Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
I do not own Madeline Carver or Talyne Summers. They belong to FanFic Productions.
It was a shock that Keith and Madeline weren't expecting. However, they weren't the only ones since Talyne was just as shocked. Rebecca wore a satisfied smile while the other group members were starting to get nervous. They didn't know if they were standing in front of a bite victim or not and Carlos just made them even more nervous.
"But my arm… it needs cleaned and stitched and bandaged." Clementine said as she walked toward Carlos. Her voice was starting to become shaky and fearful.
"The girl is in bad shape, Carlos." Luke said.
"We have all that stuff inside the cabin. We should probably get by with…" Alvin said but he was interrupted by Rebecca.
"Alvin please." Rebecca said. Her satisfied smile was gone and her scowl returned.
"But yeah, we can't do nothing." Alvin said.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Talyne exclaimed. "I may not be very good with my medical skills, but I know that bite is from a dog!"
"You're right. You would make for a horrible doctor. You are too hasty, and you made a quick judgement call." Carlos said with a calm demeanor.
"Excuse me!" Talyne inquired. Her fists were balled up and her knuckles were turning white. Her face was red and she was gritting her teeth.
"Bottom line, I'm not wasting supplies on a lurker bite." Carlos said. He turned to Clementine before Talyne could respond and he continued, "If it turns out that you are telling the truth, then I'll clean it and stitch it for you in the morning." Finally, his eyes turned to Keith and Madeline. A scowl formed on Carlos's features and he said, "And I don't want either of you anywhere near my daughter. You're both going into the shed with her until we know what to do with you."
"But…" Clementine said. However, Carlos walked away from the group to head back inside.
"I'm sorry but that's about the best that you're going to get." Luke said to Clementine, Madeline, and Keith.
"That fucking asshole." Talyne spat.
"It's going to be alright, babe. We'll have a group meeting and overturn his decision." Nick said.
"There is no meeting. This is how it's going to be done." Rebecca said. "After what happened to Mary, we are done taking chances."
"Fuck you!" Nick exclaimed with a fierce and angry tone in his voice. "You have no right in bringing up my mom, got it?"
"Do not snap at me, Nick!" Rebecca hissed as she glared the young man. "I will do whatever I damn please. Now, get those fucking brats to the shed."
Nick glared at the woman and he said, "Whatever. You're not worth hating anyway."
"Come on, brother. I know you don't mean that." Luke said as he tried to drag Nick away by his arm. Nick wrestled out of the grip to continue to stare Rebecca down. The pregnant woman returned the glare. Finally, the two were broken up from each other's glare with Luke dragging Nick away and Pete getting between them.
Luke, Nick, and Talyne walked up to the three children and gestured them to move toward the shed. "This is a waste of time; you'll see. And when it happens, I'm not going to be the one cleaning it up." Rebecca said.
"This is stupid. They're just a bunch of kids." Talyne said to the two men.
"We have to do what we have to, to keep ourselves safe. We can't put ourselves in danger." Luke said. "Listen, I don't like this either, but we gotta do this."
"But my arm really hurts. I could die if I don't treat it." Clementine said.
"I know. We're going to try and help you in some way or another, okay?" Luke said. However, the man's friendly demeanor changed when he looked to Keith and Madeline. He looked to both children with a glare and he asked, "Why did you lie to me?"
"I'm sorry but I had to protect my little sister and myself." Keith explained again. The boy lowered his head in shame and he said, "I didn't want to, but I was afraid you would hurt us if I told you our real names."
"Well, you were wrong and now I don't know if I can trust you." Luke said in a criticizing tone of voice.
"Oh fuck off, Luke!" Talyne snapped. "He had his little sister to protect. What else was he supposed to do?"
"Look… I just don't like it when people manipulate me like that. That's what Carver did." Luke said as the group of six arrived at the shed.
"Yeah? Well, take a look. Keith is just a little boy who doesn't have many options. He didn't know if he could trust you, so lay off of him." Talyne snapped. She turned around and she stomped toward the cabin.
