home; louisentine

2

I awoke to the sound of banging on my door and jumped out of bed, shielding Aj behind me and taking the knife from under my pillow.

"Who's there!"

"It's Violet, Clem! Open up."

Had they come to take me away? Tie me up on a pole for the walkers to eat me alive? Did they come to get Aj?! I cautiously went over to the door and opened it slowly, Violet barged in anyways and noticed the frigid stances Aj and I held.

"Jesus Christ Clem! I'm not here to hurt you!" I looked at her raising my eyebrow.

"What are you here for then?"

"To get your help. Marlon almost ran away this morning and if Tenn hadn't spotted him he would've been long gone by now."

"So why not let him run away? Did you forget that he killed Brody and gave your friends away, why would you want him here?" Violet sighed and made her way up to me, she took my hands and stared into my eyes.

"You wouldn't understand Clem but everyone here has known each other for a long time. We are mad at him but we don't want to just forget about him. He still is a good person, you know?"

In this moment I thought about Kenny. Rash, unapologetic, stubborn Kenny. He too had made a horrible mistake when he killed Jane, but when he gave himself up for Aj and I to get into Wellington, he was sort of redeemed in my eyes. It had been years since I had last seen him and I didn't know whether he was alive or dead. But what I did know was that in this world being good and bad wasn't a black or white matter. Everyone was a bit of both and their emotions  determined what they did and didn't do.

I nodded at Violet and she led me outside into the courtyard. Immediately I was met with Marlon shouting at everyone and Louis trying to calm everyone down.

"As you can see Clem, it's chaos out here." Violet led me into the crowd where everyone stopped for a moment to look at me.

"Please Clementine, tell everyone that I'm better off dead and away where I can't hurt anyone else." Marlon pleaded with me desperately but I wasn't about to let him go off unscathed. I noticed Aj coming up behind me and motioned for him to come next to me.

"Aj, don't you have something to say to Marlon? And everyone?"

Aj uncomfortably went up to Marlon and started.

"Marlon I'm not sorry I tried to kill you because you tried to kill Clem."

"Aj!" I gave him a stern look.

"Fuck." He muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry that you nearly died," He looked up to everyone else and continued, "I only shot him because I was scared and I know that doesn't fix things, but I promise not to shoot anyone else."

Everyone started to nod and reassured him that it was okay and that they forgave him. He smiled up at everyone and turned to Louis.

"Do you forgive me Louis?" Everyone directed their attention him and waited for his reply.

"Of course I do Aj, how could I not to a face like that." Aj beamed and gave him a hug and ran off with Tenn.

"As for you Marlon, it's not up to me whether you stay or not. But you need to own up to your actions instead of running away from them. Violet told me that you've all been friends for a long time, do you really want to throw that away? What about Louis," I gestured towards him and glanced at him to see him staring at me in admiration. I blushed and continued, "You need to stay and help everyone the best you can as we may not be able to get Sophie and Minerva back. Running away is cowardly and it isn't the answer."

He stared at me for a while until finally taking what I said to heart.

"You're right Clem. Everyone, I plan on staying to help atone. I hope that with time you all can forgive me." He picked up the things he was going to run away with and walked back slowly to his room. Everyone else went their way except for Louis and I.

"Thanks Clem," He said while moving closer to me, "I didn't expect you to defend Marlon but I'm grateful."

I turned towards him shaking my head, "I didn't defend him, I just told him the truth. I've seen so many other leaders fall victim to situations like this and decided I should try to help this time. Especially if me and Aj are planning on staying here."

"You're staying?" He grinned at me.

"Of course I am idiot." I rolled my eyes and started walking away.

"Wait Clem." I turned around to face him, "Thanks again." This time he had a friendly smile on his face and I couldn't help but feel a million butterflies flutter in my stomach. I smiled back and walked to go find Violet to ask her what the hell I was feeling.

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Welp that's it for this chapter girliepops. Get ready for some #confessionswithviolet next chapter :)