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OCTOBER 7TH, 2013
"What do you want to know?" Reign picked at her nails, continuing to keep her eyes on her lap, and not on Deanna or the office they appeared to be in, or at that oddly modern camera.
"Well... For starters... I want to say sorry for my son's actions. If I'd known that's what they were doing out there, it would've been stopped long ago. That was foolish of them. What's your name?" Deanna adjusted the camera a bit, her kind eyes seeming to bore into Reigns. Reign didn't answer, her eyes meeting Deanna's for a split second. The first word that popped into her mind was that cringey name in which Noah blurted earlier in the day.
"Kerosene."
"...Kerosene? Your name is Kerosene?" Deannas eyebrows raised in surprise. Reign hummed a response, nodding slightly. "Well, Kerosene... What's your story?"
~°•~°•
"Dad told me you were here," a voice, a masculine voice at that, spoke softly as Reign left Deannas house moments later.
"Uh..." Reign stammered, unsure how to respond to that piece of information. Along with that boy, the one in the sheriff's hat, was another, taller boy and the same brunette girl from earlier.
"I'm Ron," the taller boy introduced. "This is Carl and Enid." Reigns eyes fluctuated between the three teens.
"....Hi." Reign spoke softly as Enid gave a silent, quick, very faint smile
"I heard Glenn tell my dad that you almost got attacked out there. That you won't tell them your name. Why?" Carl asked. He crossed his skinny but toned arms over his chest as he spoke. Ron perked up at this piece of information.
"Nobody needs names. Kerosene is pretty damn cringey, but it works," Reign shrugged.
"And you're from Atlanta?" Ron popped a brow at the girl.
"Yeah," Reign muttered.
"I heard you came from a jail," Ron urged.
"Yeah," Reign awkwardly nodded. Carl cleared his throat to change the subject.
"Us too. My mom and my dad and pretty much everyone," the boy in the sheriff's hat complimented. Reign gave him a slight nod of the head.
"Did it suck as much as mine did?..." Reign spoke.
"Yeah, it sucked. But, I guess it was okay," Carl shrugged.
"Uh, anyways... Were you guys waiting on me?"
"Oh! Yeah, dad wants to meet you," Carl nodded.
"Glenn said you were by yourself. You escaped a... Prison explosion or something?" Ron spoke up. Enid elbowed him in the ribs.
"Jail, but yeah. It was pretty nasty," Reign nodded slightly. It's been weeks since she's spoken to kids her own age.
"Glad to have ya, Kerosene," Ron nodded, still weirded out by the name but keeping his opinions to himself.
Reign nodded as Carl pointed his head down the road, gesturing for her to follow them. Enid simply gave an apologetic shrug for Ron's idiotic and downright rude questioning, and they all turned back down the road.
"Mom's gonna freak if I don't make dinner tonight. I'll see you guys later?" Ron stopped at a fork in the road.
"Yeah, see you, man," Carl nodded toward the other teen boy.
"Bye," Enid spoke softly, nodding toward Ron. Reign gave a simple tilt of the head toward him. Ron nodded back at her, turning and leaving the four. "I better go too," Enid spoke, "It's nice meeting you, Kerosene."
"Yeah, you too," Riegn nodded toward Enid before she carried off down the same street as Ron.
"I'm just down the road," Carl continued to walk. "So, how do you like it here so far? We're all pretty new too."
"It's not... It's better than other places I've been," Reign kept her eyes on her shoes. "Did you get filmed too?"
"Deannas interview. Everyone I've talked to has done one. It's... Abnormal, but I guess it's no reason to, like, question. That's what my dad says," Carl shrugged.
"Yeah..." Reign nodded as they ascended the two steps leading to a white wooden front porch to a nice, two story home. There was a rocking chair on the front, by the window. There sat an older woman with white hair, holding a baby.
"Welcome to Alexandria. I'm Carol," the older woman smiled.
"Thanks... She's really cute," Reign nodded toward the baby. She was a sucker for kids.
"That's my sister, Judith," Carl smiled, taking the baby into his arms.
"I'm definitely spending more time with you," Reign joked, cracking a chuckle for the first time in a long time.
"We need all the babysitting help we can get," the front door opened, revealing the tall greying man with the clean-shaven face and freshly cut hair, his eyes icy blue, the same southern twinge on his tongue. "I'm Rick, Carl's dad. Welcome to Alexandria. It's a nice place, ain't it?"
"Yeah, it's... Nice. Homey," she spoke dully as Rick beckoned her into the house. In the background, maybe from the kitchen, she could hear almost clear bickering. A female and a male.
"We're not kicking her out! Nobody is leaving! She's, what, fiveteen at most? So what she's not one of us or one of you, whatever that means. She's a kid!" The female argued.
"Michonne, she is an outsider. She was armed when we found her. She could be making all this up. What's behind that mask?" The male counter-argued.
"Michonne! Aiden!" Rick called, "Have a seat. Make yourself at home." Reign quietly nodded, taking a seat on the creme colored couch. Carl followed suit, the bouncing baby girl still in his arms. Soon a dark skinned woman, along with Aiden, came into the room.
"I'm Michonne," the woman held her hand out. She was hesitant, but Reign still shook it firmly, like she was taught.
"Now, Reign, we need to have a little conversation. You're not in trouble or anything," Rick assured her, "But safety is our biggest precaution here. I'm sure you can understand our concerns."
