"I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms but carri...
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The pink and orange hues of the sky let me know that it was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set. I had been in the garden all day planting vegetables. I made sure to keep close watch of the men patrolling the Sanctuary, to get their schedules down and find any window of opportunity that I could for a possible escape.
I heard the low rumble of the trucks in the distance approaching the gate. Standing, I wiped the dirt from my hands onto my worn jeans. I looked towards the entrance when I heard the creaking of the massive gates to the Sanctuary opening. I went back to putting my gardening tools to their rightful places as the trucks piled in.
I was a few hundred yards away, but I could see Negan getting out of one of the trucks passenger side. He swung Lucille over his shoulder and carried that shit eating grin on his face that he always carried. I started making my way towards the Eastern entrance of the Sanctuary to head back inside to wash up before dinner when I happened to glance back at the trucks. Out of the back of one of the trucks Daryl stepped out, he was wearing ratty old sweatpants with a matching sweatshirt that had an orange 'A' on the front of it.
"Daryl?" I asked to myself while directing my attention and my movements towards the man that I considered family. "DARYL!" I yelled at him to gain his attention while I had begun running towards him. It was the first time I had seen him in what felt like months, but realistically, it was probably more like a week. Daryl's head snapped in my direction as he heard me shout his name. I saw the faintest glimpse of a smile on his dirtied and bruised face. "Sawyer?" I saw Daryl's lips move in sequence with my name, but I was still too far away to hear him actually say my name.
I ran so hard and so fast that I didn't think twice when I finally reached him. I slammed my body into his in the tightest of embraces. It felt good to see another person I knew and loved, and to be holding him? Well that felt like home. I don't think I've ever hugged someone so hard in my entire life, I was sure I must have been hurting him with how tightly I had wrapped myself around his neck. I felt his arms instantly wrap around my back and hold me just as tight and close as I was holding him. The embrace was so intense I was shocked we hadn't performed osmosis.
Before I knew it I felt a foreign hand on my shoulder that instantly pulled me back from my embrace with Daryl, landing my ass on the gravel below. I let out a pained grunt as my body collided with the ground unexpectedly and looked up. I saw Simon staring down at me with that signature smirk on his face. "Ah. Ah. Ah." I heard from behind Simon. "You can look, but you can't touch." I could hear Negan's gravelly voice. "He's the help. You don't speak to him. You don't look at him." He paused briefly, "And you definitely don't touch him." Negan said as he looked down at me.
I glared up at Negan. "So I have to work as your slave in your fucking garden and I can't even speak to my friend?" I demanded, standing up to look him in the eye. He chuckled, sucking his teeth before he answered. "You are my slave. You are my property. I own you." Negan stepped closer to me so his face was directly above mine. His stare boring into my eyes. "You belong to me. Understand?" His facial expression read complete seriousness. No hint of humor or sarcasm at all. I knew he meant it, and I knew I was going to catch shit for saying this, but I said it anyway. Because I had nothing left to lose.
