𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒, carl grimes

viii. one, two, three

EIGHT,
one, two, three

⋆

WHEN MORNING CAME, Ella was awoken by the golden rays of sun shining through a pale white sheet, while its fabric slowly tossed and turned from the nearby breeze coming from a prison wall window.

Realization soon came upon her that it was already morning, way past sunrise, by the apparent shadows. That meant Carol would be waiting for her to show up in the court yard not long from now, or she was already late. Lifting her head up from the pillow Lizzie and her shared, Ella quickly saw how the rest of her family was still asleep, even with the blinding light coming through the cell.

Slowly making her way down the metal latter, the tired blonde approached their dresser and began rummaging for an outfit. Settling on a worn out pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt, she found a washed out green sweater to overlap the clothing. It was still early in the day, meaning the coldness from the night wouldn't have been totally gone, due to the chilly morning mist. To finish it off, she tucked her blue-handled knife in the waistband of her pants, putting her shirt over the weapon to hide its presence.

Running an old brush through her blonde locks, which had grown out a little by now, Ella carefully braided a little strand and pushed it behind one of her ears. Putting it back on their old dresser, for a second she admired the flowers her sisters put into a small glass just a few days back, the bright petals still flourishing. Their mother had always loved flowers, so naturally, the girls did too. There was something beautiful about them that was always soothing, but then again, it may have just been the memory of their mother doing that, rather than the plant.

Bending down to tie up her hand-me-down boots though, something odd caught Ella's attention, something that should have naturally went unnoticed.

Usually right before bed, she took it upon herself to tidy up a bit, which included putting everyone's shoes in order. However, it wasn't like that this morning. Lizzie's shoes were in the corner of the room, right beside the latter which led up to the top bunk. There was only one explanation for that, which was that her little sister had been going on her odd nightly outings again. Sighing, she put her shoes back in order like the rest of them, deciding to talk to the girl about it later. Still, even with her concerns, she wouldn't have known how to talk to Lizzie properly about how wrong it was to be sneaking off, doing strange things.