Dark Days

Red

©JRF2016

       Cathy, Darrick and Conner were gathered around Reid as he holds a sleepy Grace in his lap tonight. Riley had come in earlier and ran straight up to her room without a word to anyone, Conner had tried to talk to her but it was no use, she didn't even come out of her room to eat. Who knows what's got her so worked up? There was such a melancholy feel about the air tonight. Rachel was the one that loved conversation; she always kept it going or kept everyone laughing. She kept everyone's spirits up even when all hope seemed lost. It felt so empty to Reid without her here. It was long after the sun set when Charlie comes in. Reid turns to him, "Why are you so late? Riley came in hours ago." Charlie has a huge grin on his face. "I followed Enid outside the walls. We got trapped by the dead. We came back as soon as we could."

"Who's Enid?" Conner blurts out. "You ain't dumping my daughter for some other chick are you?"

"She's friends with Ron. I was just looking out for her; these people have no idea how to survive out there. I couldn't let her go out there alone and get killed." Charlie walks over to Reid and lean down to kiss his little sister on the head. He stands up as he stares at her, "I'm beat, and I'm going to bed. I'll take her up for you dad." Reid smiles and nods to Charlie as he hands Grace over. Charlie looks around at the three adults noticing finally that Rachel wasn't among them. "Where's Rachel?" No one answers for a long minute as Reid drops his head. "She left," Cathy says flatly as she looks at Reid, "And your dad just let her go."

"She said she needed time, Cathy. What was I supposed to do? Tie her up and hold her hostage until she changed her mind." They get quiet again as Charlie takes Grace upstairs. He knows his dad isn't going to say any more than he already has and it was no use trying to push it. If his dad decided he wasn't going to talk about something there was no use in arguing with him. Still Charlie wonders why she would leave. Didn't she learn anything the last time she ran away? What did she need time for anyway?

The seconds tick by like hours on that clock. Time, something they haven't had to keep up with for a really long time. Something they haven't had much of in a really long time. Every time they thought they had enough to talk, to be happy, to make up for something, time always ran out. A knock on the door caused all of them to jump. "Who's comin' over here this late?" Conner asks as he glances at that extremely loud ticking clock. Reid shrugs as he walks over to answer the door. "Is Rachel here? Can she talk? Privately," Lisa asks as Reid stares at her badly battered face wondering what had happened to her. "What the hell happened to you?" Cathy asks as she looks over Reid's shoulder. "Rachel stopped by this afternoon, but obviously we didn't get a chance to talk a whole lot."

"She's staying next door with Sam," Reid tells her as he takes her by the hand and leads her inside, "Did she say anything to you at all or did she just throw punches?"

"Damn," Conner shouts when he sees her face, "Hate to see the other guy."

"Oh, she's fine. I didn't hurt her at all. I'm not a fighter."

"She's not either, not really," Reid mumbles, "I mean, she's tough, but I've never seen her angry enough to hurt anybody." Reid sits down on the couch next to Lisa as Cathy watches the two of them, distrusting every word as she tells them that Rachel had just barged in and pounced on her. She wouldn't give any details about what was said she only tells them that very few words were exchanged. "Well, after I thought about it for a long time I decided that I just needed to come and have a serious sit down with her," she pauses looking into Reid's eyes, "I don't want any tension between any of us, if I did something I want the chance to fix it. We are all good people here and we need your group." Another knock on the door causes Reid to jump again as he breaks the eye contact with Lisa. "Geez, is this party central over here or what?" Conner grunts as he stands up to answer the door this time, "I'll tell ya though this is the lamest party I've ever been to. Ain't even no booze or nothin'." He jokes as he swings the door open to reveal a worried Sam. "What's wrong with you?" Conner asks her loudly causing the others to glance back at him. "Is Rachel here?" Conner looks back at Reid and then to Sam again confused.