Feeling the warm sun on my back, I slowly opened my eyes. The sky was bright blue this morning, with not a cloud in sight. The birds were singing and I felt a slight breeze coming through the window. It was a beautiful day.
Beside me, was a peacefully sleeping Carl. His brown hair was all over the place, covering part of his face. His cheeks had a natural blush, making him look much younger than he actually was. His breathing was calm, almost lulling me back to sleep. Alexandria was completely silent.
After everything that had happened, that moment felt like a dream. So peaceful, so quiet. Surreal, almost.
It had been four days since we met the Saviors on the road. Four days since the psychopath with a baseball bat killed two members of our family. Four days I couldn't sleep properly. Four days waiting for them to come back and make a living hell out of our lives again.
Trying to push the horrible thoughts away, I sighed and slowly sat up on the bed, my back pressed against the headboard.
"Morning", Carl said in a husky voice, giving me a warm smile. He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Hey", I replied, getting closer to him and giving him a peck on the cheek, trying my best to hide how anxious and worried I was feeling. When were the Saviors going to return? Were they going to come back before a week? Were they going to kill someone else? Would they hurt anyone? I couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Is everything alright?", he asked me with a worried tone, searching my face for some kind of answer. Damn it. Why did he had to know me so well?
"Yeah, sure," I replied, giving him the best fake smile I had. I always tried to lie about how I was really feeling but failed everytime.
"C'mon (Y/N), I always know when you're lying to me. What's the matter?" he said with a soft tone, taking my hand and making sure that I knew I could tell him whatever I was feeling.
"I don't know, Carl. I'm just... scared". I said, looking down at my lap.
Admitting that I was scared was never an easy thing to say.
"Scared of what?"
"The damn saviors, Carl! When are they going to return? Today? Tomorrow? Are we going to lose someone else? Again? I don't know if I can do this one more time."
"Everything is going to be fine", he replied, annoyingly calm, like that whole situation was just a simple problem that could be solved any day.
"What? How can you say that? A bunch of killers are coming here, in our home, to take all the things we almost died to have. Our food, our medicine, our GUNS. Without mentioning the son of a bitch that walks around with a baseball bat, thinking he is the king of the whole fucking world!" I raised my voice, letting out all the worry, anger and frustration I was feeling.
"I know, I know all of that, okay? But it will turn out fine. I hate the way my dad is dealing with all of this, you know that. But also because of him, the saviors will come, take what they want and leave. Nobody is gonna die, I promise." He was so sure about every word he was saying. And I wish I could believe him.
"You don't know that! You don't know if Negan will freak out and bash someone's head again! Or what if some pervert tries to take one of the girls away? Or me? What if one of them tries to take me away from you?" I finally said what I was thinking.
My eyes were watering and I was trying to swallow the lump in my throat. I couldn't stop imagining all the horrible scenarios that could happen, every single thing that could go wrong. Someone dying, someone getting hurt or someone taking me away from Carl.
"They won't, okay? I'm not gonna let them. If that's what you're worried about, forget it. Nobody is taking you away from me, I'll die before I let that happen, do you understand? I promise you that," he said grabbing both sides of my face and making me look directly into his blue eye.
And for the first time that morning I believed him. I felt safe. I knew how brave Carl was and that he wasn't afraid of anybody. Not even Negan.
"Okay, okay," I said, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. Noticing how stressed I was, he kissed my forehead trying to calm me down a little.
"But what about the others? Do you think they will be fine?"
"Yes, they will. My dad is gonna take care of everybody, you know that. You know I don't agree with the way he is handling things, but he won't let anything bad happen again, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. You're right. I believe in your dad. And I believe in you."
Everything he said made sense and finally I managed to calm down. I couldn't get all worked up like this everytime the saviors were coming to Alexandria or I would go insane. He was right, everything was going to be fine.
Rick was the strongest man I knew, even in his weakest state. And I knew Carl wouldn't leave my side no matter what happened.
He gave me a reassuring smile and finally kissed me, his lips warm and calming, letting me know how thankful he was that I trusted him so much.
"I'll always be here, okay? This is just a bad moment. It will end someday. It may take a while, but it will. This is not our life"
I closed my eyes and sighed deeply, letting his words sink in. He was right, I couldn't lose hope now. Not after all the shit we've already been through.
"I know. Thank you for talking some sense into me. I don't know what I would do without you," I smiled sincerely at him, caressing his cheek and taking some of the hair that was on his forehead away, covering the bandage on the right side of his face.
"I love you too", he said laughing and I couldn't resist the urge to kiss him. I pressed my lips against his, letting all the fear and worry wash away. He was everything I needed.
"Okay gorgeous, now we need to get changed and get our asses downstairs. dad's probably waiting for us for breakfast. We got a long day ahead of ourselves"
"Sure," I said quickly getting up from the bed and searching for some clean clothes, "10 minutes and we'll be ready."
Carl and I changed and brushed our teeth and he sat on the bed while I was in the bathroom fixing my hair. Just as we were about to leave the room I heard three knocks on the gate and the rough voice that sent shivers down my spine.
"Little pig, little pig! Let. Me. In!"
The only thing I was able to do was to look at Carl. Oh my God, what was he doing here? He said he would come a week, not four days later.
"Son of a bitch." I whispered to myself. I could not believe this was finally happening. My breathing already getting faster.
"C'mon", Carl said, quickly grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers, his voice low and calm, "it's gonna be okay."
Hand in hand, we rushed out of our room, and while we were running down the stairs, the only thing I knew for sure, was that I believed him.
A fucking imagine here!!
From Tumblr
-Wonderland
