Haven (on hold)

17

"Books are the mirrors of the soul."
― Virginia Woolf

~Aurora's Pov~

It was dark out right now. Earlier today, the adults of the group had a meeting about Randall, they were debating on what they were going to do with him. They came to the conclusion of executing him. Right now Dad, Daryl and Shane were at the barn doing it. The rest of us were here at camp waiting for the gunshot to go off.

We heard footsteps and we looked over to see Dad walking back with a hand on Carl's back. "We're keeping him in custody for now." He said looking at all of us. I didn't have a say in this, I wasn't even allowed in the meeting they had but I knew he was dangerous. Daryl interrogated him recently and he said Randall had a group of 30 men, that's all my dad told me.

"I'm gonna find Dale." Andrea said with a smile. She got up and walked away from the camp. I looked at Maggie, I was standing with her and Glenn. "I'm gonna go tell my dad." She said softly and put a hand on my arm. She walked away from the camp as well, "Carl, 'rora go inside." Mom said. I looked back at my mom, She looked at me. "Can I go to the house with Maggie..?" I asked. She nodded, "Take Carl with you." She said holding her arm out towards him. Carl didn't move, his eyes bounced from mine then to dad's. "Now, please." Mom said looking at him. "I'll go with them," Glenn said looking at mom and dad. "Thank you." Mom responded looking at him. Carl walked over to me and we all started walking. Maggie was ahead of us but she didn't know we were behind her.

I furrowed my eyebrows as a thought entered my mind, I looked over to Carl. "What were you doing with dad?" I asked, confused. He didn't look up at me, he kept looking forward as we walked towards the house. ".. I wanted to make sure dad did it." He said after a few seconds of silence. "Why would you wanna see that?" I asked, shaking my head. He shrugged as we walked. "Why." I repeated. He looked up at me, "Because I heard dad talking to you." He said.

I shook my head, "What does dad have to do with this? This is about you. Don't change the subject." I said as I stopped walking, I was starting to get annoyed at the fact that he wasn't giving me a straight answer. Glenn looked over to us, starting to get uncomfortable at the fact that this was slowly starting to break out to an argument. He stopped too and I looked at him, "Um, we'll catch up.." I said. "Yeah.." He said softly and walked away from us.

Carl stopped too and looked at me. "Why were you there." I repeated. He was only 12 years old and he went willingly, hoping to see dad pull the trigger. "Dad lied to you." He said. Starting to get mad as he noticed the look on my face. My annoyance was slowly turning into anger. "Don't bring dad into this, this is about you." I said. He shook his head, "He kept something from you. You weren't there when Daryl came back. Dad told you about the 30 guys but he left out the part where Daryl said if his group comes to the farm, they'll gonna kill all the men and hurt the women. Not kill, hurt. They want you guys alive to hurt you. I don't want anything to happen to you, mom or dad. I wanted to make sure he was dead so that won't happen. That's why I went Aurora." He said looking slightly up at me. I kept looking at him, not knowing what to say. "The only reason dad didn't tell you was because he didn't want you to be scared." He said.

A sudden scream echoed through the farm and we looked back to see everyone at camp hurrying, confused but grabbing weapons. Carl grabbed my hand and looked around, starting to get scared. I held his hand and he stepped closer to me. "Get to the house! Now!" Dad yelled from across the field, looking at us as everyone started to run towards the screams. "Cmon." I said pulling his hand, we started making our way to the house quickly. I looked back to see Hershel, Patricia, Maggie and Oliver running out of the house and over to the fields.

"Dale!" We heard Andrea's voice.

"Dale?!" Carl asked looking at me, he pulled my hand back. "We have to go." He said. "No- dad said we-" "No! It's Dale! We have to go." He said cutting me off. "Carl-" "Aurora it's Dale!" He said trying to pull me towards the screams. "Cmon!" He pleaded as the screams grew louder. "Please!" He repeated and pulled me away. "Damn it." I said and we ran hand in hand to the rest. Carl let go of my hand as we saw Dale laying on the floor, his stomach was ripped open and a walker was laying next to him. I covered my mouth and took a step back feeling my heart start to race. Andrea was crying, looking down at Dale as he groaned and moaned in pain. Dad got down on one knee putting his hand on his gun, looking at Dale. "Oh Dale." Andrea cried.

I heard Carl start to cry then he ran to mom. "He's suffering. Do something!" Andrea pleaded as she cried, looking at my dad as he stood back up. Dad pulled out his gun and looked down at him. I looked at him with tears in my eyes. He looked at me unsteadily with tears in his eyes, shaking his head. I felt a hand on my arm and I uncovered my mouth, turning around. I hugged them quickly, closing my eyes. They hugged me back just as quick, The only thing I heard was Andrea's cries and Dale groaning in pain. I felt another hand on my back, "Ollie don't look." I heard Maggie's voice.

"Sorry brother." I heard Daryl's voice, a few seconds passed and the gunshot finally went off. I jumped slightly and hugged them tighter, burying my face in their shoulder. They did the same and brought their hand to the back of my neck, I gasped and shut my eyes tight feeling a tear fall from my eyes. "Oh-" I heard Oliver's voice close to my ear. "Maggie, get them inside." I heard Hershel's voice. "Cmon." She said and rubbed my back and Oliver's. We pulled away from each other and we walked away from Dale. "Take him- take him baby." Mom said looking at me in shock. I grabbed Carl's hand and pulled him away from her.

Oliver, Maggie, Carl and I headed back to the house leaving the rest with Dale.

Word Count: 1160

A/N: Just imagine this is Oliver and Aurora please 🥺