Love the Other Half

Problem We Can't Avoid

          It's been a day since the new woman and the walkers. I could tell Dwight was still a little disappointed in me for being careless yesterday. I couldn't blame him. I wouldn't blame him. If the roles were reversed I would be disappointed as well. 

          I step out of the trailer and walk over to the blacksmith area to talk to Dwight. "Hey." I say to him. Dwight turns around and gives me a small smile. "You want something to eat? I think they're making some stew." I say to him. Dwight looks at me and chuckles. "Nah. Not really hungry right now. But you go eat. Don't forget you're eating for two." Dwight says to me. I smile at him and shake my head.

           Dwight walks over to me and goes to grab my hand but stops himself when he remembers he has dirty gloves on. His hands slowly fall to his sides. "Listen... I gotta lot of stuff I gotta do today. So promise me you'll take care of yourself. And our baby." Dwight says to me. I cock my head to the side and smile up at him. "You know I can." I say to him before walking away.

           I walk into the main house and see Maggie and Enid having a conversation in her office. I walk over and knocked on the frame of the door. Both Maggie and Enid looked over and smiled at me. "I just wanna ask where the new girl is. Check up on her." I say to them both. I hear Hershel cooing somewhere in the room. Probably in his crib. "She's upstairs. Third room." Maggie says to me.

          I nod my head at her and make my way upstairs. The stairs creaking beneath my feet. As I get to the third room, I knock on the door. I wait a few seconds. When I don't hear anything I open the door and see the woman still asleep on the bed. I slowly walk into the room and see that food is on her table. Untouched.

          I walk over to the window and look out at Dwight. Smiling at him. Seeing him become a member of the community. Seeing him work. A year ago, I never thought I would see him again. A year ago, I thought he was dead. Now here we are. Together and expanding our family. My thoughts we're interrupted by someone coughing. I turn around and see the woman sitting up and coughing.

           I walk over to her and hand her the cup of water from the table. She gladly takes it and scarfs it down.

          She puts the water back on the table and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "Thank you." the woman says to me. I nod my head at her. I look around the room and grab a chair from the other side of the room and put it next to her bed and sit down.

          "What's your name?" I ask her. The woman looks at me and takes a deep breath. "Hannah. My name is Hannah." Hannah says to me. I nod my head at her. "Mine is Jasmine. Nice to meet you." I say to her. Hannah looks away from me and suddenly finds the cover on the bed appealing.

           "What happened?" I ask her. I see the woman wipe tears from her eyes and take a deep breath. "I don't wanna talk about it." The woman says to me. I scoot closer to her. "I get that. I wouldn't want to talk to a stranger either... but this stranger saved your life. I need to know what happened. I have family here." I say to her. Hannah looks over into my eyes and gets my drift. I don't want my family in trouble.

          I can see her shaking. It was chilly outside, but inside the house wasn't. "I was apart of this community. Me and my... my sister. Things went wrong and I ended up here." Hannah says to me.

          I could tell that whatever happen has her shaken, but I needed full story. "Listen... I need to know the full story. What happened?" I ask her in a serious tone. She looks away from me.

           "This community... it's called Black Oats. It was safe. It was... perfect. Until about 2 years ago when this new guy came in. He took over and... he isn't a good man." Hannah said to me.