You Are My Sunshine

Three - Charades

A/N: Decided to post early bc I felt like it. I'll probably tRy to keep posting every Tuesday/Wednesday, emphasis on the words probably and try. Anyways, happy reading <3

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    That night had been far from my ordinary. After another small argument with Daryl, me and mom followed him throughout the woods. I'd helped catch a couple squirrels, and we returned with a snake and three squirrels. Enough to make a stew for all of us. I was a little iffy on the snake, and wouldn't walk beside Daryl. Him and Mom thought it was amusing, I did not.

On our first night as roomies Rick invited us to eat with them, and when mom looked my way, I didn't move. It wasn't that I didn't like them, I just didn't trust them. They looked harmless, but no one was ever truly harmless anymore. So, Mom took it upon herself to introduce us and bring us both back a bowl of stew. The lack of seasoning had us disappointed, but when the cook wasn't looking, we sprinkled in our own

I remember feeling their looks, no matter how brief, no matter how much they tried not to stare, I could feel it. At that point in life I was actually quite accustomed to stares, but it still bothered me. Occasionally I would grow the balls to stare back, but once Daryl or Rick would look, my balls seemingly shrunk into bite-sized nuts and I would turn away.

"¿Estás bien?" No, I wasn't okay, but I nodded anyway. I felt trapped. When we returned mom had us hand our knives back over as a sign of collaboration. It was smart in a way, but also stupid. There was ten of them and two of us. I tried not to make it seem obvious that I had the small knife in my boot, but feeling it every once in a while, making sure it was still there, made me feel secure.

Once we finished, Mom brought our bowls back to a woman named Carol, offering to help clean up, but the woman kindly declined her offer. I began to make our makeshift bed for the night. We used our two bags as pillows, and shared a blanket. It was a rather small blanket, and it barely covered me fully, but it was so cold that I wasn't going to not share.

As mom returned she laid down beside me and placed the blanket fully on me. My eyebrows furrowed. I made the move to put the blanket on both of us, but she quickly grabbed my arm.

"You're shivering, Eva. Take it."

My lips pursed. She was cold too. She had to be. My pride wouldn't allow myself to take the blanket, so I didn't. Once she moved her hand I laid on my side, then swiftly shoved the blanket off of me and back onto her. Her eyes widened.

"Está caliente—" Mom had balled up the blanket, read to throw it at my head, but someone beat her to it. My voice stopped as I threw the blanket off my head and shot up. Daryl laid maybe ten feet from where we were, crossing his arms behind his head as he got comfortable on his pack. I hesitated as I contemplated throwing it back.

"Jus' give it back tomorrow, finna go on watch anyway." He grumbled, his eyes facing the ceiling. Mom tried to get me to lay down, but I stayed stiff as a board, confused. His head finally turned toward me as he scoffed, "Jus' take the damn blanket, kid, ya deserve it after today."

I deserved it. He was thanking me for helping him with hunting. I swallowed harshly before spreading out the long blanket over both mom and I, and she placed the smaller one on top of it.

"Thank you," Mom called.

"Don't mention it," He grumbled back as he got himself comfortable again.