We hear Beth sobbing hysterically, the sound of shattering glass ripping through the room.
"The bathroom!" Maggie yells. We run to the closed door across the room, wrestling frantically with the knob.
"It's locked!" I cry.
"Where's the key??" She asks as she fumbles around digging through all the drawers in the room.
"Beth!" I call to her, banging on the door. Lori comes running at the sound of all this commotion.
"Hailey?" She looks to be confused.
"She in there! We heard glass." I explain.
"I can't find the damn key." Maggie tells her in a panic.
"Beth, honey you alright?" Lori asks her, while I continue to tug on the locked door.
"Don't do this Beth, please don't do this." I beg.
"Open up, please. God, I left her with Andrea." Maggie tells Lori, feeling responsible. Lori rushes across the room to the fire place. "Beth honey please open the door. I'm not mad. I'm not mad Beth." Maggie continues to plead. Lori returns seconds later with an iron fire poker.
"Maggie..Hailey.." We both move out her way as quickly as possible. She shoves the pointy end of the poker between the door and the frame using all her strength to pry the door open. "Hang on." She mutters as the door creaks. It finally pops open revealing poor Beth standing with her back to us in front of the shattered mirror, sobs quaking through her body. Lori drops the iron poker letting it clatter to the floor as Beth turns around. She's holding a slice on her wrist with her other hand, blood dripping all over the floor.
"I'm sorry." Beth whimpers. Maggie gushes into the room, enveloping Beth in her arms. She grabs her injured arm, keeping pressure on the wound on her wrist as she holds her.
"It's okay, it's okay." Maggie whispers tearfully. She ushers her out of the bathroom, making sure to keep the pressure on the wound. Blood seeps between their fingers leaving a deep red trail as they walk. "Lori please get my dad. She needs help." Lori nods and disappears into the other room. The screen door slams shut behind her as she scrambles outside to find him. "Hailey I need paper towels, gauze, somethin', anythin' to stop this bleeding." I nod, racing to the kitchen to find anything of the sort. The urgency of the situation filling me with fear. I fumble around the kitchen in a panic. I snatch up what's left of a roll of paper towels off the counter and a few clean dish rags from under the sink. I hurry them back to Maggie who takes them gratefully. Beth continues to sob, apologizing profusely. Thankfully it's not long before Lori's back with Hershel and Patricia.
"I..I need room.." Hershel says, flustered by the fact his youngest child, his baby, had just tried to end her life.
"Come on honey, let's give him some space." Lori says to Maggie. She nods and the three of us exit the room in shock. "She's gonna be just fine." She says comfortingly as we walk Maggie to the kitchen to clean up. She washes her little sister blood off her hands, the water swirling a rich pink down the drain.
"I never should have left her with Andrea...I should have known..." Maggie whispers as she dries her hands.
"This isn't your fault...you couldn't have known." I tell her, hoping to bring her some peace. She looks past me out the door and her face floods with anger. She storms outside with Lori and I close on her tail. Andrea is sprinting towards the house.
"Where were you?" Maggie asks angrily, meeting her at the bottom of the porch stairs.
"I heard, is she alright?" Andrea asks, out of breath, completely disregarding Maggie's question.
"She would be if you had stayed with her." Maggie spits back. "Where were you?"
"How bad is she?"
"It wasn't deep." Lori answers. Andrea sighs, a huge smile spreading across her face.
"She wants to live. She made her decision." She says happily.
"She tried to kill herself!" I snap.
"No she didn't."
"My father is stitching her wrist right now!" Maggie yells.
"She'll live." Andrea tries to walk inside, but Maggie takes a step sideways blocking her path. The smile drops from Andrea's face.
"Stay away from her." Maggie growls protectively. "From both of us. Don't you dare step foot inside this house again." Andrea looks from Maggie to Lori and then to me before nodding her head and turning away. She walks away with a defeated sigh while Maggie joins Lori and I on the porch.
"I'm not gonna say she was right, but Beth has made her choice. She wants to live and now she knows it. And sometimes you have to cross the line." Lori says to her. Maggie opens the door and heads inside without saying a word. Lori follows after her, but I don't. I sit in the rocking chair, leaning my head back, letting the chilly afternoon breeze wash over my face. Winter will be here soon, which means the walkers will slow. Beth is alive, Randall is gone, maybe things will finally start to look up from here. I hope. Relief washes over me when I see my brothers car pull into the driveway, they're safe. Rick and Shane climb out, covered in dried blood and fresh developing bruises.
"What the hell happened to you two?" I ask them, shocked at the sight of them. They don't speak, instead they pop the trunk. My stomach churns, knowing exactly what that means. Shane yanks something out letting it drop heavily in the dirt. My breath catches in my throat.
Randall.
YOU ARE READING
Haven (A Walking Dead fanfiction)
FanficThis is the story of Hailey Ann Walsh, a teenage girl orphaned by the outbreak of an unknown virus that reanimates the dead. Her older brother Shane was no where to be found so she was forced to survive on her own. After the loss of her companion sh...
