War Of The Damned - (Daryl & Beth) - The Walking Dead

25. The Return Of Daryl Dixon

25. THE RETURN OF DARYL DIXON

Daryl Dixon had seen and been through a lot in his time. When he was three years old he saw his father beat his mother for the first time - a memory that had stuck with him for almost three decades. And when he was five he walked in on his father with another woman in the bed. Things remained that way for many years, with his mother constantly in and out of hospital and his father getting drop-dead drunk and bringing home countless women. Because of the violent lifestyle his father had created at home, Daryl and his brother Merle had grown up inflicting violence onto others, and that, in turn was what had caused Merle to go to juvenile refinement at an age no older than 13.

Daryl's mother was a beautiful woman, of that he was certain. She was slim, with blue eyes and had long black hair that reached all the way down to the lower part of her back. After her death he moved in with his grandmother and there she had twenty or thirty photos of Ellie Michelson-Dixon blessing her walls. Sometimes late at night Daryl would sneak out of his bedroom - when he thought that his grandmother was fast asleep - just so that he could stare at her face, and cry. He would do that for almost a year, until one Christmas Eve night when his grandmother found him. She didn't say anything at first...she just watched, her old, fragile heart breaking with every sob he released.

After thirty whole minutes she couldn't bare to watch him anymore, but the only thing she could do was hold him as he cried for the mother he had lost, and the daughter she would've given her life for. She cursed the man who'd laid a hand on her all those times and cursed herself for not being able to help her end it.

Christmas Day came with a plethora of presents for Daryl that his grandmother had spent every last cent of her savings on. And the smile on his face when he unwrapped them was what made it all worth it. Daryl got new, clean clothes; one of those necklaces with three three bear tusks that his grandfather used to wear; an expensive cassette player; a skateboard (for she had seen Daryl eyeing one up in one of her advertisement magazines). But what truly brought happiness to Daryl's heart was the last present he opened. It was a miniature version of his current crossbow. Daryl's grandmother knew how much he enjoyed being out among nature, and hunting, and he was a boy accustomed to respect so she had no worries about him misusing the weapon.

Christmas Day, at the young age of 9, Daryl shot a crossbow for the first time in his life. And he was good at it.

Unfortunately, Daryl's grandmother passed away four years later. He was sadder then than when his mother had passed. His grandmother had given him hope when he thought all was lost, had given him love when he thought that such a thing didn't exist. She meant everything to him because she was the epitome of benevolence and love.

Merle was 18 when he was finally released from juvi. He seemed to the rest of the world a changed man and because of that Daryl opted to live with him rather than with his father, who was still a chronic drunk with nothing to offer Daryl or Merle only violence. Suffice to say, Daryl never recovered from losing both his mother and his grandmother. At 16 Daryl decided to immortalize the only two women in his life with ink upon his skin. In the forms of two angles, he felt as though they were forever beside him, an angel on each shoulder.

After the world turned to shit and Daryl's heart had become hard and even a little cold; he believed himself to be alone, especially after he was forced to kill Merle. He couldn't stand to see that his brother had become of the walking dead, and Merle had told him several times before that if the time came he better fucking kill him.

That was the last straw for Daryl. After Merle...he was a survivor. A vessel of blood and bones. He was emotionless and detached. And just when he thought that he would never care for another human being again, a simple girl entered his life.