"I may have saved her from the monsters that crawl through the dark, but she saved me from the worst monster of all. She rescued me from who I would have become without her, the monster that would have easily conquered my body."
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Reese Chambler...
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JUDITH'S POV
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I'VE ONLY HEARD stories about this place. This is where I used to live when I was just a baby, before the end of the Great War. At least, that is what Cece calls it. That is the name she gave it when she wrote it all down. Winners get to pick the name, she had said to me with a small smile. I just smiled back and continued to twist my hair into knots.
Cece wanted to take me here today for a visit, and I was very excited to come. I always wondered why I don't still live here, because if we won the Great War like Cece said we did, then why did we have to leave our home? Looking around, I think I finally know why.
There are many houses made of blackened wood and piles of dust. A lot of houses are made like this. Almost too many to count. I don't think we could live in those houses. Where would we sleep?
My feet slap against the cracked pavement as I walk silently next to Cece. I reach up, shoving my hand into hers, wanting to feel her rough skin against mine. I like running my fingers along the bumps on Cece's palm. She says they are called cali-sis and when I play on the monkey bars at the Kingdom I sometimes get them too.
As we walk down the damaged street passing buildings with fallen roofs, Cece asks me if I remember anything. I look around but shake my head. I can only remember a few things from when I was little. I remember my favorite stuffed animal. It was a little white elephant, I think. I remember my daddy's long hair. I remember Cece singing to me. My lullaby. This one memory gets stuck in my head, and I start to hum along to it. I look up at Cece, hoping she will join in. She doesn't. Cece doesn't sing anymore.
The salty smell of guns being fired hangs in the air, making my nose itch. Cece never told me what happened to Alexandria, she only told me that we don't live here anymore because of a bad man named Negan.
I've never met Negan, but I know he lives at the Hilltop with us. Though, he lives in a cell, and a cell is where bad people live. I don't think it is as fun and living in a house, because we get to do fun things all the time. I've never seen Negan do anything fun.
I don't realize that Cece has stopped walking, and when I try to keep skipping ahead my arm is tugged back. We are standing in front of one of the few houses that isn't burned to the ground. It is a big house. Not as big as the big red house at the Hilltop, but it is bigger than the huts at Oceanside. It is white, like my elephant. I wonder if my elephant is in there.
Cece lets go of my hand, but my disappointment disappears the moment she picks me up and balances me on her hip. My legs dangle on either side of her, so I wrap them around her and hug her neck, resting my head on her shoulder. I watch as my honey colored hair falls across her chest, blending in with her golden hair.
