Haunted | Daryl Dixon

3. The Future

"I'm gonna be a writer." Evelyn stated determinedly.

"A writer?" Daryl asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A writer." She echoed, plopping a chip into her mouth and leaning back against the wall of the treehouse.

The two of them had woken up a few hours ago, sprawled out uncomfortably on the floor of the fort, only to realize that they had accidentally spent the rest of the night there.

After agreeing to each stop at their respective homes for a few minutes and then meet up to go back to the treehouse and hang out- something that seemed so natural to do, even though they had only just met- Evelyn had snuck through the back door that was still unlocked from her leaving the night before.

Her goal had been to be as quiet as possible and avoid her father, but that didn't turn out to be a problem as soon as she entered the house and the sounds of his snores bounced off the walls. He was a deep sleeper, but to be passed out on the couch like he was- as Evelyn discovered after peeking her head into the living room- could only mean that he had drank too much the night before and would therefore stay asleep until at least right before dinner time.

So with that, she grabbed a large bag of chips she was sure her father wouldn't miss from the cabinet and had gone to slip back out of the house. She stopped herself short though, when she caught a glance of herself in the mirror that came with the house and was hanging in the hallway- neither her nor her father felt the need to take it down.

There, on her left eye was a dark, bluish-purple bruise that sat like an ominous ring around her eye. It was bad. Thankfully, Daryl hadn't brought it up after the night before, and hopefully it would stay like that. Evelyn didn't know if she could handle talking about it.

Shaking off her thoughts, she had hurried back out the door, only to find Daryl waiting on the outskirts of her yard, lightly kicking his toe against the fallen apart fence.

As she had approached, his head had snapped up and his slightly narrowed eyes did a once over of her body, as if to make sure that there hadn't been any repeats of last night, before he had nodded his head in the direction of the woods in an indication to take off once more.

Now, the two neighbors sat on the floor of the treehouse, munching on chips and talking about anything that popped into their heads.

"What would you write about?" Daryl asked, honest curiosity shining in his eyes.

Evelyn shrugged, "I mean, I've already written some short stories during recesses at my old schools. They're mostly about whatever I feel like writing that day." She never told anyone about her stories, not even her father knew about them.

"How about you?" She asked after a moment, "What are you going to be when you grow up?"

There was something about the way she said it. Not asking what he wants to be, but what he's gonna be. As if she believes that he will be able to accomplish whatever it is that he wants to. It was so unlike any teacher he had ever had, asking him what he would like to do, never actually thinking that he would be able to do whatever it was.

"Motorcycles." He said, not really meaning to let the word slip through his lips.

The girl's eyebrows furrowed, "You want to be a motorcycle?" She asked.

He rolled his eyes and threw a chip at her, "No," She laughed slightly when the piece of food hit her, "I think it would be cool to work on motorcycles. Maybe in a garage or somethin'."

In true Daryl fashion, it only took a couple seconds after he said that for his ears to tinge pink at what he just admitted.

Instead of his words being followed by the sound of Evelyn snickering though, she just nodded, "That's cool, you would be, like, a mechanic."

Hesitantly, Daryl nodded, "Uh, yeah, yeah, somethin' like that."

Evelyn smiled a bit, almost as if to herself, and laid down on her back, putting her arms under her head for support, "A mechanic and a writer," She mused, "That's quite the future that we have in store for ourselves."

Daryl hummed, laying down next to the girl that was quickly becoming his best friend. Neither of them knowing just how off track their futures would eventually be thrown, no matter how much they didn't believe it at the moment.

A/N: Sorry this was really short today- but as always, I hope you're enjoying so far!!