Just Keep Walking

Thirty six

"Go on, say bye-bye to Mishy." Rick said gently, and Mary ran over to Michonne, hugging her tightly, but not talking.
"You'll be okay. It's gonna be fun." Michonne whispered into Mary's hair. Mary nodded, then walked back to Rick, practically climbing up him so he'd carry her.
"Hey, shoes." Rick laughed, putting her back down. Mary pulled on her converse, then put on a knitted cardigan. She was the cutest child Rick had ever seen, wearing a white shirt, her burgundy dungaree dress, her converse, and a rust coloured cardigan, with her hair in two French plaits, thanks to Michonne.
"Okay, let's go." Rick smiled, holding her hand. "You're okay with Judith? We won't be long."
"It's fine." Michonne nodded, as Rick and Mary left. Carl had slept in, a headache plaguing him, so the pair walked together.
"You're gonna be okay. And you'll make loads of friends, and have so much fun. Okay?"
"Daddy, I'm a little bit anxious." Mary whispered.
"I know, but you'll be okay."
"I need you or Carl or Mishy or Glenn or Maggie."
"I know. But you have Carl Bunny," Rick soothed, "and it's only three hours."
"Okay." Mary breathed shakily, as they reached the garage.
"Hi, Mary. How are you today?" A woman asked with a wide smile, seeing Mary and Rick.
"Okay." Mary mumbled, hiding her face into Rick's arm.
"I'm Clara, I do school for you all. Do you wanna come say hi to everyone?"
Mary shook her head, and Rick sighed. "Okay, Moo, I'm gonna go. Go on now, go to Clara, baby girl."
"No!" Mary whined.
"Hey. Big girl time, come on. You're gonna have so much fun. So no crying, okay? And I'll pick you up soon. Or shall Glenn pick you up? Or Mishy?"
"Don't make me." Mary whimpered.
"I'll pick you up, okay?"
"No! You're mean. Daddy, don't make me." Mary begged tearfully.
"Mary..."
"I want Glenny! I want Glenny to pick me up. You're nasty." Mary sobbed.
"Okay, that's okay." Rick nodded, but Mary's face simply screwed up in pain.
"Daddy! No! Stop, don't go!"
"I have to, sweetie."
"No! Daddy! Daddy, no!"
"Okay, I'm gonna leave you now." Rick said firmly, his heart breaking slightly over it.
"Daddy! Daddy, please, daddy! Daddy! D-d-daddy! Daddy!" Mary cried, as Rick left, feeling sick at the thought of leaving his sobbing child with a stranger, but knowing it was the best for her.
"Hey, Mary, come on, sweetheart." Clara soothed, reaching over and touching Mary's shoulder, but Mary jerked away, tearful and upset.
"I wanna go home! I want daddy!"
"Okay, you can soon. Come on, let's meet everyone. Who's this?"
"Carl Bunny." Mary mumbled, her face hidden by the teddy.
"Okay. Come on, sweetheart," Clara soothed, "let's go." Mary nodded, and walked into the garage with Clara, to see Sam, Izzy, and another boy who she didn't know.
"Mary!" Izzy grinned, spinning around on her chair to look at the little girl.
"I want to go home." Mary whined, looking up at Clara sadly.
"Okay. After school, yeah? Why don't you go sit next to Izzy?"
"Okay." Mary breathed shakily, sitting on the plastic chair next to Izzy. Her feet couldn't even touch the floor, she was that tiny.
"Okay, you know Izzy and Sam, right?" Clara asked, smiling at Mary. The little girl nodded, and Clara turned to the other boy, who had a mop of floppy, sandy hair, freckles covering his nose and cheeks, and bright green eyes. "This is Teddy. Ted."
"Hi." Ted grinned, leaning forwards and waving at Mary. Mary gave him a tiny smile back. These were kids. She was okay, they were only kids, she reminded herself, a calming mantra.
"So we normally do an hour of English, an hour of maths, and an hour of something else, either history, or art, or geography, or music, or science." Clara explained gently, "Your dad says that you can read a little bit, and can write too."
"Yeah." Mary nodded.
"Okay, here's your whiteboard, yeah? And you're gonna practice writing while the others do their comprehension."
Mary nodded, and looked at the whiteboard and pen, then wrote her full name, messy and childish, just as it should be. Then she wrote her brother's name, her sister's name, her father's name, her friend's names. When she ran out of things to write, she drew flowers, then drew on her arm.
They switched to maths half an hour later, and after that, they began geography, learning about each country in South America. Before the hour was up, however, a man approached the open garage door, and Mary rushed into his arms, letting him hold her tightly.
"Has she been good?" Glenn laughed over Mary's head.
"Quiet, but good. Didn't run away." Clara teased. "I'm sorry, you are... You're her uncle?"
"No. I'm Glenn. Her best friend." Glenn smiled softly, proud, not embarrassed, of his status.
"We usually finish at twelve, but you can take her now. Big day for her."
