Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
_______
Staring at the top of the bunk in her cell, Lauren closed her eyes, thinking; she had never told anyone that much about herself. It was easy to just let it all out. Lauren wasn't a talker, seeing as she's been alone for most of the time.
Lauren was interrupted from her thoughts as Carl walked in the doorway. Sitting herself up, Lauren glared darkly at the boy. She definitely didn't feel like talking, especially if it was about some emotional speech about his feelings.
"I'm sorry all that happened to you, I...crossed a line, and I shouldn't have blown up on you." He stated, leaning against the doorway. Lauren tilted her head towards the left wall, not wanting to make eye contact with Carl. He wouldn't understand what she had been through, no one would.
"Why do you even care about talking to me?" Lauren blurted out, glaring angrily at Carl. She expected him to be angry back at her, but he wasn't angry. After hearing her story, he understood why she was so angry; she had a right to be angry. This confused Lauren even more, why was he so calm?
"Because you seem like a good person," Carl cautiously responded. Good person? Those words made Lauren want to scoff. She didn't deserve the title 'good person'. Lauren thought she didn't deserve anything.
"I'm not good, Carl." His name rolled off her tongue like knives, she felt bitter towards him.
"I'm not scared of you, if that's what you think," Carl scoffed, shaking his head. Something hit Lauren when he said this, she could tell he wasn't lying. She couldn't make him scared of her, and that worried her.
"You should be." Lauren mumbled, glancing towards the floor with her dark green eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Carl walking towards her slightly.
"You're not a bad person Lauren, you're just someone who's been through too much shit." Carl suddenly responded. Lauren's body was tense, but she released the tension when he said this. This was the first person that had ever said this to her, and she was confused by it.
Somewhere, deep down, Lauren felt that maybe he did understand her. Maybe she wasn't bad, but that was the title she had for herself since she killed someone and felt no remorse for them. Glancing upwards, she stared into his blue eyes. They were so deeply blue that she felt she could swim through it's oceans. Everything around her was burning down, and Lauren felt as if all she could do was stare at his ocean eyes.
➸ ➸ ➸
It had been a day since Lauren's sister had been killed. After breaking down in the forest, she dragged herself to a nearby building. It was a small shack, luckily she was safe in there. Her sister told her some things about what to do if she was alone, but Lauren never thought it would actually come to this.
Her sister was dead, and she was alone. In the shed there were many cans of food, along with nutrition bars. She payed no thought to why there was so much food, so she dove in anyway. Tears kept falling down her cheeks from every bite she took, she still wasn't sure if what she witnessed was even real.
Her body shook as she suddenly watched the door to the shed open, but she didn't scream. She figured it was a biter, but she didn't mind if she died at that point. With red, puffy eyes--from crying for so long--Lauren looked upwards to see that it wasn't actually a creature.
A woman with light blonde hair stood in the light that shown through the door. Her frizzy hair was pinned back into a small ponytail, and she had a dirty blue blouse with black jeans. The woman shrieked, but once she saw who was in her shed, she calmed down a bit more.
Opening the door more, she saw that Lauren had been crying for a long time. Cautiously, the woman stepped forward and kneeled down.
"What's your name sweetie?" She asked soothingly. Lauren looked towards the floor, feeling as if she had no energy to speak.
"Are you alone?" She asked, figuring she didn't want to answer that. Lauren simply nodded her head. The woman looked towards the door for a moment, thinking of what to do.
"I'm Sarah, and...I have a farm nearby. This was our extra food shed, would you like to come back with us? We have plenty of supplies for you," Sarah suggested, and Lauren looked up hopefully. The girl nodded, and followed Sarah back to the farmhouse.
As they reached the house, a man with dark blond hair stood up in surprise, as he saw that his sister had brought back somebody. Sarah held the girl's hand, walking up the wooden steps to the beautiful farmhouse. Connor gave a strange look towards his sister, signalling to give an explanation to why she was bringing a child back to their house. Sarah nodded her head towards the house, gesturing for him to follow.
"This is Connor, my brother," she stated while pointing towards him. Connor gave a worried smile, still afraid of what their family would think.
Sarah brought her inside, and into the living room. Right away, everyone stood up, and a few gasps were heard.
"Guys, this is-" Sarah began, before she was interrupted.
"Lauren!" Someone shouted, and Lauren looked up to see a familiar face. There at the back was her father's sister, her husband, and their son, Lauren's cousin. He was five years older than her, but he enjoyed babysitting her sometimes.
Lauren immediately smiled, and ran over to her aunt Wendy. As Wendy embraced her niece in a tight hug, she couldn't hold back the tears. When this had started, their family had been visiting their cottage. They met up with Sarah's family, and took refuge with them. Many times they had checked to see if Lauren's home was occupied, but no one was ever there. They thought everyone they knew was dead, but they were in luck.
_______ [1059 WORDS]
a/n: ty for reading! since im done school now, i'll probably be able to update my fics more :)