Keith noticed that Talyne's rant had affected Luke. He looked down with a frown and he sighed. "I'm just trying to do right by y'all. It ain't always easy, ya know?" Luke said.
"I know man. It's getting harder each day." Nick said. He turned to the three children and said, "I'm sorry but you'll have to spend some time in the shed. With a little luck, we'll get some food out here for ya."
"Please Nick, isn't there something you can do?" Madeline pleaded. "I don't want Clementine to die."
"I'm sorry, honey. I wish I could." Nick said with a frown. He crouched down and hugged Madeline. Keith could tell that Madeline enjoyed Nick's embrace. After all, Nick was a part of the girl's past. "Be strong for me, okay?" Nick told the girl. Nick finished the hug by patting the girl on the back and escorted her to Keith.
Keith looked to Nick and the man smiled. "I'll come and check on you guys later on despite what the group thinks." Nick said.
"Okay, thanks Nick." Keith said.
"You're welcome." Nick said. He turned and headed for the cabin while the three children went inside the shed. Keith and Clementine looked back to see Luke closing the door shut. It was evident that he had a frown on his lips.
With the door shut, Keith sighed and he sat down next to some lumber. It wasn't long until Madeline joined him. She leaned her small body against his for comfort as they both recollected on what happened yesterday… just to hear their last name stirred bad memories. Keith looked up to see Clementine with her arms crossed over her chest. "Who's Carver?" Clementine asked.
Neither Keith nor Madeline responded. Instead Keith looked to one of the walls. It was a tough subject for him and Madeline. "Keith, I can't help you if you don't tell me who this Carver guy is. I heard that he is your dad but… that's all I know."
A minute passed by and neither the brother nor the sister responded. Madeline sighed and pulled out a photo from her pocket. "Carver was our dad, but then when the lurkers happened… he changed." Madeline said which surprised Keith and Clementine. Neither were expecting the eight year old to speak. She gave the photo to Clementine to look at which consisted of her and Keith at a younger age along with William, Erin, and Sophia Carver. "A few months after the lurkers came, he started to beat on us. Me, mommy, Keith, and Sophia."
"Wha-What happened to Sophia?" Clementine asked.
Madeline went to speak but nothing came out but a whimper. Keith looked to Madeline to see tears form in her eyes. She looked down and started to whimper. In response, Keith placed a comforting arm around her and pulled her into a hug. He looked up to Clementine and he said, "Sophia was our older sister. After Luke and his group left the community, Carver beat her to death. He thought that she helped them escape." Keith said with a frown on his lips. "We loved her so much. She was always kind, fun, silly, and well… she meant a lot to us." He looked over to see Madeline dry her tears with the sleeve of her red hooded sweatshirt.
Keith sighed and looked back up to Clementine. "A little while before Luke's group left, our mom told Carver that she wanted nothing to do with him, and she started to date this guy named Derrick. He was nice and he cared about us. More importantly, he made mom really happy, which made us pretty happy. We actually had a family again until recently… Mom, Derrick, Bill, Troy, Maddie and I went foraging…" Keith started to tear up but he continued, "Troy shot Derrick from behind, killing him instantly. Bill then grabbed our mom from behind and…" Keith's voice cracked as the painful memories ran through his head. "…and let a lurker chomp down on her. She yelled for me to run and get Maddie out of there, so I did. Troy was close behind but we still escaped. I know what happens when you get bit. There was no hope for her… Our dad killed our mom…" Keith tried to keep his composure but it was no use. He wanted to stay strong for Madeline but he was very depressed over what happened to Sophia and his parents. All he wanted to do at that moment was cry and he didn't want to care who saw him.
However, Keith soon found relief when he felt both girls hug him. Madeline hugged him from the side while Clementine had her arms around him and rocking him back and forth. "I'm so sorry that happened to you." Clementine said.
Keith's whimpering soon subsided and he hugged Clementine back. After a couple of minutes, the two separated and Keith said, "I'm sorry, I know I need to get stronger. I guess I never really mourned for my family until now."
Madeline also released him from her hug and looked to Keith. "You okay now?" Madeline asked.
