A Sky Full Of Stars

Ch. 52 - Raccoon or Possum

The events of that night were going to haunt Judith's dreams for years.

She was sitting on the bed in the guest bedroom, occasionally looking at the door with wide eyes as she hoped that Daryl thought she was simply asleep and didn't check on her before he headed to bed. There was no way she could hide all of her equipment and Daryl's vest fast enough before the man walked into the room. Not that he ever walked in without permission first, even if it was his own house. He always knocked then stood patiently on the other side of the door as he waited for an answer. 

If Judith didn't reply after sixty seconds, which she had noticed was an unspoken rule for how long one should wait after knocking, he cracked the door a tad bit open to make sure the girl was okay. Most of the time she was asleep, so he simply walked up to her, pulled the covers up to her chin, moved her hair out of her face, then left as if he was never even in there. His touch was gentle despite his rough hands, which were that way from hard labor from a young age. As far as Judith knew, he started working when he was her age, which was almost unreal. If one didn't know him, they would think it was out of character for a man looking so gruff and rough to be so gentle, calm and kind. After a second of thought, she decided that applied to Negan and Jesus as well, whose appearances also didn't match with their personalities.

As much as she loved Negan and Jesus, Judith had to say that Daryl was her favorite. 

Judith Grimes was a simple child, at least most people just assumed that due to nothing but her age. She played along and didn't break her cover, as she learned that sometimes it was best if you kept things to yourself. That was something her aunt Carol had taught her whenever they hung out on rare occasions. The weaker the people thought you were, the better. If they thought you weren't a threat, they would drop their guards and you would be able to read them like an open book. 

Her daddy used to be a sheriff. After years of being retired, he still had that power around him, same with the skill set. He was able to read people like a simple morning newspaper, joined by a cup of coffee and a bagel. Judith liked to believe that she took the ability to read between the lines from him. 

It was easy to figure out who exactly Daryl Mark  Dixon was. Sure, some things didn't make sense on their own, but when you combined all of his traits and you let them weave themselves together like a twine it all made sense. 

Judith saw his back. Some days after he had his morning swim which was a part of his morning workout, he didn't bring a shirt and instead got dressed after he went to the bedroom he was occupying. He was always the first one to wake up, but one day Judith woke up even before him. The passed each other down the hall and Daryl ruffled her hair affectionately. Just as she turned around to complain about her hair, her eyes widened and an inaudible gasp escaped her lips when she saw the lashes across his back that weren't in any sort of form or pattern. They were just random products of rage. Judith was quick to go back to her room before the tears started to run down her cheeks. 

They'd spoken about domestic abuse at school. The topic was discussed often during the classes with the school's counselor every Monday and Thursday. While most kids from her class groaned and huffed, Judith even wrote things down and asked her father if what they taught them was true. To her, her father was almost like Google. Even if he was surprised at first at her sudden interest, after she explained that he simply knew a lot of people from his work and most likely knew a lot about psychology from being around all types of people, he was more than happy to discuss such topics like these. He made sure to warn her that every single person was different : they all had different coping mechanisms, different points of view and you should always be careful with their boundaries. Then, he analyzed whatever she had written down from school so far and they discussed the topics.