Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
__________
She needed a break, so that's what she got. Lauren and her mother were going on a run, a well deserved one. Not because they were running low on food, but because Lauren needed space from her and Alexandria.
From her and Carl.
"Sometimes I wish your father and sister were here. I never got to say goodbye," Helena commented, facing her daughter who was staring at the ground coldly. Lauren nodded, but was only half listening. It's been around 3 months since that night, thankfully Carl survived. But nothing was the same. Lauren was in shambles, and the only person she could run to was her mother. She replayed those memories almost everyday.
Carl had awoken, and Lauren wanted to see him. She didn't care what he looked like now, she only cared that he was stable.
Physically, yes. Mentally, not even close.
Lauren entered the room, dark circles cradling her eyes from lack of sleep. This was a few days after that night, she wanted to see how he was doing. The boy was facing the other way, but laying on his back with a bandage on his right eye. He knew she was in the room.
"Carl..." Lauren whispered, not knowing how to continue. She tried to speak, but it was as if the words fell off her tongue.
He didn't respond. His icy blue eye kept its gaze at the window, but she could have sworn it shone with tears.
What she didn't know was how he could barely look at himself without crying. So she left.
Day after day, she showed up at his door, but he didn't want to see her, or anybody. He felt like a monster; an ugly, useless nobody. Somedays Lauren wished she would've just stayed in that room and talk to him more, but the past was the past.
A month had passed where Lauren slept alone, and broken. She needed him, but he didn't care. He barely talked to anyone laying in that hospital bed.
After another month of loneliness, she couldn't take it anymore. She went back in and called his name again. This time his lip quivered in anger and sadness.
"Just go..." were the only words he said, but nonetheless it stung. Lauren's jaw hung open, feeling tears brim her eyes. He couldn't even look at her. After all these months she thought he would want to see her, it made her so angry and scared and sad all at once; she didn't know how to control it.
Storming off, she went into another room in the house. It was the one she had that panic attack in that night. Pounding fists and broken glass echoed against those walls. Releasing her anger that way was the only way she knew how to deal with things. Rick heard the commotion, and ran into the room, pulling Lauren away from the bookshelf she was tearing apart. That was her breaking point as loud sobs escaped her sore throat.
