Ted did it. Ted did it. Ted did it. That was all that came out of this girl! Judith stood strongly three feet tall, an Aerosmith t-shirt acting as a dress, black hair tickling her face. A teddy bear dangles in her hand, his face splotched with someone else's blood.
"Your teddy bear? Jude you can't seriously think I am going to believe you," stomps her older brother, examining the destroyed storage closet. "You think dad's gonna believe you?"
Judith stomps her two little feet, covered with even littler pink shoes. "Ted isn't a teddy bear," she whines helplessly. "This is Frank," she holds the ripped bear up, one eye hanging by a thread and an arm torn completely off. "Ted is real and not a doll… duh."
"How come I've never seen this Ted guy huh? Think your so smart do yah, makin' up an imaginary friend to remind me how little you are? Well I'm not falling for it my dear sister."
Judith made a puppy dog face, "you've never seen Ted because he doesn't like you." With that Jude twirled out of the room without letting Carl explode.
…..
"Ted did it," Judith says with a blank expression. Glenn and Maggie stare down at the girl in horror. How could such a little thing demolish their room? Stuffing littered the floor, feathers from the pillows still showered down like rain. "Ted did it," she repeated with such a meaningless expression she could be mistaken for a machine.
"What the hell happened Judith?" Maggie starts picking up bed stuffing from the floor. "You are not allowed to come in here! How could you do this!"
"But I didn't," she said with a whine, "it was Ted I said that, and he doesn't like rules."
"Judith," Glenn warns, his face reddening as if steam was about to hiss from his ears like a train. "Where is your dad? Go get him. Now."
"Ted doesn't like dad either," Judith spit through her teeth, moving past the angry man and his delusional wife. Jude skipped down the hall, no intention of looking for her father. Instead, she decided to pay a visit to her tea party.
She went into her cell, which she had only gotten after weeks and weeks of begging. Eventually, her daddy said she could have the cell right next to his… which Ted didn't like either. Nevertheless, mountains of toys piled in the corner abandoned, and a box with Daryl's poncho laid over it was in the center. Judith sat on a milk crate next to two pillows.
"Here you are Frank," she set the teddy bear on one and turned to the other. "Everyone is mad now Ted, nobody wants to play." She waited, listening to the whispers of Ted. "No I can't just make them, I'm already in trouble cause of you." She crosses her arms, angrily taking a sip of imaginary tea. "Ouch, hot," Judith sets the cup down. "Please not again… I really, really don't want another stupid lecture on—responsibility again. And last time they sent me to my room!"
Judith sighed, standing up and picking up Frank, following Ted out the door and into Carol's cell.
….
It was Daryl who found Judith crouched under Carol's mangled mattress. "Ass kicker?" He squinted in the darkness, approaching closer. Then Daryl saw it. A cluster of squares of cloth, torn pants and shirts, smashed figurines. "What the hell did you do?"
"It was Ted," she said terrified, Judith rocked back and forth, latched on to her knees. "He scared me this time Daryl, I have never seen him this mad."
Daryl flipped the mattress off her angrily, latching on to her wrist and pulling her to her feet. "Look at me," he ordered, softly grasping her chin to get her attention. "There ain't no Ted, you're gonna clean this up and apologize. Stop using Ted as an excuse because this was you and there ain't no Ted."
Judith's deep brown eyes fall to the ground, "Ted isn't going to like this," she whispers with a tear coming down her cheek. Daryl releases her, debating whether to get Rick. He had never seen Jude like this, so weak, so distraught.
"How 'bout I help you kill 'em?" Daryl leans against the wall and says coolly.
"Kill Ted?" Judith had never thought about it… killing Ted to make him stop. It would certainly work, no more long nights without stories or songs or dances. "How do we kill a Ted?"
"He ain't my crazy imaginary friend." Daryl's arms are crossed and he quickly adds with an eye brow cocked, "but Ted's actions will still be paid dearly for got it Kicker?"
No songs. No dances. No late night horror stories. Judith understood, sighing. "We need a Kit-Kat bar. It's a Ted's only weakness."
…..
Judith's knows of such a place where Kit-Kat bars inhabit. Under Beth Greene's mattress and that is exactly where they go. Daryl and Judith—partners in crime. Her small hands reach in the stained mattress while Daryl keeps watch. "Hurry it up Little Ass Kicker I ain't got all day."
"Got it," Judith pulls out the chocolate bar.
"Now what?"
Judith's mouth watered, "now I have to eat it."
"What? I thought a Ted's only weakness is a Kit-Kat bar, now you're telling me you have to eat it?"
Before Daryl could object, the little girl ripped the chocolate free from the red wrapper, shoving the candy bar in her mouth and chewing animalistic.
"Hey!" Beth stood bewildered, her blue eyes watering as she saw the red wrapper on the floor.
"Ted did it," Jude snapped, crawling past the legs and talking off to her room. To Judith's surprise, Ted was actually gone. She peeked up on the top bunk… empty. She actually killed Ted. "I. Killed. Ted." Tears strung down Judith's face as she gasped, "I killed Ted!" Then she laughed, "I killed Ted!"
….
"Not again Judith! Not again!" Judith had never seen Carl so angry. "You are not allowed to do these kinds of things! And in one day to! Wait until dad hears!"
Judith kicked her pink shoe, grinning at her brother, "Frank did it."
