Chapter 1 Small Towns and Big Hearts

"Momma, what time did you tell Ms. Beverly I would be over to babysit?"

Annette looks at her daughter and wonders how she grew up so fast, "Beth, honey, I told her you would be at her house at 5 o'clock sharp."

Beth Greene is not your average teenage girl. She is a servant to others, always has been. She spent all last summer serving in a homeless shelter in downtown Atlanta. 19 years of living and she has never experienced more joy than giving her time to serve those who just needed a little love. Beth Greene has always had a big heart but she also has very big dreams.

Ever since she was a little girl with those big blue doe eyes and her blonde pigtails the list of jobs she wanted to pursue varied: she had wanted to become an astronaut, a princess, a famous singer, an archeologist, and last but not least a teacher. She has always been an explorer even since she took her first steps. Her daddy likes to constantly tell the story of how a few days after she learned to walk, she went missing. He yelled for Annette and demanded Maggie and Shawn to help him find his baby girl. It turned out that little bitty Beth had wandered to the barn in search of watching their beautiful brown horse eat hay. Hershel was relieved to say the least but he has always kept an eye out for his little one because he knew from that moment on that she was a brave girl with big ambitions and a curious mind.

It was 4:30 and Beth was getting ready to head to Griffin to babysit for Ms. Beverly. "Bye momma, bye daddy! I'm heading over to watch Luke." Both parents gave her a hug and told her to drive carefully.

She got in her beat up truck and turned up the music. Beth has never had a favorite genre of music but recently she has recently been listening to a lot of folk music.

Hold your horses now

(Sleep until the sun goes down)

Through the woods we ran

(Deep into the mountain sound)

Hold your horses now

(Sleep until the sun goes down)

Through the woods we ran

As Beth sang along with the radio she realized that she had never seen the mountains. In fact, she's never seen a lot of things. Traveling to all fifty states has always been on her bucket list. Fifty states and she has only been to one, the one in which she lives. Beth has always loved being a farm girl in the small town of Senoia, Georgia but she has been getting real tired of spending all her time in just one location when there is so much of the world to see. "God, please help me be able to travel the world. Please lead me in the direction you have planned for me." She prays constantly because she has grown up in a believing household and she believes just as much as her Momma and Daddy. Her Daddy always says, "If you don't have hope then what's the point of living." God has always been her hope especially after she attempted suicide a few years back. That was in her past and she tries to avoid they topic because her parents where so disappointed in her but what most people don't know, she was disappointed in herself. Her parents just lost their son in a tragic car accident just a week ago and here Beth was trying to find a way out because the pain was too much. Shawn had always been her best friend. He was protective, he was funny, but most importantly he was always there to listen to her. When she lost him she blamed God and she did not want to continue living without her big brother. She was so ashamed of herself for even contemplating doing such a thing and she was even more ashamed that she blamed God for taking her brother. God has a plan for everybody and she soon realized that, instead of being mad she was simply thankful God gave her Shawn for the fifteen years she got to spend with him.

Her mind was racing the entire drive over to the Beverly household and once she finally arrived she put those thoughts to rest. Knocking on the door, Beth realized that there was a motorcycle parked in the Grimes' driveway. She had never seen it there before. "Hmm wonder who that could be," she whispered quietly to herself. The door finally opened and their stood Ms. Beverly wearing a red strapless dress and high heels. She could hear chatter coming from the living room and she quickly recognized the voices to be Mr. and Mrs. Grimes. Ms. Beverly invited her inside and motioned her towards the living room. Inside she noticed Rick and Lori sitting on the couch. She greeted them politely and realized that there was another individual in the room. He was standing against the wall. He had brown shaggy hair and beautiful blue eyes. He was staring at her with so much intensity that it made her heart skip a beat. She gave the man a small smile, "Hi there, I'm Beth Greene."

"It's a pleasure to meet ya ma'am. M' name is Daryl."