A Simple Coincidence // Daryl Dixon

18 | Real? Or Fake?

There are times that I thought I was delusional, and that all this was just my subconscious mind playing games with me. maybe I had died, and this was my hell. Maybe I got some disease that made me hallucinate. Maybe I had gotten into a coma, and this was all just a coma dream. I thought of anything possible just to avoid the fact that this was simply our reality now.

How could it be though?

When I entered the kitchen the first thing that caught my eye was a thick notebook on the counter. As a kid I had so many journals, I would write in them every so often about everything and anything happening in my life. A bit like a diary but I refused to call them diaries.

Maybe I should start writing again.

Then I remember that I was most likely going to die that day, so I decided to just write all about my journey ever since the outbreak happened.

Maybe someone will find it someday, and they'll read about me!

So, I started writing with the pen I found while eating some of the eggs that T-dog had made.

Day 1...

***

I was roughly on day 43 when suddenly all the lights went out. My breath hitched in my throat.

So, it's happening, we're all gonna die.

I thought I'd be more prepared for death when the time came, but suddenly I was afraid of leaving this life. I realized all the time that I had spent not caring about life and accepting death, I was only trying to distract myself from the fact that I was horrified of dying.

I didn't want to die; I had barely lived. If you could call it that. Almost all my life I had always looked forward to the good days that everyone promised would come. through all my struggles I always fought through them because I had been promised a better life. The light at the end of the tunnel. The light in the darkness. The light shining through the darkness. The light leading a path to the better.

But in that moment, all light had burned out.

I started panicking, thinking about all of the things I never got to do, all the things I will never experience. My potential future self never being discovered.

I want to live. I need to live.

Breathing became a hard task, I started feeling dizzy, the world around me was disoriented. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as I struggled to keep steady breaths. My arms and legs felt numb, yet my lungs were on fire. I tried getting out of the chair I had been sitting on, but that only lead me to feel worse. The light coming from the window on my left made me feel lightheaded as the walls closed in on me. I was screaming yet no noise was being heard. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know who to call for. I couldn't speak at all.

I was on the floor on my knees with my hands on my chest trying my best to breathe. Tears were streaming down my face and chocked sobs mixed with the sounds of my heavy breaths were echoing through the room. Which seemed to be shrinking as time went by as if the room was swallowing itself.

Just breath. 1... 2... 3... 4...

My breaths kept getting shorter, and my heartbeats kept getting louder. The room kept moving every time I looked around, some things were up close other things were too far away. There was a loud ringing noise in my ears as if someone had just shot a gone beside my ears.

Is this death? Did I die?

I didn't know how long I stayed on the floor in that state; it felt like an eternity. A loud alarm had started to go off, which just made me panic even more. If I had some breath in my lungs, I didn't anymore. My lungs were burning, my chest hurt so badly I thought I was going to explode. I just wanted it to stop, I didn't think I could keep up with breathing if my panic lasted another minute. All I remember next is the echo of a voice calling my name and a hand on my shoulder.

I looked up and although my vision was blurry, I knew it was Daryl. His mouth was moving but I couldn't make up the words he was speaking. I held onto his hand that was previously on my shoulder and finally spoke.

"Make i-it sto-p, please" I pleaded in between short breaths.

"Hey, look at me. Just breathe" he instructed after crouching down in front of me.

"I c-cant!"

"Alright uh. Just follow my breathing, okay" I nodded squeezing his hand hard as if my life depended on it. Which I guess it did.

I stared into his baby blue eyes and tried to follow his breathing, my ears blocked out everything around me, everything was very bright and before I knew it, I could breathe better.

"Elle c'mon we don't got time. We have to leave, now. I have your bags!" he rushed me to my feet, but I couldn't keep myself up. I was extremely dizzy and weak. I didn't get to take a step forward before I collapsed, but I never hit the ground and faster than I could comprehend what was happening darkness took over.

***
Third POV

Daryl caught Elleanore in his arms before she could fall onto the hard ground. Without a second thought, he put his arm underneath her knees and carried her bridal style before rushing out of the kitchen; but not before picking up the notebook he had noticed Elleanore had close to her. running up the stairs where the huge CDC class windows were with everyone else trying to break out.

He gently moved her head so it was against his chest instead of letting it hang down. He knew that it would hurt her neck, and she would be in pain when she woke up. He didn't know why he cared; he just knew that he was grateful she wouldn't remember his act of kindness towards her. He was never one to show any kindness or even a slight sign of care towards anyone. Not until her.

When he broke out of his gaze on her, Carol was giving Rick a grenade.

Where the hell did she get that? He thought to himself, but he was glad nonetheless.

As Rick set the bomb they all took cover from the explosion; Daryl subconsciously turned around and shielded Elleanore's body from any harm, before rushing out of the building along side the people he had been surviving with for almost two months. Yet he found himself slightly more concerned about a certain girl who was laying unconscious in his arms although he only knew her for a couple of days.