16

5.9K 214 38
                                    

Memories

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

Memories

That Night

"Goodnight, my sweet boy," Natalie said, kissing the top of Nick's head.

"Night, Mom," Nick said, pulling the blankets around himself tightly.

"You think Dad's gonna come in soon?" Nick asked.

"I don't know, sweetie. Why don't you get some rest," Natalie said, kissing his head again.

Shane sat alone on top of the RV. His eyes locked on the tent where Lori slept. He knew Rick was in there now. He thought about the fact that he was probably kissing Lori and they were probably happy. It made him angry. His eyes moved to the tent where Natalie and Nick slept. What he couldn't see was that Natalie was laying in the tent, wide awake, tears streaming silently down her face.

She looked over at Nick; he was sound asleep. She leaned over and started digging through the stuff that she had brought from their house. She found what she was looking for: the family photo album. She opened it up slowly, knowing its contents would only hurt her, but not caring enough to close the book. The first pages were photos from high school. There was a picture of Natalie and Shane on the football field, laughing. She was in her cheerleading uniform, he was in his football jersey. Natalie remembered that night. The team had just won the championship game. Natalie was so excited she dropped her pompoms and ran into the field, jumping into Shane's arms. He took off his helmet and spun her around, kissing her there on the field.

Another picture showed the pair at their senior prom.

Another showed Shane, Natalie, and Rick. They were laughing hysterically. Natalie had no idea who had taken the picture, but she remembered the night. The three of them had gone out to a party after a football game one Friday night. Rick and Shane were drunk off their asses.

"Come on, baby, have a drink with me," Shane laughed.

"Beer bellies and cheer uniforms aren't a good mix, Walsh. Besides you two need a designated driver," Natalie said, laughing.

Later on that night, a random guy handed Natalie a Polaroid. It showed the three of them laughing hysterically at each other.

Natalie turned to the next page. It was Shane and Natalie's wedding photos. She looked at each of them with tears eyes. The people in those photos looked so happy. They looked like they were so in love with each other. They looked happy. They weren't that couple anymore. They weren't even those people anymore.

Natalie turned to the next page, admiring their honeymoon photos. They had gone to Jamaica for their honeymoon. They barely left their hotel room during that trip, but when they did, they saw some of the most beautiful sights known to man. They spent their time making out underneath waterfalls and jumping off cliffs together.

She turned the page again. She looked at photos of she and Shane, just being happily married. There were endless pages of pictures of them just doing random things, that people captured pictures of. Those were Natalie's prized memories.

The next page was full of pictures from the start of Natalie's pregnancy. She was such a cute pregnant lady. She dressed her baby bump to perfection all the time, making her even cuter. Shane was obsessed with documenting the whole pregnancy, always taking photos of her and putting them in the album.

"You're pretty sexy when you're pregnant, Nat," Shane would say on a daily basis, always making her laugh.

The next page held pictures from the day Nick was born. Natalie touched the picture that they took in the hospital that day. Baby Nicholas lay in Natalie's arms as she smiled at the camera. Shane was too preoccupied admiring his wife and son to look at Rick, who was taking the picture. He just smiled down at Natalie and Nick. Rick took the picture anyway, and it became Natalie's favorite picture in the entire album. She ran her finger over the picture gently, trying not to break down sobbing.

The rest of the album was full of photos from every stage of their lives together.

There were tons of photos with the Grimes family.

Tons of photos from family vacations Shane and Natalie took Nick on.

Tons of pictures of Shane and Natalie just being happy and in love.

Natalie would give anything to get back to that.

She wished Rick had never gotten shot, that the world never ended.

She just wanted her family back.

The thought of not being with Shane killed her. He was all she knew. She had been with him for basically her entire life. She didn't know what to do without him anymore.

She slowly closed the photo album and tucked it back into her bag.

She knew Shane would stay out in the cold all night, on watch.

She was glad that she wouldn't have to deal with him, but also devastated because she knew that everything had changed and it was ruined.

Lori Grimes had virtually just ruined Natalie's life.

Natalie played with the wedding ring on her finger, watching Nick sleep.

She reached back into the bag and grabbed Shane's lighter.

She picked up the photo of Lori and herself on the football field.

She opened up the lighter, igniting the flame.

She held it up to the edge of the photograph, lighting it in flames.

Natalie watched as the picture burned, the faces of the two girls contorting as the fire engulfed them.

"Burn in hell, bitch," Natalie muttered as the picture turned to ash.

• • •

22 ☞ s. walshWhere stories live. Discover now