"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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"One jar of mustard." Catherine spoke from my left. She was about my age, tall and slim, with dark brown chestnut hair, and kind green eyes.
I looked at my ever accumulating pile of winnings from the six previous games we had played, and then discretely glanced at my cards. Catherine, Nate, Donnie, Sarah, Chris, and Angie all stared at me, waiting for my next move. I had won every game of poker we played, and I had no intention of losing this game either. I grabbed two of my former winnings and placed them in the center. "I see your jar of mustard, and raise you a loaf of bread and a jar of pickles." I said confidently, and Catherine and Nate sighed, flipping their cards over to reveal Catherine's hand of a Straight, and Nate's hand of three 4s and one King. I laid down my hand, revealing a hand full of shit cards.
"Seriously?!" I heard Nate exclaim from my right. "This is a game of face, Nate." I told him with a hint of amusement in my voice. "You have to be good at bluffing." I winked at him.
"Well we're not playing poker with you anymore, Sawyer. We're only sticking to Blackjack from now on." I heard Donnie say as he started packing up the cards. Donnie was an old country boy from West Virginia, he had a handlebar mustache and smoked unfiltered cigarettes. He reminded me of an old cowboy. The true grit type that could herd cattle from here to California and enjoy every minute of it without losing one single cow. He was tough, but had a kind disposition and hard brown eyes that reminded me of freshly ground coffee.
"Aww, c'mon don't be like that, Donnie." I teased, poking my tongue out slightly. "I only like to win, I'm not keeping any of the winnings." I told them. They began to protest, saying I had won them fair and square, but I was persistent on not keeping their items. They reluctantly agreed to take back their things, and I felt good knowing I was finally making connections here.
I missed my Alexandria friends, the people I had known and survived with for years, but most of the people at the Sanctuary were honest, hard working people who were just like us. Just trying to survive. So getting to know some of them on a personal level, and not lumping them all together as Negan and what he stood for, was what I aimed to do. Plus, it made my time here less unbearable knowing I could, for a brief amount of time, forget where I was and enjoy myself with new people.
I stood up from the table and wished everyone a good night. It was nearly 1AM, and everyone was noticeably tired. I made my way over to Nate to wish him a good night as well, "Hey, thanks for inviting me to this. I had a lot of fun." I said, smiling up at him. "Of course. Any time you want to join us you're more than welcome." Nate paused, as if he wasn't sure if he should speak his next remark. "Sawyer, I know you're going up to Negan's room after this, just...just be careful." He looked down at me with concerned crystal blue eyes. "I don't like the way he looks at you. Like you're a wounded animal and he's just waiting for the right time to strike. I don't trust him." The words flowed out of Nate's mouth in a hushed whisper, in case someone were listening that might tell Negan what he just said.
