Remember Me (Daryl Dixon)

Chapter Seventy-Six: Aaron

~Maggie's p.o.v~

I opened my eyes to see Judith's large eyes gazing back at me. I smirked a bit knowing that she was making it. I could see how content she was with things. She didn't care that we were losing everybody. She didn't care about any of that. She just cared that we were still alive. We were still here.
I sighed a bit before sitting up and looking around. Everybody was sound asleep. The only people I didn't see were Daryl and Elizabeth. Part of me wondered if she had run away again. I didn't care at this point. If she wanted to be gone, it wasn't our place to force her to stay. I didn't know what happened to her. I didn't want to know what happened to her. I just knew that it was terrible.

I peeped around a corner and let out a sigh of relief. I saw Daryl sitting with Elizabeth sleeping soundly with her head in his lap. I smirked at the sight of it. Daryl didn't seem to care I was there. He just continued to stare into the distance. His mind was elsewhere.

"You should get some sleep,"I noted as I sat down next to him. Elizabeth wiggled her fingers at the sound of a voice. I expected her to wake up, but she never did. She was finally resting without having a nightmare. Maybe that's because she felt the warmth of Daryl next to her.
"Yeah," Daryl agreed.

"It's okay to rest now," I whispered as I looked over at Sasha. I was happy she was also getting rest. The loss of Bob and Tyreese was hurting her more than I could imagine.

"He was tough," Daryl said, looking at Sasha.
"He was," I said in agreement. Tyreese was a very tough man. He was also a very kind man who didn't deserve the death he got.

"So was she."

My heart skipped a beat as I realized he was talking about Beth. She wasn't really a topic I wanted to linger on these days. Just hearing her name put my stomach in knots. I could only imagine how bad it hurt Elizabeth.
"She didn't know it, but she was."

I tried to push away memories of her as he spoke. I knew he was just trying to be nice, but I didn't want to talk about her. She was still a very sensitive topic. I heard rustling coming from Daryl and I looked over.
"The gearbox had some grit in it," he spoke as he handed me the music box Carl found. I smiled at the sight of it.

"Thank you," I said as I took it. He had no reason to fix this, yet he did. It was a very kind gesture. Kind gestures were hard to come by these days. I looked down at Elizabeth sleeping and my smile faded. I was far too worried about her mental state to enjoy the box."Do you know what happened to her?"
"No," Daryl answered quickly. I could tell that he didn't want to talk about it. "I don't want to know."

I nodded for a moment before pushing myself up. My eyes drifted to Sasha and I knew what I had to do.

~Elizabeth's p.o.v~

I slowly opened my eyes as I felt a hand running across my face. I twitched a bit at the feeling. I even cringed a bit at it.

I slowly looked up to see Daryl looking down at me with a blank expression. He pulled his hand away at the sight of my open eyes. I smiled up at him. I wanted to enjoy having him close to me. I wanted to enjoy our time together. But last time I did that, I died. Gareth had killed me.

I was afraid to cherish anything anymore. I got snatched away every single time I tried to enjoy what I was given. I knew something bad was going to happen again. Darkness followed me everywhere I went. It was like a cloud that lingered over my head. Nobody could make it go away. "You can sleep now."
Daryl didn't reply. He just continued staring down at me with 0 emotion. He couldn't stay awake forever. I knew that he had the same fear I did. He thought he would wake up again and I would be gone.

"I'm not going anywhere," I whispered as I pushed myself out of his lap. He continued staring where I was laying. It was as if he didn't hear a thing that I was saying. Everything went in one ear and out of the other. He didn't believe me. He still believed that I wanted to get away from them all. Part of me wanted to. I wanted to leave to keep them safe, but I wasn't going to do that. They needed me. I also needed them even if I didn't want to admit it.
"Your sister and Sasha went outside," Daryl mumbled.
I nodded at his words and looked around. I could see that Sasha was gone. I guess all they needed was me. We were the three people that lost someone close to us. We were the three that were hurting worse than anybody.
"Okay," I said after a moment. "I'm gonna go out there. Get some sleep, okay?"
I leaned over slowly and planted a small kiss on his forehead. He didn't react when I did this. He never reacted to anything anymore. I let out a sigh before pushing myself off of the floor. I looked back at him one last time before tiptoeing around the others and making my way to the door. I feared what I would find outside.

It was a nasty storm that hit us. I had no idea how bad it was until I opened the door. My eyes grew wide at the sight of flattened trees everywhere. Trees had been ripped out of the ground around us. We should have been killed, but why weren't we? Everything was destroyed but the barn. I wasn't a religious person, but it was as if God really did look out for us. That was the scary part. That was the first time I had seen a miracle.

I looked in the distance and spotted Maggie and Sasha making their way to a log. It was placed perfectly in front of the sunrise. I watched them for a moment before making my way over to them. I had to duck under a few trees, but I made it without too much trouble. I walked closer to them as they sat on the log.
"Why are you out here?" I asked. They both spun around rather quickly. Maggie looked at me for a moment before scooting over. She patted the spot between her and Sasha. I paused for a moment before plopping down between them.
"For this," Maggie replied as she looked out at the sunrise. Sasha and I stared at it as well. It was light and full of life. It reminded me of Beth. It reminded me of her personality and how lively she was.
"I see it," Sasha mumbled. I saw it too, but I didn't say anything. I just remained quiet. "Noah, that kid..." Sasha began after a few moments. "He said he didn't know if he could make it."

None of us knew if we could make it. That's the feeling that came with the world now. Some of us didn't even want to make it. "That's how I feel."
"I don't want to make it," I whispered as I looked down at my feet. I knew Maggie was tearing up at our words, but it was how we felt. There was nothing we could do to change it."

"You're gonna make it," Maggie whispered. "All three of us, we will. That's the hard part."

She was right. Making it was the hardest part. Knowing that Beth was dead and I was still alive was the hardest thing. I just wanted to join her. Living without her seemed to get harder everyday. It was almost unbearable.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and watched as Maggie messed with the music box in her lap. It didn't work. I didn't see why she was still carrying it around. "Daryl fixed it."
I made my thoughts shut up as the winded it up. I waited for music that never came. A click came from it. signaling it was still broken. "You've got to be kidding me."
We all let out a laugh as Maggie sat the box down. Daryl could fix anything and yet he couldn't fix a music box. I halted my laughter when I saw a dark shadow emerge from the corner of my eye.
"Hey. Hi."

All three of us reached for our weapons at the same time. I aimed my gun directly at the man's head. I wasn't about to get another surprise attack.
"I didn't mean to interrupt," he said apologetically. His voice sounded kind, but I wasn't going to fall for it. Gareth sounded kind. Owen sounded kind.

"Good morning," the man continued as he walked closer to us. "My name is Aaron."
I noted how clean he was. It was as if he was showering daily or something. I didn't see a speck of dirt on this guy. That was my first red flag.
"I know, stranger danger. But I'm a friend."
A friend? I quickly realized that he was the one who left the water for us. Just another reason not to trust him.
"I'd like to talk to the person in charge," he stated as he stopped in front of us. "Rick, right?"
My heart skipped a beat when he spoke his name. He already knew our people and we had never seen him before. Something about this entire thing was too fishy. This man was not to be trusted.
"How do you know-" Maggie was cut off by Sasha's voice.
"Why?

"I have good news," Aaron said with a smile. The sound of a lullaby filled my ears after he spoke. My eyes drifted to the music box next to us. The sound of it filled the air.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any creepier.