CHAPTER THREE.
" memories "

WORD COUNT :
1,960

IT'S NOT often that I feel happiness anymore. My past plagued my future, and there was no going back. I can't recall when, but at some point, my cheerfulness flickered out like a broken bulb, and there was certainly no way I would be able to replace it on my own. So, I didn't.

My time in Alexandria has been bleak, to say the least. I mean, at least there aren't any cold bodies, but it's boring. I've tried to make friends, I really have, but they're all uninteresting. Well , except for Enid. I've actually become pretty good friends with her, we've gone outside of the walls together.

As I sit in front of the small pond, I think of my past while throwing a rock in an attempt to skip it. I failed horribly each time, watching as the rock sunk into the water.

"You suck at that," a soft voice claimed. I turned to see Enid's small smile and I couldn't help but smile back.

"You flatter me," I roll my eyes before she take her seat next to me. I look over to see her gnawing on her lip, and I immediately knew something was bothering her. I was hesitant to ask what was on her mind, because in all honestly I didn't really care about how other people feel. Maybe I should work on that, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Enid holds her tongue for a moment, gulping and staring back at the rippling water, "There are new people in Alexandria. A whole group. I'm just... they don't seem like the kind to adjust to the lifestyle of Alexandria."

"You're worried they'll cause problems?" I ask, my interest suddenly piqued. It's not often there are new additions to the community, much less entire groups. I wonder what they've been through. It's always interesting to hear of other's pasts.

"Hey, I never said that," but her grin tells me I was correct.

"Well, I think I'm gonna go check them out," I announce, a small smile playing at my lips before I stand up. I wave goodbye to the girl I had come to enjoy being around, ambling toward the front gates, where I assumed the new survivors were currently. If not, I'd have to go searching for them, and personally, that just didn't seem like a good time to me.

When the front gates come into sight, I see a group of unfamiliar people and pick up my pace. What can I say, I'm eager to see the new additions.

As I near closer, I hear Nicholas speak to the group, "Stay, you hand them over."

"We don't know if we want to stay," An unknown man speaks up, and my gaze travels to him before my eyes widen at the sight of a baby. It's not often you see babies anymore, and, in all honesty, I can't remember the last time I'd even seen anyone younger than the age of 5. Sure, there are children in Alexandria who attend the makeshift schools there are, but it's a whole different thing to see a newborn in the hands of someone who just came from the outside. Was the infant born out there? How did they keep her quiet enough to avoid attracting the biters? These were all questions I hope I'd soon have the answer to.

"It's fine, Nicholas," Aaron says, only to be cut off by the gruff voice of the bearded man once again,

"If we were gonna use them, we would have started already." Well, he had a point.

"Let them talk to Deanna first," Aaron convinces.

"Who's Deanna?" A muscular ginger man inquires, holding himself like he eats fear for breakfast and beats ass for fun. I admired that, and it sparked a sudden curiosity within me that I didn't know I had before. Before this moment, I hadn't thought to scan across the group, but at the prospect of all of them being badasses who carry themselves in such a way as the ginger man, I immediately began looking from left to right. Aaron, Nicholas, and the group continue to converse as I study the figures in front of me. Somewhere during the time my gaze scoured the bundle of survivors, the bearded man had walked off.

It was actually quite a diverse group... A woman of color with a katana, a boy about my age in a sheriff's hat, a confident looking woman with an automatic rifle in hand, and so on. My eyes nonchalantly scan across the group, mentally noting each person's appearance with nothing but short (bordering on inaccurate) descriptions. Mullet guy, Asian man, priest looking guy, and--

"Noah?" I softly call out against my better judgement, my mouth moving without my conscious permission. All eyes snap to me, and I would shrink under all of the attention if I weren't so in shock of what I saw. I blinked a few times, uncertain of if it was another hallucination. I internally sighed in relief when the vision of my brother didn't fade.

Noah responded with nothing but the call of my name, "CJ." After rubbing his eyes, hoping to discover if my appearance was a mirage or not, he gasped and ran towards me. He engulfed me in a tight hug, and I was quick to return it. I began giggling softly with delight -- the sound that felt foreign to my own heard seemed to fill Noah with even more glee because his grip on me tightened.

The rest of his group seemed to be confused, but I could care less. I had finally found my brother. But, coaxed at the memories of my older brother, came those of my younger siblings. I muster up all the courage I have, because this information would most likely break Noah's heart as it did mine, and with a shaky voice, I announce, "Elijah, Oliver-"

"I know," He mumbled into my shoulder, not wanting to address the feeling of sadness we both felt. This was a happy moment, and it should remain as one.

