Through My Eyes

-Daryl's POV-

My mother told me that I had too big of a heart for our family.

At that age, I had no idea what she meant and at first, it scared me.
In my little eight year old mind, I thought for sure my heart was going to explode from being too large for my chest but now that I am older, I know what she meant and I love her for saying that to me.

To be honest, my mother was special to me.
When she wasn't drunk on cheap whiskey, she would smile at me and I remember her gentle hands and words soothing my soul.

But the most prominent and special memory of my mother was when I would lay on her bed, pressing close to her warmth and slowly wrapping my little arms around one of hers, breathing in her familiar smell of cigarettes as she would read out of a big book of fairy tales to me.

I would listen to her voice, in awe as she would read stories from the book.
See, she wouldn't just read the stories, it was like she was living and breathing each word.

Dragons came to life in fiery flames, I could hear the flutter of fairy's wings flitting around my head and I could hear the growl of unknown monsters under the bed.

It was like my mother had her own sort of magic.

But my favorite tale was Sleeping Beauty.
Not because of the dragon, the evil fairy who cursed the baby to die at the age of sixteen but it was because of the Prince who bravely and thoughtlessly rushed into the castle to save the Princess with 'Love's First Kiss'.

I longed to be a Prince, a Knight who would protect the weak and defenseless but most of all, the idea of a person truly needing me and being special to someone else made my young 'too big for a Dixon's' heart grow warm.

One day, I had the foolish idea to make me a crown out of twigs and decided to swing the kitchen butcher knife around as a sword, brandishing it against invisible dragons and evil wizards.

My dad saw me.

I remember his twitching fingers and his tight smile as he asked almost amusingly, "What do you think you're doing, boy?"

I smiled, happy that my father was showing me attention, instead of ignoring me, talking instead of shouting, so in my young ignorance, I told him.

"I'm Prince Daryl. I just got through killin' a dragon!"

The change was instant.

My father's blue eyes froze into cold ice as he clenched his big hands at his sides, his voice growing dark, "Is that so? Who put these things in your head?"

I remember the terror as my voice quivered, a protective lie coming out of my lips, "N-No one."

I should've just signed my mother's death sentence as he tore the makeshift crown off of my messy hair and grabbed the knife out of my trembling hands.
After a few minutes of doubt, as I watched my father stomp away, I remembered that I was a Prince now, a Knight.
And a Knight wouldn't let anyone innocent get hurt.

I charged after my dad, fear gripping my young heart as I saw him in my mom's room, hitting her with the twigs from my crown.
Leaving bloody scratches on her face and neck as he yelled over and over, "I won't let you make my son into a fag! You hear me?"

She was sobbing, rolled into a tight ball on the bed as he reached back with the knife, his eyes wide in uncontrolled fury as he screamed, "I should kill you, bitch!"

It almost felt like my legs moved on their own as adrenaline coursed through my body at the sight of my mom's scared brown eyes and the glinting butcher knife as it descended towards my precious mother.