Elide walked slowly down the stairs, still hearing Carl reading to Judith in her room. The girl had said she was going to get something to drink, which was absolutely not in her interest; she wanted to see Daryl and Rick, but especially the strange man they had brought with them.

So she ran outside and was almost immediately greeted by the cold autumn air; the night was visibly making itself felt.

There were hardly any people on the streets and the lights were only on in a few houses. Alexandria had definitely become quieter after all that had happened. People were only really active during the day, especially now that Rick was in charge after Deanna died.

Elide hurried to avoid being seen by others. She was supposed to stay in the house at this hour, Rick had decreed. He knew that Elide and Carl could defend themselves even if something went wrong again, but until all the walls were up again and people calmed down completely, the teenagers should stay inside, at least after dark.

When Elide arrived at Deanna's house, her steps slowed. The light was on in one of the rooms; Elide guessed that the strange man must be there.

Even if what the girl was doing was wrong, she couldn't just suppress her curiosity. She went up the stairs and stood as close to the window as she could. Unfortunately for her, however, only muffled loud voices could be heard. Cursing, she went to her knees as Rick's shadow appeared at the window. It wouldn't do any good like this.

Elide bit her lips as she considered how she could listen in on the conversation. Just walking in would be the stupidest thing she could do; Daryl would see right through her.

All the other windows were too far away to hear anything, though.

Annoyed, Elide stood up straight again and decided to go back. Her thoughts were pure chaos. She had never been so curious before, but this time it was different. She desperately wanted to know what the man was all about and why neither Rick nor Daryl had told the group anything about it.

Sighing, the girl jogged down the stairs and made her way back home. She hoped that Carl hadn't noticed anything yet and was still busy with Judith. She didn't want him to know. She wanted to take as little stress off him as possible. He needed to rest and concentrate completely on himself.

"They closed the windows on purpose."

Elide stopped abruptly. Her eyes narrowed and the typical feeling of annoyance crept to the surface.

Zack walked around Elide until he stood in front of her; His dark hair fell tangled in his face. He had no jacket on, so his folded muscular arms were exposed.

Elide rolled her eyes and wanted to walk past him.

"Hey, hey, we're just talking. Why so rude?" He stopped her, moving back into her path.

"Mind your own business," Elide hissed, looking at Zack with a look of contempt. Everything about this boy was wrong and Elide had no interest in wasting any more minutes with him.

"I was going to until I saw you spying on Rick." Provokingly, the boy raised his eyebrows, followed by his hands. "I can't watch you backstab him."

Elide was confused and angry at the same time. "What the fuck are you talkin' about? I'm not backstabbing anyone here."

"But you're disobeying Rick's rules right now to stalk him, aren't you?" Zack played dumb on purpose, making his face look worried and confused, even though he knew exactly what he was doing.

Elide bit her lip hard and clenched her hands into fists. "Shut up, Zack."

She walked past him again, not wanting to listen to him for a second longer, but he had other plans in which he grabbed her firmly by the arm. Stumbling, Elide stopped and looked at Zack, whose face was suddenly right in front of hers. Startled, Elide wanted to break away from him, but his grip remained firm.

"Let go of me."

"What do I get in return?"

Elide drew her eyebrows together; her whole body trembled and her heart beat abnormally fast. It felt like her body was tensing up, but in a very bad way. She hated how close Zack was to her. His grip was tight, too tight. It reminded her of Carter.

Her breathing quickened.

"What do you mean?"

Zack grinned wickedly and tightened his hand even more around her arm, causing Elide to writhe and hiss in his grip.

"Well, you wouldn't want Rick to know about your little walk," he purred obviously. "And unfortunately, my secrecy is not for free."

He let go of Elide, which made her immediately stand a few feet away and hold her arm painfully. She couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth.

"You've only been here a fucking day and you think you can compete with me or my family?" Elide laughed out, even though she was crying inside.

"Who do you think they believe more, Zack, you or me?"

With the words she gave him one last look before hurrying back home. Every step she took closer to home and further away from the boy, her tears increased. Her chin quivered and an aching pressure formed in her heart. Barely any air passed through her lungs.

Panic gripped her and as she opened the door of her home she ran straight into Glenn. He looked at Elide with wide eyes.

He ran up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, but her gaze remained fixed on the floor. "Elide, what happened?"

The girl shook her head and tried to break away from him, which he allowed.

"Nothing, really," she laughed, wiping her eyes to look at Glenn. "Just a headache," she added and ran upstairs without another word.

Once in her room, she locked the door and pulled her hair painfully as she slid down the door. Since when had she become so weak? Since when did she cry because some bastard spoke to her like that?

A sob escaped her as she held her heart and exhaled loudly. Her vision blurred again and again, no matter how often she wiped her eyes.

With wobbly legs, Elide stood up and walked to the mirror. Carefully she brushed Carl's shirt off her shoulders, underneath she wore only a top that Maggie had lent her. She had no lights on in the room, the moonlight was her only source of light.

Elide's tears stopped as she looked at her arm, which was beginning to turn from a soft pink to a dark red.

Unconsciously she stroked it. A thousand thoughts were lost in her head, none of which seemed to be able to be sorted out.

So much had happened in the last few days, so much that she couldn't even process any of it. She didn't even have time to find out who she was now.

A knock on her door jolted her out of her thoughts. Quickly she ran to the shirt she was putting on. "Yes?" She asked aloud, wiping her face often to wipe away the tears and their marks.

"You're okay?" Carl.

Elide stood by the door and went to open it, but her hand remained hovering over the handle. "I'm okay, Carl. Sorry, I got sick and I didn't want to disturb Judtih," she lied, closing her eyes as she felt the next tears. Lying to Carl right now was harder than anything else.

She was the one who had made him confide in her and just when they had a stronger connection than ever, something happened inside Elide that she couldn't explain.

Carl, on the other hand, nodded in understanding.

"Do you need anything? Do you want me to bring you water or-," Elide interrupted him.

"No, it's okay. I'll just sleep now," she brought out. She put her hand over her mouth immediately afterwards to stifle her sobs.

"Oh. Okay. If you need anything, just come to my room, El. Good night."

She heard Carl move away and dropped her hand from her mouth. And that was the moment she broke down and cried.

A fortnight ago she had managed to stay strong for so long and now she was just as she had been before. Weak and fragile.