Crestfallen ↬ Carl Grimes (old version)

F R U S T R A T I O N

CHAPTER SIX: FRUSTRATION

❝Our generation has the lost the value of romance, the value of trust, the value of conversation. Sadly, small talk is the new deep.❞

❝Milah welcomed the silence with open arms, she enjoyed it, envied silence's beauty whenever she could. But never, did she think it was dangerous, until, the day the strangers appeared.❞

  ➳ 

THE REASON BEHIND THE GIRL'S MADNESS HAD HAPPENED SOME TIME AGO. It was never once a thought in her head that she could ever have a friend, especially her age, in the middle of the end of the world. Her father made it quite clear that all she should focus on was surviving, and surviving well. In time, she learned to train herself. To not become weakened by such foolish thoughts. The world isn't separated by friends and strangers anymore, it's separated by living and dead. And if you have even a small grain of doubt about that, well, then, you're obviously too naive for this new world that has been suddenly sprung upon us.

Milah welcomed the silence with open arms, she enjoyed it, envied silence's beauty whenever she could. But never, did she think it was dangerous, until, the day the strangers appeared.

➳

I had believed that when we reached home, Carl's anger would have passed. But we were home now, and this house held nothing but pure anger.

The house was everything but silent anymore. The living room was laced with anger and frustration as the blue-eyed boy in front of me yelled, no, screamed at his dad. Every ounce of stress, fear, and animosity he had slipping through his lips with no filter. Even though the poor guy still lay stone cold on the couch, Carl paid no notice, almost as if he was afraid to stop shouting, for if he did he might break down instead and never get back up.

The one-sided conversation started off calm, Carl completely ignoring me as he took off his plaid shirt to reveal a long sleeved blue and white undershirt. But it completely went downhill from there in the blink of an eye. I didn't realize how easy it could be to crumble apart just like sheriff boy right here is doing now, for every time I did it, it happened over long periods of time. But everybody is different, and I have no idea how to help this broken boy in front of me.

Names, names and more names of all he thought were deceased brought pangs to my heart as I watched him crumble and fall, his knees connecting with the wooden floor as he sat with his back against the couch, sniffling.

"C-Carl-"

"No. Stop."

I could hear the heavy layering of anguish and grief laced in his voice as he spoke those two words, a sniffle coming from his seated figure as he shook his head.

"You both- You both are nothing.

I'd be fine if you died."

And then, the broken boy in front of me left for the second time today.

➳

At first, the strangers were nice. They gave Milah and her father supplies, a place to stay, and even brand new clothes. The girl was fast and eager to accept their generosity, but her father seemed weary of them. She couldn't understand why. The boy was nice to her, and so were the girls. One of them especially reminded her of her mother. Why couldn't her father just get over it and accept their offers?

There were four in all. One small boy, about her age with dark hair and soft gray eyes. And three women, all of them seeming to be about the age of her deceased mother. Their smiles were bright, arms extended in a cheerful welcome. But to her father, their smiles had deeper meanings, and the taint of death still lingered on their hands.