Rick saw her from afar but did not approach. She was the lone survivor of a mass killing at the hands of The Governor, and he wondered how the dark-haired beauty named Karen was handling things. She was unsurprisingly withdrawn and distant, only coming to life when her son Noah was around. Rick knew she had to have some form of PTSD after all that has happened and decided to speak to her privately since he was practically an expert on the subject.
Karen could not stop crying. She never wanted Noah to see her like this so she waited until he was asleep to break down. Sometimes she would go outside and look out into the prison yard and just cry uncontrollably. When Karen thought about all the things she had done to keep her and Noah behind Woodbury's walls, she immediately felt ashamed of herself. When Karen first arrived in Woodbury she thought she had found the last safe place on earth to live and give her son a decent life. The Governor seemed like a good man and someone who had valid ideas on how to survive in this new zombie filled world. She even allowed herself to be charmed enough to go to bed with him on occasion, but quickly ended things when she found out The Governor was practically bedding every single attractive female within Woodbury's heavily guarded walls. Knowing this and becoming increasingly suspicious of The Governor's strange ways wasn't enough to convince to sneak out of Woodbury with her son and take her chances on the road, but the war with the prison was the straw that broke the camel's back. Karen slept with The Governor one last time to keep her asthmatic son out of his "army" and decided once the war was over (if she survived) she would get the hell out of Woodbury and not look back.
Someone clearing their throat interrupted Karen's thoughts. She looked behind her to see Rick, the leader of the prison group and quickly turned away. Karen wondered what he wanted. Rick seemed nice enough, but so had The Governor.
"Sorry to startle you. I couldn't sleep so I came out here for a breath of fresh air".
"No problem. I couldn't sleep either".
"That's common you know. Considering what we all have been through this past year".
Karen looked at Rick and noticed that underneath his haggard face was a man who like her had lost a lot. She knew through eavesdropping on the other survivor's conversations that he had lost his wife Lori a few months ago and had two kids to care for, not to mention a group of people to look after and be responsible for.
" Back in my old life, I was a hair dresser who owned a salon". Why Karen felt the need to share this with the former sheriff was a mystery to her, but she needed to talk to someone.
"Really"?
"I know this may be a weird request, but would you mind if I cut your hair? I miss cutting hair a lot. It was therapeutic for me".
Rick did think it was odd that this woman he did not know wanted to give him a haircut, but for some reason Rick wanted to give Karen this, if only to remind her of a time in her life that she was happy.
"Okay Karen. Let's see if you can cut some hair"!
TO BE CONTINUED
