Hey guys! Welcome to the next book in the Sophia Series! I'm so sorry! I know I said this would be out a long time ago, and I feel bad, but it's finally here! I've been doing some pre-writing with the chapters, so I can stick to a schedule. Even if it takes me a long time to write a chapter, I'll still have one to upload! So without further ado, I present: Sophia's Suffering!
Update: Hey guys, it's me, ya boi. I know this thing has been an ongoing project for four(!) years, but I'm back now, and committed to see this through the end. As of 3/16/17, I've prewritten the next five or six chapters, and several scenes from the next story. So stay tuned!
And yes, I promise the further you get into this story, the writing gets better. I promise.
My eyes blinked open to the familiar sight of my cell, which was empty, like always. Carl usually woke up early to help his father with the farming. I, like any normal person, enjoyed my sleep and preferred to sleep in.
The calendar on my nightstand caught my eye as I pulled myself out of the bed. I smiled. Today was the 23rd of April. Carl and I had been counting days until our anniversary, which was on the 27th. I began stripping off my clothes, quickly replacing them with cleaner ones. Once I had finished getting dressed, I stepped out in the hallway and made my way outside to find Carl.
The sun was bright and friendly when I stepped out the door, closing my eyes as I paused to enjoy the warmth of the rays on my face for a moment. If you blocked out the sound of walkers banging against the fence, it was easy to pretend things were normal.
When I opened my eyes again, they were drawn to the bottom of the hill, where Carl was standing, staring at the crops
"Hey!" I called out, grabbing his attention. He turned around, shielding his eyes as he focused his gaze on me. A small grin tugged up the corners of his mouth as he noticed me jogging down the hill to meet him. When I reached the bottom, he wrapped an arm around my shoulder as I stood on my toes to kiss him cheek. He had grown taller in the past year, overtaking me by four inches.
"Good morning," he said, his grin widening at the gesture. I turned my attention to the small farm, where all the vegetables were beginning to shoot up.
"It'll be nice to have some produce here," I remarked. "I haven't any fresh vegetables in two years. What kinds of veggies are growing?"
"Cabbage, lettuce," he answered. "Y'know, stuff like that."
"Did you plant any eggplants?" I asked. When Carl didn't answer, I looked up to see him staring at me, a look of disgust on his face.
"You like eggplants?"
"Yeah, don't you?"
"No way! They're gross!"
"How can you not like eggplants?" I asked. "They're great!"
"They taste disgusting!" he protested. "Besides, what kind of vegetable is purple? It's unnatural."
"Oh, so now you're discriminating?" I teased, giving him a playful shove. He rolled his eyes in response, but smiled nonetheless.
"I'm just saying vegetables shouldn't be purple," he said, "Wouldn't you think it's weird if you met a blue person?"
"So you hate Avatar, too?" I taunted, putting a hand on my hip. "Wow, Carl. What kind of person are you?" He chuckled and opened his mouth to respond, before a familiar voice got our attention.
"Hey lovebirds!" Patrick shouted, his voice carrying down to us from the top of the hill. A lighthearted smirk lit up his face as he trotted down the path to where we were standing. His smug expression relaxed as he pointed to the fence, where Lizzie, Mika, Luke and molly had gathered, and were now motioning to the walkers and talking rapidly.
"Do you know what they're doing over there?" Patrick asked.
"I don't know," Carl answered with a shrug. "We may as well find out, though."
Carl took my hand as our trio walked over to the kids. As we approached, we were able to hear the voices, calling out names. It took us a moment to realize they were naming the walkers. We stopped right behind them, and waited for a second. When none of them noticed us, Patrick cleared his throat, grabbing their attention.
"What are you doing?" Patrick questioned.
"Naming the walkers," Mika answered simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I was surprised to see her without her camera for once. The young girl usually took her Polaroid everywhere with her.
Carl stiffened at her answer, his gaze darkening slightly. "You shouldn't name them."
"Why not?" Lizzie challenged, scowling. "That once has a name tag, so why shouldn't the other ones have names?"
"They had names when they were alive," he said. "They're dead now."
"No, they're not," she protested. "They're just different."
"How can you say that?" he asked. "Okay, they don't talk. They don't think. They eat people. They kill people."
"People kill people," she argued, "They still have names."
"Have you seen what happens?" Carl asked, "Have you seen someone die like that?"
Lizzie glared. "Yeah. I have."
"They're not people and they're not pets." Carl stated, a firm and final note in his voice. "Don't name them."
Lizzie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and stalked off, followed by Luke and Molly. Mika smiled at me one last time before scrambling after her sister and their friends.
Once they had left, I turned to Carl, who still had a scowl on his face. "Are you okay?" I asked, squeezing his hand. A silence dragged on between us Patrick coughed, snapping Carl from his thoughts.
"I'm fine," he said, pulling me into a reassuring hug. "I'm just worried. They might not have what it takes to make it in this world."
I nodded, wrapping my arms around him and resting my head on his shoulder. Lizzie and Mika hadn't seen as much as most of the people here had. In the very beginning of the outbreak, they had watched their mother die and reanimate. Soon after that, they ended up taking refuge in a grocery store until the prison group found them and took them in, along with the rest of the people staying there. They hadn't been outside much, and as a result, they were much more sheltered than the rest of us.
"I think they just want to shut it out," I reasoned. "Pretend it isn't happening. They're still young. They haven't seen what we've seen. They want to pretend everything's okay, while they still can."
Carl paused, like he wanted to say something, but instead, he just nodded, allowing another long stretch of silence to pass between us as we stood by the fence.
"Do you think we could still have that chance?" I asked, a sudden rush of foolish hope surging through me.
"No," he whispered, pulling me closer as he rested his cheek on my head. "Not anymore."
It feels nice to finally get this out. It's been hanging over my head for a while, making me feel bad, but it's done now! I'm not going to try and stick to an exact updating schedule, but check back every few days or so. I'll try to post them within a week or so, but I can't make any promises. I'm trying to write better, longer chapters, so I'll be taking longer than before.
