbike followed closely, parking a little further away. A handful of people got out of the RV, the man on the motorbike joining up with them, heading towards the house.
"Rick, would you mind if I had a quick chat with you?" Hershel made Rick jump softly, following Hershel into the dining room. Beth quietly went upstairs to her bedroom, Cecilia standing and preparing to greet everyone at the front door. She stood out on the porch, an older man with a rifle on his back walking before them, stopping them in their tracks before stopping himself.
"Hello, we're friends of Rick, Shane, Lori, and Carl."
"Yeah I recognise some of you, don't worry. I'm Cecilia." She took a couple of steps down and held her hand out, ready to be introduced to the group.
"I'm Dale." They shook hands.
"T-Dog."
"Andrea."
"Carol."
"Glenn."
She felt this last person's eyes on her throughout, glaring intensely through squinted eyes with his arms folded.
"I'm Cecilia." She had shaken everyone's hand, and, although he was rude to her earlier, he was no exception.
"Daryl." He grunted as he kept his arms folded.
"Hey Glenn, do you see that horrible disease on my hand?" She flattened out her hand and flipped it over once or twice as he examined it scarcely, unsure of why she was asking him.
"Um, no..."
"Exactly. Shake the goddamn hand, Daryl." She repositioned it so it was infront of him again, a few of the others chuckling and smiling as Daryl reluctantly shook her hand also with an eye roll.
"I don't know the deal about accommodation and things, but I think Rick is talking to the owner of the house about it now." She reassured them all, Rick and Hershel exiting the house right on queue.
"Hershel is letting us clean up, then we're all eating with them later. The house doesn't have enough bedrooms to get us all in but he has plenty of tents we can use."
Stability. At last.
