Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. ― Plato
Stab. Twist.
Stab. Twist.
Carol thrust the long blade deep into the soil, piercing another of the thick runners that fed the crabgrass and flipping the loosened remains up onto the pile in front of her. Stab. Twist. Stab. Twist. She unconsciously rubbed her face to clear the sweat, smearing more dirt over her already filthy skin. It was monotonous, grubby work, and it perfectly suited her mood. Stab. Twist. Stab.
From the prison doorway, Rick and Daryl eyed her, worried. "How long's she been out here like that?" Rick asked.
"Hours. I'm not sure, but she was there when I went up in the tower to talk to Ty early this mornin', and she ain't taken a break yet that I know of. 's makin' great progress, I'll give her that, but she's gonna end up with heat stroke if she don't quit it soon. That sun's too hot to be out in it this long." Daryl had felt uneasy about Carol all week; she'd been bitchy and short-tempered with everyone, and had been spending most of her spare time either holed up in her bunk or out in the garden, taking whatever her problem was out on the weeds. He knew she and Hershel had lost a patient earlier in the week, a woman who'd had some kind of chronic condition they couldn't treat, but they'd lost a few people before like that; it was something he thought she'd come to accept as a dismal but normal fact of life these days.
Rick squinted back down the rows at Carol, unwilling to interrupt her and get the skin peeled off him for his trouble, but too concerned to just let it go. "Do me a favor, take some water out to her, would you? And maybe grab one of those hats for her?"
Daryl shrugged; "Yeah, throw me under the bus," and went back inside to take care of it. His efforts to talk to her over the previous couple of days had been rebuffed, and he wasn't looking forward to more of the same, but he knew she was going to be even more miserable if she ended up sick in bed from dehydration.
He crouched down at arm's length from where she worked and held out the bottle. "Stop a minute, here, and drink this. You been out here in the sun far too long, you're gonna make yourself sick." She stopped and jammed the knife into the dirt, looking sidelong at him and pressing her lips tightly together as if holding back some smartass comment. After a long moment she reached out and took the bottle, chugging half of it down without stopping. She coughed and wiped her mouth, handing the bottle back to him with a curt, "Thanks." She took the hat he offered without comment, settling it on her head before turning back to her weeding.
He hovered nearby, feeling like he needed to say something but wanting just to turn tail and get the hell out of there. Whatever had her shorts in a twist like this, she was starting to scare the shit out of him.
He chewed on his lip for a minute, debating with himself, finally clearing his throat and saying, "Hey. Are you okay?" Nice job, genius. Pretty obvious she ain't okay.
She slammed the knife into the ground, burying it up to the handle. "No, Daryl, I am most certainly not okay. I am pissed, and I'm tired, and I haven't gotten decently laid in what, fifteen? no, make that more like eighteen years. You'd think that in times like this I'd have more pressing concerns, but there you have it." Her eyes dared him to say a word, and he felt his gut churn with tension.
At his silence, she glared even more hotly at him. "What, Daryl? What? Do I shock you? Is it so surprising that I'm frustrated? Is it so ridiculous that Saint Fucking Carol Peletier could need to feel the touch of another human being who wants me? God, if I'd known what the world would come to, I'd have had a hell of a lot more sex while I had the chance, AIDS be damned."
Fuck, what was with her? Carol didn't talk like that. He didn't know who this was.
"Look," she said, turning her face away, her voice sounding defeated. "Just go, alright? You can't help me, and I don't feel up to coddling your... delicate sensibilities right now. Just leave me alone and let me get some work done."