Survive ( twd carlgrimes)

Chapter 16

MADISON'S POV.

My house looks exactly how I remember it. When I first walk inside I'm greeted by our hall and I'm shocked my the wave of nostalgia that hits me.

It's small a small room but central to the house. I see the old coat racks and key holders by the door, an umbrella stand on my right and too many family pictures mounted onto the walls. It feels odd to see them now, to see how different we look, to know how different we all are now.

On the right side of the hall there's a staircase that leads you upstairs where all of our rooms are and a very small bathroom. Lucky for me, I had a room to myself because Abbie was only a baby, she used to sleep in my parents room.

I carry my attention back to where I stand now, inside the door in our hall. I slowly push my feet forward, passing the stairs and the broom closet under it, straight for the kitchen which is only separated by a door. I open it and stare at the familiar kitchen with a massive countertop, way too big for the small room.

I stare at the contents on the counter. Cereal boxes, baby books, comics, all sorts of cutlery scattered across the wide space.
I'm surprised it's all still here, almost as if it hasn't changed at all. A shiver runs down my back as I remember the morning we were taken.

My mother was bringing us to school, or at least trying to. We were beyond late. I remember her trying to frantically load us into the car as if we had time to spare to get us to school on time, if we just hurried.

I wasn't watching at first when she was grabbed but I heard her scream. It was load and piercing and if we had been on time for school someone probably would've heard it and been around to help us, but of course we were late and everybody had left before us. Nobody was coming to help.

A man had his arms wrapped around her torso and kept her in an iron grip, as if her thrashing didn't affect him at all. Another man brought a cloth to her face and within seconds she was out cold from the drugs in the cloth.
I still remember the men's face.
How could I not?

He didn't bother much with us. He shoved our mother into the car and drove it away himself. Black bags were shoved over our heads and we couldn't see anything. I could still remember how I struggled to breath under it but I remember the panic more and how they knocked out my older brother when he fought back.
There are still no words to describe the fear we felt that day.

"I don't remember this place." Abbie whispers.
'Of course you wouldn't' I wanted to say but my voice seems to be lost somewhere inside of me. I continue to drink everything in around us.

Below the counter there are drawers, a washing machine and a dishwasher. On top there was an old, rusty looking sink.  Sitting above the sink is a huge window, almost the surface area of the wall that allowed you to look into our back garden, which is decorated with dead flowers and tall, strong evergreen trees that act like a fence around us, providing privacy for our family.

The window allows the light to spill into all corners of the kitchen. I follow my family back to the hall and through a door that leads to our sitting room. There's a door in the kitchen that provides another entrance to the sitting room too but it was never used.

Inside there is a huge wooden cabinet standing in the far corner of the room, opposite the dark couch. It holds heirloom vases filled with now dead flowers. Another round of family pictures are splattered across the back wall.

"Home sweet home." Nick murmurs, his voice flat, yet still thick with sarcasm.
I feel the corner of my mouth tilt upways slightly.
"Yeah." I meant to say it louder but it comes out like a whisper.
"It's not much, but...." My mother trails on. She really doesn't talk much.
"It's perfect." Maggie tells her.
"It'll do." Rick grunts.
I roll my eyes.