Hey everyone, this is my first multi chapter of Bethyl and the first time planning my fic! I am excited to hear what you all think and I hope you like it! This week we meet Beth, no Daryl yet he is next week but here meet sweet Beth and the story begins...
"Girls if you do not get down here right now me and daddy are leavin' without ya!" Beth sighed and rolled her eyes before shouting back "Comin' mama!" and grabbing her cardigan. She was always cold, always sick, she was the youngest of a house of outgoing and confident people who had coddled and babied her, her whole life. Beth Greene was funny and sweet and a little immature but excited for the next step in her life.
She had just turned eighteen and still did everything like she always did, still got her chores done early and helped her mother in the kitchen. Her elder sister Maggie and her were close, but she was always bugging her about doing something. Beth knew what her sister meant, now she didn't have grades to keep up and cheerleading to practice she needed to work out what she wanted next.
Her friends were all planning to go to college, but Beth wanted to stay home where she was safe, she didn't even know what she would study anyway! All she enjoyed doing was riding her horse and singing, niether were real jobs so she thought she might just help out on the farm until she knew for sure what she wanted. She knew all too well that her parents liked that idea and her father often joked that she would be living with them even when she was married...something that often led to him arguing with Maggie!
By the time they got to church Beth was by her sister's side, holding her bible and a pen and notebook to take notes during the sermon. She always did this and had a lot of journals of church sermons as well as just what happened in her life. Her family and friends always teased her about her obsession with taking notes but she just did not want to miss anything.
The sermon seemed to drag today, it was hard to concentrate while everyone around her was fidgeting and waving fans trying to keep cool in the stifling heat of summer. Beth pulled her cardigan around her and frowned, she was always cold and she started to wonder if there was something more wrong with her than just chronic anaemia.
The end of the service came before they knew it and she thankfully broke away from her family and went to find her friends. The building adjacent to the church was where coffee and tea were served along with donated cakes and sandwiches, her mother's cakes always went quickly so Beth hurried to get some.
Her friends were outside watching the boys play football and wondering who was going to pair up with who over the holidays before they all went away. Beth was not interested in idle gossip so she drank her ginger ale and ate her cake on the steps as they talked above her. She scooted to one side as the minister came down the steps handing out leaflets to all the girls and talking about how gracious it would be for each of them to sign up. How not everyone was as lucky as them, and how these prisoners needed guidance and showing that good people existed.
Beth's eyes widened at the mention of prisoners and she looked down at the leaflet:
'Pray with a prisoner!
Sign up now to be a part of a revolution, we need to keep god in every house even a prison!
Come to a weekly prayer meeting and bible study with a prisoner you will be paired with.
Spread God's love and help someone who is lost find the light!'
Her eyes narrowed as she thought about inspiring and helping someone in need, on top of that she would be doing something to step out of her comfort zone just like Maggie had been saying for as long as Beth could remember. She frowned as she noticed her friends saying how mad their parents would be if they signed up, but she stood up and chased after the minister "Reverend Stokes? Can you sign me up please?" he looked doubtful so she kept talking so he couldn't convince her out of it. "I want to help someone who isn't as lucky as me just like you said and it says here at the bottom you will be chaperoning us? So I will be safe yes? Please?"
He smiled softly and nodded, "Now Beth I have asked you before to call me Gabriel. Yes I will sign you up, but if your parents feel this is not the right thing for you then you let me know and we will find you something to do at the church okay?" she nodded used to people talking down to her.
The following weeks went by in a blur as her mother had her helping to make jams and pickles ready for the coming winter. She loved working in the kitchen with her mother and wished Maggie was more interested in helping than working the fields with the men. The two sisters were so different, Maggie had no idea how to bake a cake, but then Beth had no idea how to shoe a horse! It was clear that Beth had been kept inside and looked after more than her elder siblings and though it had never started to bother her, now she was eighteen she was feeling the urge to spread her wings.
Hearing the post lady she skipped off to the porch and collected the letters, she shuffled through though she never got post. Most of it was for her father, but then the last but one letter was for her. Beth's eyes widened and she bit her lip, "I'm feeling tired mama I think I'll go lie down a while!" her mother hummed her agreement and Beth tried not to scamper upstairs in her excitement.
She had started to worry that Father Gabriel had not put her name down for the programme when she had heard nothing, but here she was holding a letter. She shut her door and turned on her music before plopping down on her stomach on the bed, she opened the letter eagerly and read the letter. It told her about it being on a saturday afternoon twice a month and how these prisoners would be looking forward to meeting her. She was excited and scared of the thought of meeting an actual criminal but when she read the name at the bottom Daryl Dixon she smiled. It felt better now she knew his name and she could not wait to go on Saturday.
I hope you liked it please leave me a review and I hope you will like and follow along with this story! Next week we see how Daryl is living and find out why is there and how he comes to be signed up for the same programme as Beth!