𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐱. carl grimes

FOUR: nightmares

"Good Morning!" my dad says as he walks into the dining room holding a plate of pancakes.

I look around and I see my mom and my sister sitting across from me playing rock, paper, scissors (winner gets the third piece of bacon). "I win!", my sister yells and throws her hands up in victory.

My dad sits down in the empty seat next to me and puts the pancakes in the middle of the table. "You are just so good at that game sweetie", he says as he winks at me because we both know my mom just let her win

My mom smiles and catches onto me and my father's joke. "She's the best player I've ever seen" and with that we all break into laughter.

Then all of a sudden the mood in the room changes when both my parents get quiet. They make eye contact and my mom looks at the floor. My dad breaks the silence,"Your mom and I have something to tell you all."

I look at my plate of pancakes, I know what's going on. I've seen it on movies way too many times. First it's just arguments and before you know it they're spitting up but I never thought it would happen to me. My family was so happy, it can't be like this.

But when I look up I don't see my parents, I see they're decaying bodies reaching towards me.

"We've been dying to tell you Finn" my dead father says as he reaches for me and takes a bite out of my neck.

I feel by own blood run down my neck as he pulls my flesh from my body. I can feel the burn of the bite as I scream for my life but no one hears me. It's just me and my dead family. My mom comes over and takes a bite out of my stomach. This time I can see the flesh being ripped out of me as I feel the excruciating pain of the bite.

I scream even louder but it doesn't help it only draws more biters near. I fall backwards out of my seat and look up to see my dead sister looking over me with a hunger in her eyes that can only be quenched by my flesh. I scream as loud as I can in hopes someone can find me but I can only feel the pain of more bites all over my body as I open my eyes.

I quickly bolt upright still screaming as loud as I can. I hit my head on the bed on top of me and that snaps me back into reality. I grip my head and look around, I'm back in my new cell.
I see my dad run into the cell with his gun drawn, " Finn are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just had a bad dream" I mutter.

More and more people fill into the door frame of my little cell all with their guns drawn. I didn't mean to draw this much attention.

"You sure you're alright? We heard you screaming." Rick asks holstering his gun.

I look around at the group, "yeah, I'm sure. You all can go back to bed".

My dad starts waving people away and letting them know it was a false alarm. Dammit now everyone in the prison thinks I'm a weak little kid. I look down so I don't have to see anyone else's annoyed faces.

I feel my dad sit next to me on the bed. He pats me on the shoulder, "You alright kid?"
"Yeah I just feel bad for waking everyone up" I say as I look up at him and his brown caring eyes. That's my favorite part of my dad, his eyes. Everything else about him looks so tough but his eyes show how much he really cares.
"It's alright" he says as he hugs me for the millionth time, "Now, you've got a big day ahead of you so try to get some rest"