Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Sixty-Five: I'm The Ghost

After that, everything got quiet.
There were no enemies. No Gareth. No Terminus. No Beth.
There was nothing. There was only pain and the constant reminder that she was gone. I had never felt so lonely. Part of me wished I had never found the others. I should've stayed gone.

Her funeral was also quiet. It was quiet to me because I never went. I didn't feel like sitting through 30 minutes of Gabriel talking about how she was in a better place. And I was so sick of people asking if I was okay. Three days. That's how long it took me to stop crying. Three days was how long it took them to pry me away from her dead body. When she turned, I was the one to kill her all over again.

I ran my finger across a small stone on the ground as I heard footsteps approaching where I was. The sound told me that the funeral had concluded. The familiar smell of smoke told me that it was Daryl coming towards me. I quickly turned my head the other way as he got closer.

"Don't," I said coldly as I felt him sit down next to me. I didn't want to hear his voice. I didn't even want to see him. I wanted to be on my own. I wanted to leave this group.

"At least you finally talked," he growled as he adjusted himself next to me. I closed my eyes tightly as I realized he wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

"Please just go," I whispered as I felt my eyelashes becoming damp with tears. I thought I had been done crying. Apparently that wasn't true.
"Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't want to see you," I snapped as I turned to face him. The others looked in our direction for a moment before quickly dismissing us. I hadn't realized I had shouted at him that loud.
Daryl nodded for a moment before looking into the forest in front of us. He slowly placed a weed to his mouth and began chewing on it. Please just go away.

"It ain't your fault," he replied as he turned towards me once again. I knew he was referring to Beth when he said that.

"It isn't," I replied back without any emotion. "It's yours. You guys just couldn't stay away. I would've gotten us both out. But you had to come."

Daryl seemed hurt by my words, but he simply cleared his throat. "You're the one who wrote my name on the ground."

I cringed at the thought of me doing that. I was trying to tuck the memories of the past few days in the back of my mind. I never wanted to remember what I had been through. I also didn't want anybody else to know what I had been through.
"That doesn't matter now," I said as I turned away from him once more. "You were gonna find a way to me anyways."

"You're angry about us findin' you?" Daryl asked with irritation in his voice. In that moment, he made me snap. The others all quickly looked at us once I opened my lips to speak.

"I'm mad because I'm alive," I shouted at him. "I should be dead where Gareth left me. I should be dead and she should still be here."

"Stop," Daryl growled at me as Maggie began slowly approaching us. I watched as Rick slowly pulled her back. I guess he thought it was a good thing that I was finally letting something out.

"You stop," I said even louder. "How many times am I going to magically escape death? I should be dead already. You should've let me die on the farm."

"Elizabeth," he pleaded as he continued listening to me. "Please stop."

"Why didn't you just leave me there? When are you finally going to let me go?" I yelled at him as I quickly got up from where we were sitting. As I attempted to walk away, Daryl quickly grabbed my arm and made me face him. I could feel the anger radiating off of his body.

"Because that ain't what we do," he growled at me. "I am going to find you no matter where you go, you get that? I ain't going to leave you behind."

I felt my breathing pattern increasing as Daryl put his hand on my back, trying to pull me close to him. I quickly let out a terrible scream as pain shot through my back. The pain was so terrible that I almost collapsed.

Daryl stood there for a moment before pulling my shirt up to reveal a 'W' carved into my skin. It covered my entire back and I felt the bleeding start again from his touch.

"What?"Daryl asked as he looked at it. I heard the others running over to us and I panicked. I snatched my knife out of my boot and pointed it at Daryl as he tried to examine my back closer.

The others stopped in their tracks as I slowly backed away with the knife still on Daryl. I could feel blood soaking through my shirt.

"Elizabeth," Rick pleaded as he put his hand out. "Please stop."

I quickly pointed the knife at him, causing him to back away with the others. Fear was beginning to cross Maggie's face as she glared at me. "Elizabeth, put it down."

"I can't," I replied with panic in my voice. "They're coming."

"What?" Sasha demanded as she looked over at Rick. "Who is coming?"

I began panting as I watched them all. They're gonna find me. I'm one of them now. I have to leave.

I slowly looked over at Daryl who was staring at me with fear. Not fear for them, but fear for me. If only they knew exactly what had happened to me. But I could never tell them. He was going to find me. He was going to find us no matter what. He's coming. He's coming.

"Elizabeth," Daryl whispered as I continued staring at him. "What happened to you out there?"