With wide eyes, Carl and Elide looked at the small community as Aaron closed the gate behind the group.
It was as if they were caught in a dream, because it didn't seem real to Elide or anyone else.

Rick stepped forward, Judith tightly in his arms, the baby making sweet noises all the while.

A young man who had been standing at the gate earlier, letting the group in, stood a little distance in front of Rick, looking at the group with a nondescript look. "Before we take this any further, I need you all to turn over your weapons," he finally said, looking at everyone seriously. "Stay, you hand 'em over."

There was no way Elide was going to hand over the weapon she had just been given back after all. Crossing her arms, she looked at the man in annoyance.

"We don't know if we want to stay," Rick casually said, who seemed quite intimidating, even with baby in his arms. He took this situation so calmly, but still made it seem very tense, which Elide admired. Carl next to her turned slightly towards her and gave her the same look she had; Pure overwhelm.

"It's fine Nicholas," Aaron assured him calmly.

"If we were gonna use them, we would have started already," Rick stated, taking a few steps forward to make his point even clearer. But he was right; they could have all used their weapons by now, but they didn't.

The wind whipped Elide's body and blew her hair away from her face, which she pushed behind her ear in annoyance.

"Let them talk to Deanna first," he added, turning to the group when Abraham asked who Deanna was.
"She knows everything you'd wanna know about this place."

Aaron nodded to himself and walked over to Rick.
"Rick, why don't you start?"

__

Deanna was busy all afternoon talking every single one of the group except Elide. She talked her way out of it and refused to talk while everyone else spent at least ten minutes in her house. For Elide, it was a waste of time and as far as she could tell, Daryl wasn't even with her for five minutes.

So while the last few people were talking to Deanna, Elide decided to freshen up. Rick and Carl had already done so, with Carl now talking to Deanna and Judith with him.

Hesitantly, Elide opened a door that led to one of the bedrooms. The door made creaking sounds as she opened it carefully and stepped inside with slow steps. The group had to hand in their weapons after the conversation with Rick, which meant that Elide's beloved black pistol no longer took its place on her belt.

The bedroom was not very big, but it had a bed. And this was the first thing Elide touched with trembling hands. The soft fabric of the duvet felt so nice and soft that Elide wanted nothing more than to throw herself on it and take a long sleep.
But she was dirty and it would probably feel better if she looked fresh too.

Curious, she put her backpack down in the corner and opened the wardrobe. There were indeed clothes neatly folded there. Elide had to blink a few times to understand that there were really clean clothes waiting for her.

In disbelief, she pulled a pair of black jeans and a red T-shirt out of the wardrobe, both of which seemed a bit too big. Nevertheless, she also found underwear, which she immediately took and then went to the bathroom.
It was beautiful, even if the girl didn't necessarily want to admit it. After all, she was strictly against all this, but suddenly she could feel clean and comfortable again and she simply did not let this chance pass her by.

After the long, warm and extensive shower, Elide changed into her clothes. She then rolled up her trousers at the bottom. The T-shirt hung loosely on her thin body and her dark hair fell wetly down her back.

When she looked in the mirror, which she had to steam clear before she could see anything, her shoulders dropped. The girl she was looking at in the mirror at that moment was not at all the girl who had run after her brother with a big smile. Her blue eyes looked so dull and sad that everyone automatically felt sorry for her.

Shaking her head, she averted her eyes, picked up the dirty clothes from the floor and went downstairs to where Glenn and Maggie were sitting, both freshly showered.

"There you are!" Glenn exclaimed smiling, as Elide also descended the last steps with a slight smile on her lips.
"Some of the people here, brought us some food. You should definitely eat something, El."

Sceptically, Elide raised her eyebrows. "El?"

Maggie giggled. "El is your nickname. Elide is beautiful, but El suits you more. It's short and sweet," she explained, putting her hand on Elide's back to lead her to the dining table.

The only people who ever gave her a nickname were her brother and her mother. They always called her 'Sunshine' or 'Ellie'. Elide swallowed the memories. She had to stop living in the past.

Hesitantly, she sat down and put both of her hands on the table as she watched Maggie hand her a plate with some pasta. God, there were really hot, steaming noodles in front of her. Her stomach instantly started grumbling and when Noah, one of the young men, overheard this as well, she turned slightly red in the face. But not because she was embarrassed, but because she was angry.

Yes, she was angry. What was funny about not getting anything decent to eat for over a week? The emotions in Elide were going crazy and she would have liked to cry out everything she hated. But she had made a promise to her brother that she would never, under any circumstances break.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have laughed," Noah suddenly said uncertainly. Elide's gaze softened and she shook her head. "It's okay."

