Dear Diary | Daryl Dixon

𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎 - 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚊'

𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚁𝚈 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 - 𝚂𝙾𝙼𝙴𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚆𝙸𝙻𝙻 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴 𝙰𝙻𝙾𝙽𝙶 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚈𝙰'

Dear Diary,
I didn't sleep much last night. I kept thinking about what Daryl said about not knowing what the inevitable is. What did he even mean by that? I spent all night thinking about it but I didn't come up with an answer. I would have asked Daryl but he had fallen asleep as soon as we returned last night. This morning, we all decided to go to the farm where the rest of the group were. It's beautiful. It's really big with lots of grass and a big house sitting in the middle. For a second, it seemed as if the world wasn't dead, like we weren't surrounded by muertos.

When Anita stepped out of the RV, she noticed Rick and Lori come out to see them. She went over to them both before hugging Lori. "How's Carl? He good?" Anita asked the couple.

"Yeah, he's stable now." Rick explained.

"He only just woke up." Lori said, making Anita smile a little. She was glad Carl was okay. He was a little kid. She wouldn't wish something terrible like a gunshot killing him.

Anita looked around and saw T-Dog with his arm patched up. Shane had shaved all his hair off and was wearing some baggy overalls. Glenn was with T. She also saw the owners of the farm, a man with white hair, a young blonde girl, a young guy with brown hair, the woman that came on the horse and another older blonde woman.

"How is he?" Dale asked.

"He'll pull through thanks to Hershel and his people and-" Lori said.

"And Shane. We'd have lost Carl if not for him." Rick said.

"How did it happen?" Anita asked.

"Hunting accident. That's all. Just a stupid accident." Rick said.

"Well, I think I speak for everyone when I say we are all so glad he's okay." Anita said.

"Thanks, Anita." Rick said with a small smile.

"You think I can go and see him?" Anita asked.

"Yeah, of course. He's inside in the bedroom." Lori said. Anita nodded and went into the house, heading to the bedroom to see Carl laying on the bed with no shirt on and a big bandage near his ribs. He smiled when he saw her.

"Hi, Anita." He smiled.

"Hi, are you doing okay, sweetie?" Anita asked as she sat in front of him.

"Yeah. Did you guys find Sophia? Is she okay?" Carl asked.

Hearing Carl asking if Sophia was okay after he was literally shot and almost lost his life, it warmed my heart. He's such a sweet little boy. He cares more about Sophia than himself. I couldn't tell him that none of us had found her. It would have broken his little heart.

"She's okay." Anita said. "Now, we have to focus on you getting better."

"Yeah, it still hurts a little." Carl said.

"On the bright side, it'll leave a badass scar. That'll attract all the girls." Anita joked, making Carl's face go red as he laughed.

"I like you, Anita. You're not going to leave us, are you?" Carl asked, making Anita's face fall a little. That was always her plan. Killing herself and finally being free. Finally lifting the burden that was her presence off the group.

"Well, if anything does happen to me, just know that you're my favourite member of our group." Anita said, making Carl smile wide.

----------

It was a rather hot day today. The group were pretty much scattered, doing their own thing. Daryl and I were the only ones out looking for Sophia since Rick had given Carl a lot of his blood and Shane had hurt his ankle. I know Daryl only brought me along because he wanted to keep an eye on me. I don't need a baby sitter and as much as I tried to protest, Daryl just wouldn't take no for an answer. We ended up finding an old farmhouse that was abandoned but Sophia wasn't there. We did end up finding a blanket and pillow which could mean she was hiding in the house.

When the two failed to locate Sophia, they went outside the house where Anita spotted two white flowers growing in the distance. She went over to them and stroked its soft petals. It felt like those flowers were the only beautiful things left in the dead world they were living in.

"That's a Cherokee Rose." Daryl said as he approached her. Anita looked up at him and saw him look at the flower before looking at him. "The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cos they were losing their little ones along the way, exposure and disease and starvation, a lot of them disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer. Asked for a sign to uplift the mother's spirit. Give them strength, hope. The next day, this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell."

"That's....really sweet." Anita said. She had no idea that flowers could have such a meaningful story behind them. "You should give it to Carol. I think she'd appreciate it." Daryl looked at the two roses and picked them both before looking at Anita.

I was rather surprised when Daryl put one of the roses behind my ear in my hair. I wasn't expecting that but it felt....right. I could feel his hand brush against my ear and I felt something in my stomach that I hadn't felt before. It didn't know what it was but....I kinda liked it.

"Maybe the rose will give ya' strength and hope, too. To live through another day." Daryl said softly and Anita was completely rendered speechless. "And even if it doesn't, something will come along for ya', something worth living for. Ya' just have to wait long enough for it to come to ya'."

Anita looked straight into Daryl's blue eyes, not knowing what to say. He seemed to have so much faith that they'd find Sophia, that he'd be able to keep Anita alive. There was so much more to Daryl than he led on. Spending all this time with him was making Anita look at him in a different light. He wasn't this all tough, hot headed guy. He was a real softie inside who cared about others. Anita had made it her mission to finally end her life that day but after that conversation, Daryl made her want to wait one more day.