Daughter of a Dixon ✔️

63: The Meeting

When night fell upon our so-called safe-haven, Carl and I made our way to the center of town, where the meeting would be held. Dad would have to help Michonne escort Rick down, and they'd also be reluctantly obeying Deanna's request that he be restrained while attending the meeting. Since I was already injured enough, she bypassed the request for me, but I was certain that, if I hadn't been hurt, she would've had me restrained, too.

By the time Carl and I made it down to the meeting place, everyone else was already present, including Rick, Dad, and Michonne. As I scanned the array of faces, though, I noticed that one person was missing, and before I could turn to Carl and tell him my observation, Deanna's voice rang out through the crowd's whispers.

"As you all know, this meeting is a hearing, to determine who is telling the truth in a case of contemptible violence... now, Pete hasn't arrived yet, but I will go ahead and allow this meeting to begin. So, let us first hear from our prime eye witness, Sidney. You can go ahead and start whenever you're ready, and remember to tell the absolute truth."

She uttered her last sentence to me specifically, and I gave her a curt nod in response. With the ginormous immobilizer swallowing my left leg, I hobbled up into the center of the circle the Alexandrians had formed. When I came to a stopping place in the middle of everyone, I felt their skeptical eyes staring at me. Judging me.

They viewed me as an outsider; a feral animal that needed to be tamed, and I realized that I would have to be the one to prove to them who the true animal was.

"Okay, um.. first off, I just wanna say that, uh.. I know someone, who has been a victim of physical abuse. They experienced it for a really long time; it was hard on them, and everyone around them. Being close to someone who goes through that... you feel their pain, you hurt for them. Physical abuse is not to be underestimated; it's serious, and it still affects people in this world today. So, all of you can know that I'm going to tell you the truth; what I saw, what I heard, everything... because to lie about something that serious is unbelievably wrong and absolutely horrible."

I couldn't look at the faces of the people in the crowds; I didn't want to see their doubtful expressions, and I certainly didn't want to see the one of hurt my dad would be giving me. So, with a slow, deep breath, I started talking about what people actually wanted to hear: the events of the previous night.

"Last night, my dad, my boy-.. uh, Carl, and myself were over at Bailey's house for dinner. Before the meal was served, my dad and I went to wash our hands in her bathroom. But, while we were in there, the sink messed up, and got Dad's clothes all wet. He didn't want to go back out to dinner with wet clothes, so I hopped out the bathroom window, and tried to head back to our house to get him new ones. As I was crossin' the street, I heard a scream from the house next to our's, Jessie's house. I got worried, and ran over to see what was wrong. The door was left open, so I just walked inside, and when I got there-..."

I took another deep breath, my hands beginning to shake as I clasped them together in front of me.

"Pete had Jessie in a corner... he was yellin' at her, callin' her every name in the book. She was cryin', with blood pourin' down from her nose; fresh blood. I could smell the alcohol on Pete, he was extremely drunk. He-..."

"You lying bitch!"

I gasped, and turned towards the angry voice from behind me.

I barely had time to register Pete staggering towards me with Michonne's sword in his right hand before he swung it, narrowly missing my head. I ducked, and stumbled a step backwards into some unsuspecting stranger.

Shrieks emitted from the crowd, and Pete was still coming after me. Deanna was yelling at him, telling him to calm down, and Jessie had just broken down into tears, probably too frightened and ashamed to do anything else.

I dodged another swing from Pete, but the movement caused me to trip over my own feet, and I ended up on the ground. Thankfully, though, Dad had sprung into action, and grabbed Pete from behind, dragging him away. Pete was swinging the sword wildly in the air, endangering all the citizens around him.

Deanna's husband, Reg, went up to the enraged Pete, trying to take the sword out of his drunken hands. Unfortunately, though, when Dad had grabbed Pete, he had failed to pin his arms by his side.

Pete swung the sword one, full time, and sliced a straight cut through Reg's neck.

Blood gushed from his fresh wound, and he slowly fell to the ground. Deanna came rushing over, crying out with grief. She cradled her husband's head in her lap, looking down upon his soon-to-be lifeless body with tears streaming from her eyes.

I sat on the ground, unable to get up, with shock overtaking me. I didn't know why I was beginning to cry, but my vision began to blur over as I looked upon the scene, and I fought to keep from crying in front of the crowd.

Then, Deanna looked up to Rick, whom Michonne had released from his restraints, and uttered two words that caused a cry to escape from me.

"Do it."

Rick didn't hesitate for one second.

With Pete being held on the ground by dad, he fired one round into his head, killing him. The animal moved no more, and Jessie let out a sob that tore my heart. Dad got up from his position, leaving Pete's body in the center of the crowd, on display for everyone to see.

I looked down to the ground, and did a quick swipe of my eyes before I began to try and push myself up from the ground, struggling to do so with my immobilized leg. Then, I felt two strong arms pull me up from the ground, and I didn't even have to look up to know who it was.

I threw my arms around my dad, latching onto him like a bee to its flower. I didn't know why the event had shaken me up so much, but it had; I still had a few, lonesome tears traveling down my cheeks when Dad wrapped his two arms around me.

He placed one of his hands on the back of my head, and pressed it to his shoulder as I let out a trembling breath. He was a rock for me in that moment, a sense of stability. I needed that right then, and once again, I couldn't pinpoint exactly as to why.

Then, as I looked upon the crowd of people, I saw a completely unfamiliar face that I hadn't ever seen before. It was one of an African-American man, who was holding a long, tall stick in his right hand. He was standing beside Aaron, and I figured that he must've collected him on his run. Dad would've gone with him, considering that was his job, recruiting people with Aaron, if it hadn't been for all of the chaos with Pete. As I watched the man for a moment longer, I realized, for some reason, that he and Rick seemed to recognize each other.

"Who's that?" I asked Dad quietly, pulling apart from him a bit. Still supporting my weight, he turned around and looked at the man, narrowing his eyes. A second later, he turned back to me.

"Probably just some guy Aaron found... we'll figure out in the mornin'. Let's just get ya home for now, alrigh'?"

For once, I didn't argue with Dad's protectiveness. I gave him a nod, and he didn't waste any time in wrapping an arm around me to help support my weight as we walked. I draped an arm across his back, and together, we walked away from the crowd of people.

We left the terrible events that had occurred behind us for the time being, but I knew that the consequences would certainly be made prominent the following morning.