~Age 10; 15 years ago~
"Daryl! Merle, guess what I made!" 10 year old Annavey yelled with excitement as her tiny legs carried her body towards the fifteen-year-old and nineteen-year-old dirty redneck boys. The boy named Daryl who was the age of fifteen turned around with a smile plastered on his face when he saw the girl running towards his brother and him
"And what would that be baby girl?", Merle was the first to speak once Annavey reached the two. A smile was hooked to the girls face once she shrugged off her backpack.
"Look I made something for the both of you! It's a jacket with wings on the back! It's for Daryl! I took one of my daddy's old jacket and cut it up! My sister helped sew on the wings!", Annavey handed the angel winged jacket to Daryl. He didn't know how to respond to it as he slipped it on. Of course it was too big for him, but that didn't matter to him. He was just happy that Annavey was happy.
"And for Merle! I made this really cool belt! It has all types of tools on it since you love working on cars and other stuff. Sissy of course helped glue them on with this hot glue stuff. It was hot and smelled funny, but the belt turned out to be really pretty!", Merle took the belt and gave the girl a small smile as a sign of a thank you.
"Why are you giving us gifts when it's your birthday baby girl ?", Daryl's smile fell once his older brother said it was her birthday. He didn't even know when her birthday was, but his brother did. And Merle never told him about it either. With a shrug of Annavey's shoulder she just kept on smiling. Merle ruffled up her hair as he said that he needed to get back to work. Leaving Daryl and Annavey.
"Why angel wings?", the question slipped through his teeth without meaning too. He automatically hated himself once he saw her smile fade and her eyes look towards the ground.
"One time sissy said that everyone has an angel. And that your angel protects you no matter what and always have your back-whatever that means-and sometimes that angel is not always happy, because it doesn't have it's wings. So, well now you have your wings", her voice started to fade on the last sentence. Daryl heart dropped as the girl finished her story. She thought of him as an angel. But not just any angel, but as her angel. Without a second thought he pulled Annavey into his arms and hugged her. Annavey could feel something warm and wet starting to land on her shoulders, a moment later she realize that Daryl was crying. And so she hugged him back tighter than before.
"Why are you crying? Aren't you happy that you have your wings back?", she whispered in his ear as they continued to hug tightly
"I am happy Little Ann. I'm so happy. And I will always protect you", Daryl whispered right back. With a soft squeeze he let go of the girl and smiled again. "Here take this before you go since it's starting to get dark", Daryl reaches from behind his neck and unclip the necklace that hung loosely around his neck. The necklace was a charm, on the charm it said 'Fight and don't give up'. Slowly he put the necklace around Annavey's neck that hung low. With a kiss on her forehead he stood up and watched as she touched the necklace.
"Thank you...Angel", with that she ran back to her house with a smile never leaving her face. Neither of them knew that was the last time they would see each other for years to come. Since Annavey's sister took her to go live with her aunt in Atlanta. But neither of them forgot each other. Annavey never forgot about her angel. Daryl never forgot that innocent naive girl that became his only true friend (besides his brother).