Future Ghosts • TWD

22. Sophia.

Rosie stayed in and around Daryl's tent until the sun began to set. She collected rocks for her slingshot to pass time and whittled down a stick until the end of it was pointy. She didn't have much else to do, and she was avoiding going anywhere Carl might be because Daryl said to give him time.

At one point, she was just walking around aimlessly, unsure of what else to do. But then she saw Shane sitting on the porch, watching her. It made her uncomfortable. Something was off about it him ever since they got to the farm. At the Atlanta camp, he and Lori always inserted themselves into Rosie's business. At the CDC, Shane let Rosie use his shower. In the RV, Shane let Rosie clean his gun and told her that he would never hurt her. But now he was different. He didn't even bother to say hello when he came inside and Rosie was bound to the couch. He was off.

Something about him was off.

And it scared Rosie. And it made her mad. Why did he seem to care about her well-being at one point, and then stopped caring all together when they got to the farm?

Is it because I was stupid and got lost? Is he mad at me?

Is he mad that Sophia got shot because of me?

Rosie thought about that for a long time. She wanted to know what she did wrong, but she wasn't sure. Maybe Shane just never cared about her in the first place.

She was on the lowest branch of a tree, trying to reach a cicada shell she saw, when she heard a loud whistle. Her head whipped around to see who it was, almost making her fall out of the tree, but it was just Daryl, standing next to his tent.

"Rose! C'mon, girl. Dinner's done," Daryl called, waving her over.

Rose. Is that a nickname? Did I get a nickname? What does that mean?

Pushing her thoughts away, Rosie reached up, picked the cicada shell off of the bark, and climbed back down. She started making her way to the house on her own, seeing that Daryl didn't wait up for her. When she got to the porch, she placed the cicada shell she found on the railing, not wanting to be rude and bring it inside.

Rosie made her way inside and saw that they had set up two tables, all surrounded by chairs, in the dining room, and had food out on the counters in the kitchen. She first went to the kitchen and put a little food on her plate, not taking too much as not to be rude. She didn't feel very hungry, anyway.

Once she got her plate, she went back into the dining room. Almost everyone was already sat down and eating, except Carol, she was in the bedroom with Sophia. Rosie looked around the room and saw that there were only two open spaces left. One was next to Carl, and the other was next to Shane.

Carl's prob'ly still pissed.

Shane's off.

Rosie walked right past them with her plate and went back outside. She sat down on the porch steps and started eating her food. She couldn't stop thinking about the bruise she left on Carl's cheek. She felt guilty.

First Sophia got shot because I couldn't find her fast enough, and now I hurt Carl.

I hurt Carl because I was angry.

Just like...

Daddy.

Rosie nearly jumped out of her skin when someone sat down next to her. She looked to her left to see that it was Carl. He had his own plate of food in his lap and began eating it without a word. Rosie wasn't sure what to say at first, but she thought that maybe since he sat next to her, she could finally apologize.

"I'm sorry for punchin' ya... again," Rosie said, pushing around the food on her plate with the fork in her hand.

"I'm sorry for what I said," Carl replied before taking a bite of food.