After Elide ate the noodles with slow bites, Maggie sat down in the chair across from her. "Eat as much as you want. People have brought enough for all of us."

Elide gulped down the last bite and then shook her head as she declined with thanks. "I'm really full, but thank you, Maggie."

"You know, I think this place can really work," Maggie said with a smile, stroking Elide's arm as she took her plate to the sink.

Taking a deep breath, the girl decided to go outside, maybe she would run into Carol or even Carl.
When she arrived on the front terrace, the sudden feeling overwhelmed her. The cool and pleasant wind gently brushed her still slightly damp skin. Her hair was no longer too wet and left an equally pleasant feeling. The sun was still bright in the sky, which meant that the weather was not too cold. And for the first time Elide could enjoy the view and not only look into a dark and gloomy forest full of walkers.

Rick also came out onto the terrace, closely followed by Carl, who was now done talking. "I'm gonna check out the other house," he said, walking towards the house to the left of their current one.
Carol decided to follow the boy as well, while Daryl was on the stairs tearing apart an opossum he had caught earlier. Elide briefly cringed in disgust as Daryl just carelessly tossed the animal's guts onto the floor beside it.

"You should go too," Rick addressed her, causing her to turn to him. He had shaved and his hair was shorter now too, making him look almost twenty years younger.

"Okay," she finally said and jumped off the terrace as well to follow Carol and Carl into the other house.

"Wow, these are like mansions," Carl marvelled, stroking the clean white shelves. Elide, too, eyed the large house with folded arms.

"Mm-hmm. And they're just giving them away," Carol muttered sceptically. She grabbed a pad and pencil that were on one of the cupboards and turned to the teenagers. "You're coming?"

"Yeah in a sec," Carl replied, which prompted Carol to make her way back, thus leaving the two of them alone. Carl looked up from the lockers and deliberately tried to make eye contact with Elide, which worked.

Astonished, she looked at him. Carl's eyes wandered unintentionally along her petite body as he gulped and could beat himself up for his childish behaviour. She looked so different from how he had first seen her. So clean.

Just as Elide was about to make a pissed-off comment, a loud rumbling from upstairs interrupted her. Immediately, Carl turned and walked slowly and carefully up the stairs. Elide followed him and was close to him, which was why both of the young teenagers could feel each other's body heat.

"Stay behind me," Carl muttered sternly, to which Elide rolled his eyes. "I can take care of myself just fine."

Now Carl was the one rolling his eyes in annoyance. He pulled his long knife from his belt, which Elide did the same. Her brother's knife rested easily in her hand and she was more than willing to use it if necessary.

Carl kicked the door open with all his might and stepped cautiously into the room. But neither Carl nor Elide could make out anyone or anything that had caused the noise. There were only some notebooks and cards on the floor, it almost looked as if someone hung out or lived here from time to time.

Carl put his knife away again and turned to Elide, shrugging his shoulders as he bent down and slowly picked up one of the comics.

"You read comics?" Elide couldn't help asking and tilted her head curiously.

"Michonne used to bring me comics from her tours now and then. 'Been a long time since I last read one," he answered her, looking at the title of the comic.

Elide eyed Carl and sighed. It felt wrong not to get on well with him, especially since Carl was actually quite okay. The conversation they had had, which escalated quickly, was stupid. Of course he was suspicious. He had every reason to be, but he hadn't realised it hurt Elide.

"What about you? Do you like comics?" he now wanted to know too, his voice sounding harsher than he intended.
"My brother had some back then. I used to steal them from him because he thought comics weren't for girls," she smirked softly, shaking her head as she thought of the good old days.

"You have a brother?"

Carl looked at her and noticed the corners of her mouth dropping, he didn't need to ask further. It was more than obvious what was happening.

"I had a brother," she now corrected emotionlessly, as expected, while her hands clenched into fists.

Carl lowered his gaze and nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We all have to live with loss," she breathed, forcing a smile to her lips, which Carl returned in surprise. He liked her smile more than when the two of them were at loggerheads.

"That's right," he replied, lost in thought. "Let's go back," he added, casually walking past Elide, who suddenly grabbed him unexpectedly by the arm. Her touch triggered an indescribable feeling in him, which he could not interpret. His gaze was first on her hand on his arm and then he looked into her eyes.

"Carl...I...I'm," Elide was at a loss for words and didn't even know what she was about to do. Was she going to apologise for escalating things the day before?

Carl took some distance. "It's okay. Me too."

With those words, Carl went out of the room, leaving Elide alone with her emotional chaos.

She walked slowly to the window and looked at the many houses and people; It looked like a beautiful and peaceful neighbourhood in which one could live perfectly.

Uncertainly, Elide rested her forehead against the glass. "Home sweet home."