Beautiful Memories • Carl Grimes

Chapter 5

Carl's POV

I rush over after I continuously search all around the house for something to do. It's insanely boring in this house when no one's here. Everyone went back out to search for the camp while the others went on a long walk down the dirt road. They wouldn't let me come along because they're all still pretty disappointed in me for what happened almost a week ago.

I quickly spot Hershel, who's sitting down next to the bed in the guest room, checking Kate's pulse as she lays peacefully.

Pulling a chair over and taking a seat on the other side of the bed, I look up. "How's she doing?" I ask slowly, not knowing if I really care to hear the answer.

Hershel's eyes were sunken in and I could tell he hasn't been feeling good lately. But it doesn't matter. He'll always put others before himself.

"She's doing better."

"Better?" I ask again, questioning him. He glances over with his wise eyes and nods. Then he takes his fingers and goes back to checking her pulse.

"She'll be fine. You really hit her hard, Carl. Your father doesn't even know what to think," he confides, his voice at a very low tone to avoid it from being heard by anyone else. Though, we are alone. I run my fingers through my long bangs.

"It's not what he thinks, Hershel," I begin. "It's what he knows. He doesn't know what happened. I was trying to save her and.. it just backfired. He jumps to conclusions just like the others and it really pisses me off."

"Watch your mouth, Carl," he scolds, giving me a slight death glare for using my usual foul language in his home. He's always had a rule about that, but I've never really been the type to follow rules.

I breathe out. My eyes travel down to watch him dab Kate's bruised forehead with a wet cloth and change the bandage. Her closed eyelids twitch every once in a while. I study the dark purple veins and her long eyelashes. "Maybe she'll be okay. Maybe she'll wake up today," I state, nodding as if I had to confirm the thought.

He pipes in almost immediately and stands to his feet. "I have some important stuff I have to do today. Gotta take care of the garden and Judith. Mind keeping an eye on her?" he asks, a hint of utter annoyance in his old, croaky voice. "And I mean it, Carl."

I don't take my eyes off of her. "Yeah– Uh, I'll stick around here for a while."

He nods in return and turns to exit, leaving me to continue staring at Kate with a fascinated, yet disturbed glare. I didn't mean to hit her, despite what everyone thinks. Maybe she won't notice and they'll all just forget about it. Ha, like that'll happen.

I watch her fingers curl around the sheets carefully and find myself observing every feature on her still, unconscious body. No one's even home right now besides Hershel, Judith, and myself. They won't be back for about another hour.

My eyes travel here and there. I slowly lick my lips. She's definitely attractive. Her entire being is glowing. With her soft dirty blonde hair, her deep green eyes hidden behind her eyelids and those long eyelashes of hers, her cheeks tinged with a gentle shade of pink and a few light freckles, her chest rising and falling with each breath she takes, her slim body laying perfectly still on the comforter, etc. She's extremely gorgeous for someone our age, but Sophia doesn't need to know that.

I lean back in the chair slowly, listening to it creak against my weight. I have to force myself to look away. I shouldn't be violating her with my eyes. She shifts a little as I grab a book off the shelf beside the bed and begin reading from where the bookmark has been placed. Pride and Prejudice.