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MURPHY STEPPED OUT of the Hilltop trailer and into the temperate air. Jesus had left her to her thoughts about a half an hour ago. She sat on the edge of the bed with her elbows propped on her knees, the pad of her forefinger running over her bottom lip. She thought of Negan. She thought of the look in Daryl's eyes as he was hauled off to an unknown fate. She remembered the way her frantic hands found their way to the back of his neck, cradling him close as he cried into her shoulder. But worst of all... the thought crossed her mind that she might have experienced that for the last time.
Don't think that way, she thought to herself. Muddled thoughts of negativity never offer a solution. But oh, how easy that was... to fall into that trap of darkness— lingering on the past when only the future holds a key to that prison. Murphy thought back to the days she was alone, wandering the wilderness after a traumatic event that took everything from her. She survived and found a family she never could have imagined. And while that family may have been gone or separated in this moment, it was up to her to dictate the kind of person she wanted to be. It was up to her to make sure it would be okay.
So as she opened the door and stepped out into the bustling community, a sad smile crossed her face when she spotted Sasha and Maggie talking on the other side of the clearing. The wounds of the lineup were still fresh. It hadn't even been a day, after all. It felt both like a minute ago and a decade, time not being a constraint on the grief everyone was experiencing. This event would be something that defined their age... that scarred them and reminded of the worst of humanity. But wounding is an opportunity to relearn if you let it be.
Murphy first went over to Maggie.
"Thank God," she whispered, immediately wrapping her arms around the widow's shoulders. "Thank God you're both okay."
Maggie immediately returned the embrace with a tight hug around Murphy's middle. She pressed her cheek against Murphy's shoulder, nodding silently with her eyes screwed shut. Maggie melted in her embrace, feeling the weight of her loss return in the comfort of Murphy's arms. She made it feel okay to miss Glenn.
Maggie soon pulled away from the doctor and Murphy moved on to Sasha. Her hands splayed across Sasha's back and pulled her into a tight hug. While the two women weren't close, Sasha saw Murphy's character from afar. She listened to all the good things Abraham had to say about her. She saw the group welcome her without question in Terminus all that time ago. She saw Tyreese begin to trust her, and knew of Murphy's efforts to keep him alive. Sasha never found a chance to thank her. But so much had changed in this last year. It was hard to fathom how much these three women had changed.
So when Sasha and Murphy pulled away from one another, Maggie asked a question that already hung in the air... exhaled through her lips like the notion itself was too much to bear.
