my angel ➶ ➶ daryl dixon

t w e n t y o n e

Aspen's POV:
There is a man standing in the rain. He has a leather jacket on with dark long hair and has his back to me. I start to walk toward him when he turns around. I see that it's Daryl. I continue to walk to him.

"Daryl, why are we here?" I ask, but he doesn't answer me. He just stands there emotionless. I try to read his face, but he's like a mannequin.

"Daryl?!" I grab his hand but he just looks past me over my shoulder. I turn and see a herd of walkers headed towards us. It's still pouring and I can barely make out their dead moans. As I turn back to Daryl, he begins to pull away.

"Daryl! No! Please don't leave me! I need you!" But he still doesn't say a word and pulls his hand away. He vanishes into the rain and I'm left alone.

I look behind me and see the walkers right behind me. I try to move but it feels like my feet are stuck in mud. Everything is moving in slow motion and I can't do anything to stop the onslaught of walkers. I feel them begin to sink their teeth and fingers into me, eating me alive. The pain is like nothing I've ever felt. I could feel their rotting teeth pull my skin up and tear it from me.

Daryl slips into my thoughts and all I think is how I wish I could have told him I loved him. Yet it's too late. I begin to scream as the pain almost make my blackout. But of course I don't get that pleasure, I'm still awake as they continue to tear my flesh from my body.

"Aspen! Aspen! Wake up!" I am pulled out of the dream as someone shakes me awake. I jump out of bed, or at least I try to, as my headache immediately makes me fall to the floor.

"No! Don't touch me! Get off!" I scream as I shove the person who is touching me.

"Shh, it's okay. You're okay. It's just me, Thomas. You're okay." Thomas says in a gentle voice, trying to get me to calm down. I stop screaming, but my body continues to shake. "Shh, you're okay. We're okay." Thomas continues to comfort me as he brings me to his chest.

I don't know how long we sat like that, but I didn't want him to leave. It was my high school dream to be with him after all. Eventually he did stand up though and helped me onto the bed. He sat at my feet once he made sure I was comfortable and looked at me.

I began to blush when he didn't look away. "What are you looking at?" I asked.

"Oh nothing, I was just making sure I wasn't dreaming." He answered.

"Why would you be dreaming?" As I pushed further, I blushed harder.

"It's just that I have the prettiest girl in front of me and I couldn't imagine that I would ever be lucky enough to see you again after you left school that day." He said, a smile slowly creeping on his face.

I could barely contain myself. Thomas Woodward was basically telling me he wouldn't want to be with anyone else at the moment and I couldn't believe it. But I wasn't the smoothest at telling people how I felt. "Yeah, me too." I mumbled.

He chuckled and we sat there in an awkward silence for a while before he cleared his throat. "So, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine I guess, my headache is what caused me to fall. I feel okay now, but as soon as I try to stand, I think I'll collapse again." I say, trying not to seem like I feel too bad even though I really feel as awful as I did after Shane hit me, and then as though I was hit by a truck.

"Well I would assume you would feel bad becuase you've been out for two days." He tells me.

"What?! Two days?! How could I have been asleep that long?" I was stunned. I felt like shit, but I had been knocked out for days.

"Well, when I first saw you, you collapsed on the porch and hit your head pretty hard. Hershel said you might have gotten a concussion." He turned to me. "But he said that if you felt up for it, you could take a walk when you woke up."

I looked a Thomas. I didn't want to seem weak. "Yeah, I guess I'm okay." I mumbled as I swung my legs over the side of the bed, sending a wave of nausea up my body.

I had to bend over and catch my breath as Thomas put a hand on my back. "Don't rush yourself."

"Yeah, okay." I muttered as I gritted my teeth and used Thomas as a crutch to stand up. I leaned on him heavily as we walked down the hall, and down the stairs.

As I rounded the corner and came into the kitchen, I didn't see anyone. "Where is everyone?" I asked Thomas.

"They're all probably outside meeting your group."

"Wait, my group is here? Why?"

"From the way I understood it, I think that you guys might be staying here for a while." He told me.

I didn't think we were going to permanently be staying here. I get that they were just helping Carl... CARL! "What about Carl?! Where is he?!" I asked desperately.

"Carl is fine. Hershel did an operation on him with some medical stuff the dark haired man picked up."

"What dark haired man?" My thoughts immediately made me assume Daryl, but I doubted it.

"Um, curly, thick hair, looks kind of like you?" He said, trying to figure it out. But I knew immediately who he was talking about.

"Oh yeah, him. Don't worry about it." I started to slowly make my way to the door. I could walk without completely leaning on Thomas, but I almost wanted his arm around me again.

I pushed open the screen door and allowed my skin to feel the sun's warm rays. I closed my eyes and just stood there until I heard someone running up the steps towards me.

I opened my eyes just in time to see it was Rick right before he pulled me into a bone crushing hug. It was difficult for me to breathe, but I didn't want him to ever let go. It was little moments like this where I could forget what happened to the world. I could just feel the warm embrace of the man who I wish was my father.

All too soon, Rick pulled away and I realized that this world still sucks.

"Are you feeling better?" Rick asked me.

"Sort of. My head hurts like hell, but I think I'll survive. I'm just glad to hear Carl was okay." As soon as I mentioned Carl, Rick's face lit up.

"I know! That boy is the strongest kid I've ever met. Well, besides you." He said, winking at me.

I laughed. "Is everyone here?"

"Yes, and I think a certain person would like to see you." When Rick said that, I immediately thought of Daryl, but then I saw him turn and wave to Glenn. I had to keep myself from sighing, but I headed slowly over to Glenn anyways.

"Hey you." I said smiling as Glenn ran up to me and gave me another embrace. "I heard you got shot."

"What? No, I wasn't the one shot, Carl was." I was confused until Glenn started to laugh.

"No duh. I was joking. You shouldn't sell yourself so short." Glenn chuckled as I punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Shut up. So, what else did I miss?" I asked looking around. I stopped as I spotted Daryl far away from the group, leaning against a tree. He was glaring at me, but when I met his eyes, he turned and walked away.

"Well, you dad..."

"Shane." I interrupted. "He is no longer my father, and he hasn't been for a while."

"Sorry, Shane and the man who accidently shot Carl, Otis, went for a run to try and get medical supplies for Carl. Without them, Hershel says that Carl would probably not have made it. But the problem is that when Shane came back, Otis didn't." Glenn paused. "There's rumors that Shane sacrificed Otis so he could get away."

I sucked in a breath. I couldn't believe it. Shane had stooped so low to as actually killing another man for his own survival. Wow. I never thought he would become that evil. "I wouldn't doubt it for a second." I said, turning toward Glenn. "Have a nice day."

"You too." He mumbled back as I walked away. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm going to have a little chat with someone."