Once we pulled apart and smiled at our reunion, the brunette woman, who had what I discovered was a southern accent, spoke up, "Y'all know each other?"

"She's my sister," Noah responded with a large smile, and it was a refreshing sight for me.

Maybe the world wasn't so shitty after all.

I BREIFLY considered asking to stay with the group for the night, just to be closer with Noah, but I decided against it. I didn't want to impose and I most certainly didn't want to embarrass myself, so I stayed in the home Aaron and Eric had moved me to. It was a lot smaller than the others, and I was nearly certain it was the smallest one in Alexandria, but I fully understood. I was just one small girl, how was I supposed to utilize an entire three story home?

It was two days after I was reunited with Noah, but he was off doing God knows what with people who I learned were named Glenn and Tara. I sat in Ron's room beside Enid, and in front of the bed sat Ron and Mikey. We both read separate books, but every once in a while we would show each other a line we thought was either funny or well-written.

A knock could be heard at what I assumed was the front door, and Ron immediately perked up, "Oh, that's probably Carl. My mom said he was coming today," Met with bored gazes and silence, he sighed, "Okay, well, don't all get up at once or anything." He said as he stood from his spot next to Mikey in front of the television.

A small chuckle fell from my lips, but after that, the room was filled with a comfortable silence once again. Ron sighed exasperatedly, throwing his hands into the air in frustration, "Seriously?"

"Not all of us have such a hard on for him, Ron," I roll her eyes, only glancing up to meet his gaze when I finished reading my sentence.

"Whatever," Ron said, walking out of the room, presumably to open the front door. Moments later, he appeared in the doorway again, drawing the attention to himself and the boy in the sheriff's hat (minus the sheriff's hat this time), "Guys, this is Carl. Carl, this is Mikey, Enid, and Cher. Cher's kind of mean, be sure to stay away from her," Ron jokes, pointing to us when he said our names, and I roll my eyes.

"Fuck off," I sigh, looking back down at my book. At this point, I was entirely over this conversation.

"Hey," Mikey greets, standing from his spot with what only seemed like eager. Wow, I guess someone else did have such a hard on for Carl.

Enid sighed under her breath, although it was still very audible in the somewhat quiet room, "Hi." Unlike my 'friends', I didn't give him a proper, verbal greeting, and instead simply waved at him. Just because Noah found a new family didn't mean I had to.

"Enid and Cher are from outside, too. Enid came eight months ago and Cher just came like three months ago," Ron explained, and much to my dismay. I didn't need this dimwit giving out my entire life story to anyone who lays eyes on me.

The boy opened his mouth for the first time since he entered the room, "Oh, um... is this yours?" He pulls out a comic book — my comic book —looking around to the boys in the room.

Ron head falls as he shakes his head, softly chuckling. He looks back up at Carl, "Sorry. We didn't know you guys got that house."

"We mostly just hang out there and listen to music," Mikey explains, "That's Cher's." I take that as my cue to reach for my comic book. I would have simply taken it, but I was a bit out of reach since I was on the far side of Enid. Carl moved his hand closer to mine, and when he did, I grabbed — well, it was more like a snatch — my book, setting it down next to me.

After a short but somehow uncomfortable silence, Ron speaks up, "Want to play some video games? Or, Mikey's house has a pool table, but his dad's kind of strict about it."

"It's okay, he's at work." Mikey says.

"Um..." The boy trails off, looking around the room. He looked at a loss for words, and to be fair, I understood the feeling. To be dragged from the outside world you had grown accustomed to, and then to be thrown into a world like the one we had used to know, it was kind of overwhelming. So, I stepped in.

"Back off, Ron. Do you realize how overwhelming you can be?" I rolled my eyes, looking back down to my book only to realize I lost my place. I sigh under my breath, but calm down once I find the sentence I left off again.

"Yeah, sorry, I guess we come off pretty strong," Ron says.

"We?" I ask, not glancing up from my page. I didn't see it, but my comment was rewarded with a death glare from Ron.

"We can just hang out," Ron continued, only to be cut off again by Mikey.

"You don't even have to talk if you don't wanna," He says, looking at Carl.

"Yeah, took Enid three weeks to say something." Ron said, and I look up when I hear him spilling everyone's secrets yet again.

"Pull it together, sport," Enid spoke, speaking my own thoughts.

"Let's, um... Let's play some video games." Carl finally spoke up, and I internally sighed in relief. If I wanted to be around another wordless, emotionless being, I would have stayed out there with the cold bodies.

next . . . ❝  𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍  ❞