Life I Left Behind (A Daryl Dixon Story)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Daryl

Ten years old

The loud rumble of someone snoring echoed through the house. I peeked around the living room and could see my daddy passed out on the living room couch, beer bottle still in hand. No doubt stone cold drunk. I fought the urge to sneak up to him and take the still full beer bottle and pour it on his head. The thought brought a big grin to my face. I didn't do it, though. Wouldn't be worth the beating. Instead, I turned my back on him and slipped out the front door. Mama was still at work, which meant I was pretty much on my own for the rest of the day. I didn't mind, though. It was better that way. Less fighting. Anyways, Charlie said she'd be waitin' in the backyard for me. We were supposed to climb trees today.

"Runnin' off to see that girlfriend of yours, lil' brother." Merle's voice drawled from inside the garage.

I hadn't seen him at first, but sure enough there he was, leaning back against his truck with a cigarette in his hand. He brought it to his lips and sucked in before letting out a puff of white smoke. I wrinkled my nose at the smell. It always made me feel sick. I knew I reeked of it, even though I didn't smoke. 'Cept one time when Merle let me try. I nearly couched out a lung.

I rolled my eyes. "She ain't my girlfriend, Merle. Don't be such a dumbass." I shot back. Merle let out a loud laugh and I felt my cheeks heat up, no doubt turnin' bright red. I looked down at the ground.

"Uh huh. Anythin' you see, kid. Why don't you skip your lil' tea party with Charlie, or whatever the hell you two do, and help your big bro fix this piece o' shit truck?" He offered, aiming a kick at the rusty frame of the pick-up. Flecks of faded red paint drifted to the ground.

I shook my head. "Do it yourself." Before he could say anything else, or worse, come after me, I ran off in the direction of the backyard. I ran through the field that led to the small wooded area where the creek ran through. Charlie was perched on a rock, her legs folded underneath her like a pretzel.

"'Bout time! I've been waiting here foreeeeever!" She complained. A strand of dark hair had escaped her ponytail and she impatiently tucked it behind her ear.

I walked past her, shoving her shoulder. "Yer' a liar."

Charlie nearly lost her balance but her hand shot out and hit the side of the rock to keep her from tumbling to the ground. She glared at me and I laughed. "Jerk."

"Stop lyin' and let's start climbin' these trees. Unless yer' too scared." I taunted her.

Her lips formed into a pout, but she pushed herself into a standing position and stomped past me into the woods. "I'm not scared, but you're still a jerk." She called over her shoulder. I knew she didn't mean it, though, 'cause a tiny smile was on her face.

We walked a little deeper into the woods where the best climbing trees were. They were the tallest trees, but also had branches lower to the ground so we could climb up. Sometimes we could go all the way to the top of some of the trees before the branches got too weak to stand on. So far I had the record for climbing the highest. Charlie claimed she could beat it if she felt like it. I think she was a little scared, though. I didn't call her out on it, though, 'cause you ain't supposed to make girls cry.

I had learned to climb trees when I was real little. Whenever my parents were fighting or got real mad at me, I would run out to the woods and hide in one of the trees until they forgot about me. Then I'd just sneak into my bedroom window and pretend I'd never left. Climbing trees with Charlie, though, was more fun.

We climbed to the almost tippy top of a big oak tree and sat down in the branches. Charlie sat a few branches underneath me, claiming she was too tired to go any further. So I climbed down a few to sit next to her. She pulled out a few pieces of candy from her pocket and handed one to me. It was bright red and wrapped in a crinkly see through wrapper. I popped into my mouth. It tasted like some sort of combination of cherry and watermelon.

"Daryl, do you hate your house?" Charlie asked suddenly.

"I dunno, why?" I answered, shrugging my shoulders.

"Just wonderin'. 'Cause you never wanna go home when your mama starts callin' for you or when it starts to get dark."

I thought about it for a second. "I guess I hate it there. But I gotta stay there. At least till I'm old enough to leave. Like Merle. He comes and goes whenever he wants." I said, jealousy creeping into my voice. I really didn't know where Merle went when he left, but sometimes I secretly wanted him to take me with him. I hated being left behind.

"I wish you could just come stay with me. My house isn't even fun. Gabe's always crying and crying and crying. And when's he's not doing that, he's just pooping all the time and it smells. I hate it." She complained. Her mouth had turned bright red from the candy.

I laughed. "That's 'cause he's a baby, you idiot."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Well, I can't wait till he's not a baby anymore. Is my tongue red?" She asked, sticking it out of her mouth.

I nodded. "Yeah, looks like you drank blood." I grinned.

She giggled. "Yours is red too. Let's pretend we're vampires!"

I made a face. "No, vampires only come out at night. That doesn't make any sense."

"I don't care." She shrugged.

"Besides, vampires are old. You got any more candy?" I asked hopefully.

Charlie nodded and pulled out another handful of the delicious red candy. We ate three more pieces each before finally having a race to see who could get down to the ground fastest. And when it got dark and Charlie had to go home, I went back up the tree for just a little while longer and waited until the lights went off in my house and everybody was asleep.