Starting Over... |Daryl Dixon| |The Walking Dead|

Chapter 21: Flashbacks

AN:: hello everyone! Soooo terribly sorry for the long wait on this chapter D: I probably re-wrote it about five times before I was satisfied with it. So I hope you enjoy!

I apologize for any delays on chapters in the future... I have a few stories I'm working on at once, and I try to update them evenly.

Plus, I want to give a huge shout out to kla1130 for being such an amazing, supportive reader & follower. You rock, girl! xx

xxxxxx

Just like always, my body woke me from my less than peaceful sleep hours before the first rays of the sun. For the first few minutes I just layed quietly in my bunk underneath Jessie's, trying to keep my movements slow and even as I tossed and turned so I wouldn't rattle the bedframe. Jessie was such a heavy sleeper, though, so I don't really know why I bothered.

No matter how hard I tried to keep my eyes shut, they sprang back as if my lids were made of elastic. I resorted to just laying on my back and staring up at the bottom of Jessie's bunk, dealing with the boredom for a good 15 minutes.

But when a nicotine craving started setting in, buzzing louder and louder at the back of my mind, I couldn't sit still any longer. I had to get up and move, absolutely HAD to smoke a cigarette before I went completely insane.

I kept my frustrated sigh quiet as I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bunk. A chill suddenly ran up my spine, and I wrapped my arms around myself as goosebumps rose all over my clammy skin. I had fallen asleep so quickly after my conversation with Jessie last night that I hadn't taken off my shoes or even covered myself with my sleeping bag. I guess I hadn't noticed just how cold the cement walls made the inside of the prison when the sun wasn't out to warm it.

Being careful not to bump my head, I stood up and slowly made my way toward the other side of the cell... Only to smash my knee into the double bunk's metal skeleton with a loud, echoing *BANG*

"Fuck...!" I hissed through clenched teeth as I doubled over, grasping my throbbing knee in an attempt to dull the stinging pain.

That was definitely going to leave a bruise.

I muttered a few more curse words under my breath at my clumsiness, but it was pretty dark in the cell, so it was bound to have happened. Jessie and I were on the top level, so during the day the sun cast a pretty good glow throughout the entire cell block through the tall barred windows, illuminating our small space in just the right way... Not too bright, not too dark.

At night, though, the darkness was extreme. We all had to rely on the moon taking the place of the sun through the window to light our paths... But on moonless nights like this one, the inside of the cafeteria was impossible to navigate unless you had a lighter or a flashlight.

My hand instinctively reached to my back pocket and felt for my Bic, but all my fingertips touched was denim. I groaned, remembering that I had lost it inside the Grab' N Go. The rest were in the front pocket of my backpack, which was sitting up against the wall on the other side of the cell.

I rolled my eyes and grumbled in annoyance while I felt my way around the small space, finally touching the material of our backpacks. Okay, I just had to find a flashlight and that huge pack of batteries I had brought back yesterday.

I felt around in all the side pockets of both backpacks, finally feeling the plastic cylinder I was searching for. I made sure I was unzipping my own bag by feeling for the packs of cigarettes in the front pocket, then reached inside and searched out the batteries.

Finally, after I blindly popped two batteries into the flashlight and clicked the 'On' button, I could see.

The concrete walls of the cell looked even dingier in the glow of the flashlight, but that was something that I had stopped caring about a while ago. As long as no walkers were around to try and take a bite out of me while I slept, I was good.