HEART FOR BRAINS • the walking dead

028: not-so surprise

One month later...

Rio shoved his diary under his pillow as Carl walked into their room, wiping his face as he put it away. The boy stopped by the door, taking a look at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. Carl furrowed his brow, obviously not believing him. He leant against the wall, waiting as Rio climbed down.

"Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Rio asked as they walked through the prison, waving goodnight to Beth, and Patrick from Cell Block D.

"For a walk."

"Didn't your dad just send you to bed?"

"Yup." He replied nonchalantly. "That's why we have to act super casual, and not as if we've been told to go to bed."

"I haven't." Rio smirked.

"That's because you were in bed anyway." Carl retorted, pulling Rio out of the door. He led them outside and into the field where the boy took to sprinting over to the bus. Rio beat him by a small amount, bragging about the win no matter what the size. They both hopped inside, sitting in the seats at the back.

"It's your birthday tomorrow isn't it." Carl asked, kicking his feet up on the chairs.

"How do you know that?"

"You told us." The boy replied.

"Us?"

"Me and maggie."

"Oh yeah..." Rio sighed in response, surprised he'd even remembered. He'd told the two so long ago. "Don't tell anyone else about it though."

"Why not?" He asked almost guiltily.

"Because I don't want it to be a big deal. It's just a normal day." The boy seemed to be reassuring himself than Carl, making sure that he knew it was nothing special.

Carl looked over at him cautiously. "What's going on, really?"

Rio let out a long breath, sinking further into his seat. "Nothing, nothing, it just feels weird to have a birthday in a prison."

"Oh okay." Carl trailed off as Rio's head rested on his shoulder.

"Yeah." He bit his cheek. "And it's my first birthday without Jesse. That's also weird."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He said, more to himself. "It's okay." Rio repeated. "Let's talk about something else. I don't want to be sad."

"Did you like birthdays before?" Carl asked.

"I guess." The boy replied, looking up at him awkwardly. "Why?"

"I'm not allowed to say."

"Why?"

"I can't say." Carl held back a smile, biting down on his lip.

"Did you just not surprise my surprise?" Rio asked, sitting up. "You're the worst!"

"It's not really a surprise, but a lot of people know. And you've got presents."

"I've got presents?" The boy asked in disbelief.

Carl just nodded his head and mimicked zipping up his lips. Rio laughed at him, trying to get him to talk again.

"Anyway, since I'm 'the worst', I brought this." He sighed.

"What is it?" Rio asked, watching as Carl pulled whatever it was from out of his pocket.