Sydney Dixon

Chapter ten

Sydney's POV

"Daryl, les go. Tha boys are waitin for us at the bar" My dad says, pulling Daryl up from his position on the couch.

"I don wanna go" Daryl mutters, plopping down next to me

"I didn't ask what you wanted to do and what you didn't. Cmon, les go" Merle grabbed Daryl again, this time Daryl obeying.

"We can't jus leave Syd" Daryl motions to me as I tense my jaw so I don't cry.

"She's 8, she can hold her own." My dad smirks at me, bending down and pushing a hard kiss on my head for show.

Daryl is dragged to the door by Merle, and he watches a tear fall from my eye as he goes

"Don't let anyone in, be safe okay? You know where the guns are" Daryl mutters before My dad pulls his arm again. They are now out of sight, the front door closed.

I shoot awake, sweat dripping from my forehead as I remember what most nights were like before the end of the world. I haven't had a dream of my father in a while, and it was somewhat nice. I spent all my days wondering what happened to him and my uncle, just to find out he's been dead.

I don't have to be afraid of him anymore. Instead, I get to live remembering how much I actually loved him, and how much he didn't care for me.

"Syd, you okay?" Carter mumbles, rolling over to face me.

"Yeah, I'm good" I reply, rubbing the long scar that starts at my wrist and ends a couple inches down. This was caused by my drunken father throwing a beer bottle at me, and I blocked it with my arm. The glass got caught and Daryl had to take me to the hospital to get it stitched up. 6 stitches all because my father thought I was worthless.

"You sure? You're pretty sweaty" He is now awake, scanning my face.

"Yeah, I just had a bad dream." I mutter. I'm not quite sure how I could love a man that constantly abused me, but I guess it's just because he's my father.

Carter is satisfied with my answer, knowing I won't want to talk about it. So he just rolls over and falls back asleep. I do the same, taking a little while longer than he did.
~~

"Hey Dale" I smile, looking up to the top of the RV where the happy little man sits with his bucket hat.

"Hello Sydney, how are you today?" He greets me

"Pretty good. You?" I ask

He takes a deep breath, "I've definitely been better. Finding that little girl was a relief to all of us, even though it wasn't the way we hoped"

"I know how you feel" I mutter, half smiling. Dale nods his head, understanding what I'm implying.

"Merle was a- a good man" Dale tries

"You don't have to lie. Half the scars on my body were caused by him. I know he wasn't a good man, wasn't the best father either." I tell him

"Well, I'm sure he loved you" He tries again

"I'm not so sure about that one either"

Dale is defeated, not sure what to say.

"You don't have to say anything. You were trying to help, I get it" I smile.

He narrows his eyes, placing his rifle on the ground and removing the watch from his wrist. I fumble a little when he throws the watch to me, but I still catch it.

"What's this for?" I hold it up.

"I want you to keep it" Dale smiles

"W-why? You love your watch" I still hold it up

"Yes, I do love my watch. But it's yours now. You'll understand why sooner or later." Dale chuckles. Still confused, I put the watch on my wrist and buckle the strap so that it's tight on my wrist.

"Thanks, fits perfectly" I show him.

"That's great. Would you go check on Andrea for me? She's caring for beth"

I nod my head and speed walk over towards the house.

I walk through the front door, immediately finding the room that Beth is staying in. She passed out earlier, probably due to shock. Rick and Glenn went searching for Hershel, something about him being at a bar.

"Hey Sydney. Everything okay?" Andrea asks me

"Yeah, Dale just wanted me to ask if you needed anything" I lie, knowing she will freak if I told her that he actually wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Do you mind watching over Carl for me?" Andrea glances at me

"Yeah, no problem" I groan. Walking into the living room, I see that Carl is sat on the couch, fiddling with a knife.

"Uh, hey Carl." I say

"Oh hey Sydney. Need something?" Carl ask. I smirk at the young boy who has grown since the first time I met him.

"I was summoned by Andrea to watch over you. Got anything interesting to do?" I sit by him.

"If I did, I wouldn't be fiddling with a pocket knife" He scoffs

"Sarcastic, I like you already" I chuckle.

This causes him to smile, and put his knife in his pocket. His eyes squint as he looks to my forehead, bringing his fingers to my hairline

"Where did you get that scar?" He points out the most invisible mark on my body.

"I'm surprised you saw that. It's the smallest one I got" I rub it with my fingers

"When I was 12, Daryl and I were messing around in the living room, throwing a football around. It got pretty intense, and I ended up diving into the coffee table trying to catch the ball. The table didn't have a dent, but my head sure did" I smile, remembering one of the only scars that wasn't caused by my dad. I distinctly remember this day because I forced Daryl to throw the ball to me. I wanted to practice so I could impress Carter by showing him I knew how to throw a football.

"That sounds fun. Did you and your family play a lot when you were little?" Carl innocently asks.

I hesitate, "Yeah. We had tons of fun."

I lied, mostly to spare him from the details of my poor childhood. Not sure why I lied, poor kid has seen enough crap for his life

"Well it's getting pretty late, want me to take you to bed?" I ask him.

"No, I can make it myself. Thanks for hanging with my Syd" He smiles, strutting off.

I follow not far behind him, making my way to the tent.
~~

Sort of a filler chapter, also it's shorter, but I needed to update so here you go 😉

Edited