Tragic Youth | TWD

001 | Charlotte.

A STAR IS considered to be dying once its energy production starts slowing and it fades away. The process happens slowly over years when the star is first born, pieces one by one fall away until nothing but a black hole remains. This can happen in children too, when they are too young to realise and it's too late to stop.

Charlotte Jones slowly woke from her uncomfortable sleep, the sleeping bag beneath her didn't hold much warmth, but it worked fine enough. Her hands wiped the sleep gunk from her eyes as she moved to stretch out her limbs to fully adjust to the new day.

Her eyes wandered around the tent, trying to locate her father. Usually she was the first awake, which was good because she could have time to herself before having to do jobs for him. Unfortunetly that wasn't the case this morning, and her dad was nowhere to be seeen.

"Dad?" The young girl muttered as she unzipped and climbed out of the tent, her eyes burned as they slowly adjusted to the sunlight. She adjusted her shorts, which had gotten all tangled up in her sleep, and began to look around. Her boots latched to her feet loosly, they used to belong to her father so they didn't fit to well, but Charlotte just shoved a few socks in and it did the job just fine.

Though, even after trailing the whole camp, she couldn't see her dad anywhere. A few others were up, each busy doing their own tasks. Lori, a kind woman that Charlotte had met weeks prior, was sitting around the low fire with her son, Carl Grimes.

Officer Shane stood by his truck, he looked like he was fixing up his gun, but Charlotte couldn't see to clearly. Dale as usual, was sat above his RV, lounched on a chair reading one of his many magazines. And the other campers were doing chores to help.

"Do you want some breakfast, Charlotte?" Lori asked the young girl as she approached, a gentle smile plastered on her face. Charlotte also felt anxious when she had to talk to people without her dad around, he normally got them to leave by being mean, it wasn't that good, but it prevented her from having to talk to them.

"No, thank you, ma'am." Charlotte replied, she looked up at the woman, figuring if she wanted answers, she had to ask. "Have you seen my dad?"

"Uh.. No I haven't, sorry sweetheart, maybe ask Shane?" Lori sighed with a small frown, she really wanted to help the girl but there wasn't anything she could really do. Charlotte already knew she wasn't going to ask Officer Shane, that man scared her, even when he was just trying to help her. Her dad doesn't like cops, so neither does Charlotte.

She nodded before turning off, planning to just go sit in her tent until her father returned. Not that the girl had much to do, she figured she would just manage by playing with loose sticks or dirt.

Only an hour passed, though for Charlotte it felt like days. She was bored out of her mind, and though it was somewhat peaceful without her dad yelling into her ear, it was driving her crazy.

"Charlotte!" Will Jones voice rang out through the camp, alerting his daughter to quickly unzip the tent and climb out, running over to him. "Go get 'yer knife girl, time to teach 'ya to skin a squirrel."

Charlotte nodded, "Yes, daddy." she stammered as she hurried back to the tent to locate her knife from her backpack. It was just a small switchblade, one he gifted her for her sixth birthday, the same birthday he taught her to hunt on.

Her hands moved quick to unzip the bag, digging into it as fast as possible. Right now he didn't seem angry, but she knew if she took too long that would change very fast. Once her eyes landed on the knife, she stuffed it into her pocket and ran back out.

As she reached her father, who as usual, was sitting with the Dixon brothers, he threw a squirrel into her lap and Charlotte looked at the animal. "Just do it carefully, right under the skin." He instructed her, giving no detail, leaving the girl to figure it out herself. But, nonetheless, Charlotte was quick to get to work.