Another Chance ~Carl Grimes Love Story~

Chapter 23 - You're Actually Here

I stand there, not sure what to do. Rick turns around and stands, looking through the peephole of the front door and smiles a little when he turns around. I wait for some kind of conformation, but all he does is nod his head to the side door for me to go out. I walk to the side door of the house and walk outside, the amount of darkness out here exactly the same as inside the house. “Delilah?” I question into the dark.

I hear footsteps. Then I see her. Standing about ten feet in front of me. I ball my hands into fists and feel tears down my cheeks. “Is it really you?” I ask, my voice coming out in a whisper. I see her silhouette nod her head. “Hey, Em,” she says, sounding coarse.

I feel my feet take off running and wrap my arms around her the second that I reach her. I sob into her shoulder as one of her arms wrap around my back, the other clutching at my hair. “I thought you were dead,” she says through her tears.

I smile wide, not pulling away but only holding onto her tighter. “I thought you were dead, too,” I tell her. I feel her pull away a little, tucking my hair behind my ears. “God, you’ve grown up,” she says, smiling. I laugh a little, though it gets lost in my tears.

“Yeah, I guess I have.” She looks just about the same. Her face is dirty and her hair braided around her head, a style our aunt taught her. Always said that it framed her face very well. Her fingertips reach my face and wipe my tears. “Where’s mom? Dad?” she asks hopefully. I just pull away slightly and look at the ground, shaking my head the best that I can. She just wraps me tightly in her arms again, silently crying like she was before. “I’m so glad that you’re okay,” she says, and I just cry. She’s alive. My hope wasn’t for nothing, after all.

I feel her move away from me again, keeping one arm on me. “Who are these guys?” she says, pointing behind me, and I turn around to see Carl and Rick standing in the side doorway. I smile. “This is Rick,” I say, pointing to him, “and this is Carl.”

She lets go of me to walk towards them. “Delilah,” she says, smiling, holding out a hand for them to shake. Rick takes her hand first, Carl’s face lighting up. I furrow my eyebrows and look behind me. Michonne is here, standing not too far back.

“Bet you thought you’d never see me again,” she says, not really sure who she’s telling it to. I feel wind as Carl runs past me, running up and hugging her. She looks surprised at first, but hugs back after a moment. “Sure got that right,” I say. Delilah meets my side again, pulling me into a side hug with her arm, and I wrap mine around her as well. It almost doesn’t feel real. Her arm is around me, the same way it always used to be. “God, you’re so freaking old,” she whispers in my ear, and I watch as Carl pulls away from Michonne and Rick hobbles past us to go and talk with her.

The three of them talk and smile, and I keep my focus on Delilah. “I’m only fifteen,” I say, recognizing my age as a year older. She looks down at me. “That’s old!”

I look up at her and see tears running down her face again. I wrap my arms around her neck once more. I feel like I’m crying, but I’ve completely run dry.

***

“So, Delilah, why don’t you tell us about yourself?” asks Rick. I’m sitting on the couch next to her, Carl passing me the bag of chips to take from.

“Yeah, how do you know Michonne?” I ask, grabbing her hand, staring at her. The fact that she’s sitting next to me right now is completely unbelievable.

“Um, well, I was with some of my college buddies before all of this happened, so I stuck with them for a while. Then, there was some crazy attack so I ran off so I wouldn’t get killed.” She trails off a little. I squeeze her hand. “I found this place called Woodbury-”