Broken Arrows (Daryl Dixon)

18.

"You step outside, you risk your life. You take a drink of water, you risk your life. And nowadays you breathe, and risk your life. Every moment now, you don't have a choice. The only thing you can choose is what you're risking it for."
                   ~Hershel Greene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Devore's POV~

I wake up to the bright Georgia sunlight filtering through the light curtains in Beth's room, making me quickly squeeze my eyes shut. My head is pounding, there is so much pressure behind the backs of my eyes. I accidentally turn over onto my back and instantly regret it. I think that my shoulder wasn't hurting too bad last night because Hershel must have given me pain pills to last me until morning. But now, it hurts like Hell. Once I get over the initial pain,  I cover my eyes with my hands and slowly remove them so my eyes can get adjusted to the sunlight. I look around the room and see that Beth's not here. I see a glass of water and a couple pills sitting on the nightstand. I get out of bed and take the glass of water and pills, swallowing both pills and washing them down with the water. I open the bedroom door only to see Maggie with her arm outstretched.

"Oh Devore, I was just coming to wake you so I could change your bandages." She informs me, stepping to the side so I could get through. We walk to the room where Hershel first originally had Carl staying. He's not in the room so I'm guessing he's well enough to actually go outside now. I sit down on the bed while Maggie gets some of the medical supplies and sets them on the bed. "Did you get the painkillers Beth set on the nightstand for you?" She asks, shutting the door so I have some privacy.

"Yes, thank you." I reply, taking off my shirt so that I am in my tank top. "Do you know roughly what time it is?" I ask and reposition myself on the bed.

    "I believe it's about 4:00 o'clock." Maggie answers as she takes a look at the gauze pads on my shoulders. She has a bit of weird look as she tends to my left shoulder. I look over and realize that I was shot in the shoulder with all my burn scars. I look away, a little embarrassed that a lot people have probably seen my scars.

       "It's good thing we're changing your bandages now, otherwise you would have bled through them." She tells me, carefully removing the gauze.

    "Can I see?" I ask Maggie. I'm curious to see what a real gunshot looks like.

    "Sure honey." She replies and moves to the side. I get up and walk over to the mirror hanging on the wall. I guess it wasn't really that interesting looking, it was just red, bloody, and full of stitches. As I looked in the mirror, my eyes started to wander to my scars. I look at each white, circular burn and think of what they symbolize. They symbolize a time where I was scared, sad, and alone. A time when everything was lost to me. I stand there for awhile in a trance, thinking and staring at those scars.

    "Devore.." Maggie calls, pulling me out of my trance and directing my attention over to her. I look back in the mirror for a second only to see blood running down my shoulder. I swear that I also saw my scars dimly glowing as if they were the fresh wounds I once had. I walk back over to the bed and sit down so Maggie could continue. "Are you okay?" She asks, concern covering her face as she got a damp rag and gently pressed them to my shoulder.

    "Yeah, just some reminders of some bad times." I reply, giving her a weak smile. As she cleans and replaces my bandages, I stare blankly at the wall. My head wound only required a few stitches from Hershel, but I still need the gauze wrap to be around my head. At least Daryl and I match so I'm not the only one that looks funny.