"Yeah. She's never been away from her dad or one of us, one of us she's close to, for a long time. A long time."
"I don't like it." Mary mumbled into Glenn's chest.
"Okay." Glenn laughed softly. "Okay. I'm gonna take her home."
"Okay. See you tomorrow, Mary." Clara smiled, as did the other children. Mary waved and let Glenn walk away with her.
"I don't like it." She repeated after a few minutes.
"I know," Glenn nodded, sitting on a bench near an empty house's garden, "you know, I never liked school either. I hated it. I wasn't stupid, but I definitely wasn't smart. I didn't have too many friends, and sometimes people teased me."
"Why?" Mary asked, pain in her voice, shocked that anyone would ever tease her beloved Glenny.
"I played a lot of video games. I always wore this really nerdy cap. I didn't like Michigan. I'd always tell people about how I was gonna leave, how I was gonna move away. And I looked really young for my age."
"Like a mix of me and Carl." Mary giggled happily, and Glenn laughed with her. "Where's Michigan?"
"It's where I grew up. Then I moved to Atlanta, and became a pizza delivery boy."
"That's a cool job." Mary smiled with wide eyes.
"Yeah?" Glenn laughed.
"Yeah! I can't remember pizza but I know it's nice." Mary explained seriously.
"Well, that was my life, Mary. I hated school, then I did a boring boring job. I hated school like you. But what did I do? I kept going and finally I made a good friend."
"You think I'll make a friend? They're all bigger kids."
"Oh, I bet you will. I mean, we're friends, and I'm older. And Maggie is. And Carl's a whole eight years older."
"Sam's a bit weird. And Izzy is really loud. Teddy looks nice. And I like his name. It sounds like a hug." Mary explained softly.
"Yeah? You should try and make friends with him then. Tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay." Mary smiled.
"Sam is a bit weird, isn't he?" Glenn whispered knowingly, laughing slightly.
"Yeah." Mary nodded in a giggle, equally as quiet.
"Okay, smelly, shall we go see what treats Olivia has? See if she'll let us have some chocolate?" Glenn smiled, standing up, Mary on his hip.
"Yeah!" Mary grinned happily, her tiny fist clinging onto Glenn's soft, cotton shirt.
"Okay," Glenn smiled back at her, "let's go." Then man held her out as if she was laid down on her back, running with her. The noises that erupted from Mary's mouth were pure joy, the child feeling like she was flying. They ran to the pantry, the two of them laughing as they entered the room.
"Hello?" Olivia half laughed, seeing the giddy pair.
"Hi. We was, erm, we were wondering if maybe you had some chocolate," Glenn asked seriously, raising Mary up to his chest, "it's a very special day. Mary did her first day of school."
"I'll have a look." Olivia smiled, motioning for Glenn and Mary to follow her. "Did you have fun?"
"Hey," Glenn said gently as Mary hid her face, "you can tell her. She's super nice and she's getting you chocolate."
"No. I didn't," Mary answered to Olivia, "but I talked to my Glenny and we decided I'm gonna make a friend. Teddy."
"I'm glad." Olivia chuckled, looking into the freezer, and pulling out two tiny bars of chocolate, giving one to Mary, and one to Glenn, then she pulled out a box of frozen dinosaur chicken nuggets. "I promise, these are the best food ever. Especially for not great first days at school."
"Thank you." Mary and Glenn both smiled in unison.
"That's okay." Olivia nodded.
"Well, we'd best get going. Thank you." Glenn smiled again, and they left, Mary chomping on the semi-frozen chocolate.
"Where are we going now?"
"Do you wanna go home? Or to my house? Maggie's home."
"Your house. It's more fun. And daddy is working."
"Okay. Are you hungry?"
"Yeah. I like having lunch. It's nicer to have breakfast and lunch and dinner."
"Good." Glenn smiled, turning to his house. "Maggie's making lunch. She'll have made enough, probably, she knew that you'd want to come over."
"I love Maggie." The little girl sighed into Glenn's shirt.
"Yeah, me too."
"Can you and Maggie and Noah sleep at my house tonight? I miss everyone."
"I... I don't know. Maybe some other night?"
"I hate it. It makes me sad. I still see you every day, but I don't see my Uncle Daryl as much. And Rosita and Tara and Abraham and Sasha, but Sasha is sad anyway, because of Tyreese. I get it. I'd be too sad if Carl died. I wouldn't be able to be happy, never ever again."
"Hey," Glenn said firmly, looking into the child's eyes, "Carl isn't going anywhere. Don't you worry about Carl. No one needs to worry about Carl, not even himself, he's that cool and badass and strong. Okay?"
"What about you? Promise you'll be okay?"
"Even if I wasn't, you'd make it," Glenn assured, not to wanting to promise her that he'd not die soon, "because you're like Carl. You're a badass. And you're okay. You're gonna be okay, no matter what. Even if I died, you'd be okay. Now let's stop this silly talk and go eat some dinosaur chicken nuggets."