Ain't Nothin' Left *Daryl Dixon love story*

Dixon

        She sat on the log looking at that picture of the thirteen year old boy with his arms wrapped around her stomach smiling so big. She also wore that smile, being with her best friend always made her feel safe, feel like nothing could harm her. Being with her made him happy too. No one at school knew what was happening at home. His seventeen year old brother was just around the corner of being able to leave, his oldest brother left a long time ago, when he was only seven. She never knew that the day after this picture was took; would be the last day she got to hug him, see him, tell him how strong he was. She never knew that the next day, her best friend would put a bullet through his head. She remembers that day; like it was only yesterday, though it was actually fourteen years ago.

        She was walking home with her best friend since she was four. They were the same age, only two months apart. She kept asking for her notebook back, the one they would write letters back and forth. They reached her house, she knew something was wrong with Tery, but she figured his dad got drunk last night. Tery finally gave her her notebook and hugged her tightly, whispering that he loved her. He continued on home and she looked through her notebook, smiling at all of the silly looking pictures they drew and the small notes they made to each other. She got to the last page, the newest note. Though it wasn’t the normal note that was normally there, it was a suicide note. The note read:

        ‘I’m sorry darlin’ I really am but I can’t take this anymore, I won’t take it anymore. My dad almost killed me last night, strangled me. My brother saved me but he got hurt bad because of it. Last night was the first time he ever hit my dad, and daddy didn’t like that. I can’t take the pain anymore and I’m sorry that it had to come to this. The cops won’t help us, they never would. We’re just a bunch of redneck misfits that don’t belong here. I love you too death, literally. I won’t suffer, I promise. And don’t come to my house to stop me, I’ll be dead before you get there. I love you.

        ~Teryl Dixon

        Little Avery did exactly the opposite. She ran to his house. He lived out in the cabin in the woods, about fifteen minutes from her. By the time he dropped her off to the time she got there, it’d been a half hour. Cops were all around the house, even an ambulance. She watched in horror when they dragged that body bag out of the house, Tery’s body in there. Avery started crying when she heard his older brother screaming at their father. ‘Ye did this! Ye killed him! He couldn’t take ye beating us no more so he shot himself! Ye killed Tery! Ye killed him! I hate ye!’

        Avery stood up from the log, shoving the picture back in her pocket. Daryl looked like Tery, just with facial hair. She walked around camp for a few, pacing back and forth with her hands in her pockets and a cigarette hanging from her lips. Alex went hunting with Daryl a day ago and they weren’t back yet. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a car alarm going in the distance. She heard Shane and Dale talking about what it was but she didn’t pay no mind to the words they were saying. Soon a red sports car came speeding around the corner and into camp. Glenn stepped out of the car, smiling like a mad man.

        ‘Would ye turn tha’ shit off?!’ Avery screamed at Glenn. He shrugged his shoulders, telling her he didn’t know how.

        ‘Pop the hood!’ Shane yelled. Glenn did as he was told and the alarm stopped.

        ‘Are ye stupid bein’ this damn thing up ‘ere?!’ She screamed at him again, making him cower back. Avery is an imitating person when mad. Anyone who spent an hour with her knew that.

        ‘I think we’re okay. There’s no way they could pin point the sound here. It would echo all over.’ Dale explained. He quickly added, ‘But it wouldn’t hurt you to think through things more clearly next time.’

        A big cube van pulled in the camp, everyone climbing out except Merle. Everyone hugged their families, those who had them. Avery glared hard at Glenn and everyone else who had come back without Merle. They told her that the new guy was a cop, Merle got out of control so he handcuffed him to a pipe on the roof.

        Avery watched as the new guy emerged from the van, she had every intention on killing him until she saw his face.

        There stood Rick, the man that saved her. He saved her from the depression, saved her from her uncle, he saved her from herself.

                                                                    ~ ~ ~

        They sat around the fire, Rick talking about how it was to wake up from a coma to this. After the initial shock that Avery had, she became angry at what happened again. She wasn’t listening to Rick, she didn’t want to.

         ‘Has anyone given a thought on what we’re going to do when Daryl Dixon gets back?’ Dale asked. Avery’s head shot up, Dixon, she knew that last name anywhere. It all started to add up. Why Daryl looked familiar, why she felt she knew him. She never met him, Tery wouldn’t let her… Daryl was Tery’s older brother and Merle was Tery’s oldest brother.