"Yeah, I am. Thanks Maddie." Keith said. Madeline smiled and nodded in response. Keith huffed before he stood up from the ground. "Okay, I need to help you with your wound." Keith said.
"Yeah, what do we do?" Clementine asked.
"First, we need to find a way out of here. Then… we'll… have to steal from Luke and his group. I really don't want to, but we don't have a choice." Keith said.
Clementine nodded and the two older children started to look around. Clementine stopped for a moment and said, "Here, I almost forgot to give you this back." She handed the family photo that Madeline gave to her earlier.
"Thanks… it means a lot to me." Madeline said with an appreciative smile.
Clementine nodded and she said, "I like your headband. It looks really nice on you."
"Oh, thank you. Mommy gave it to me." Madeline said as she reached up to adjust the pink headband.
Meanwhile, Keith looked through a tacklebox and found fishing line inside. It was an okay substitute to thread to stich up the bite, but it was a bit wide. He moved the tacklebox away, and he noticed that some of the wood was corroded and was given a hasty patch-up job. "Well alright." Keith said with a smile. He heard footsteps approaching him as he got up.
"What is it?" Madeline asked.
"Some of the wood is corroded. We just need a hammer or something to remove the plank in front of it." Keith said. He looked around the room but his eyes soon turned to the handle of a hammer on the upper shelf in the shed. "Clementine, I see the hammer on the top shelf." Keith said.
Clementine followed his line of vision and a smile formed on her lips. "Good work. We can use that to pry the board off and then we'll have a way out of here." Clementine said.
"That's exactly what I'm thinking." Keith said. He placed his backpack on the ground and pulled out a slingshot. Next, he grabbed a rock from the side pouch of his backpack and pulled the sling back. Madeline got behind him as Keith took aim. "Almost got it." Keith said. A couple seconds later, he released his grip on the sling and the rock went flying. It hit the handle of the hammer to where it became unbalanced on the shelf and dropped to the ground. Meanwhile, the rock bounced off the upper wall and landed on the ground.
"Whoa." Clementine said with amazement in her eyes.
"Yeah, Keith's pretty good with that thing." Madeline said.
"All it takes is practice and a good eye." Keith said and he walked over to retrieve the rock and the hammer. He placed his slingshot and the rock in his backpack. The rock went back into a side pouch, while the slingshot was placed in another pocket. He then handed the hammer to Clementine.
Clementine went to the wooden plank while Keith placed his backpack on the ground. He knew that the backpack would be too big to fit through the opening. Using her leverage, Clementine was able to pry the plank from the wall, and it fell to the ground. Keith went over, and he kicked the corroded wood with his foot. It didn't take much of his strength to kick down the corroded wood to have a way outside. Keith turned to Clementine and smiled at her. "Looks like we can get out now." Keith said.
"Nice job." Clementine said.
"Thanks." Keith said. He turned to his younger sister and said, "I need you to stay in here, Maddie."
"Wait, what?" Madeline said. "No, I want to help, Keith."
"You'll help us a lot by staying here." Keith said. "Three people will make too much noise in the cabin. Two shouldn't make as much noise and we'll be able to cover enough ground to find the supplies we need."
Madeline lowered her head and she said, "I… I guess you're right."
"Besides, you helped us a lot back there in the forest." Clementine said. "You're a good shot."
Madeline looked up and smiled. "I… I really did good back there?" Madeline asked.
"Absolutely. You did an amazing job." Keith said with an encouraging smile on his lips.
Madeline's smile grew and she said, "Thanks, you guys. Good luck in there and please be safe."
"Thanks Maddie. You stay safe as well." Clementine said.
Madeline nodded in response as Keith approached her. He hugged the younger girl and he said, "Stay safe. We'll be back in a little bit."
"I will." Madeline said as she hugged him back. Keith patted her on the back and the two released each other from the hug. Keith turned to the hole where the corroded wood was and crawled through the opening.
Keith got outside and was surprised to see how dark it was. He knew that it was evening when he, Clementine, and Madeline entered the shed, but he didn't think that nighttime would come this soon.
Keith looked down to see Clementine crawling out of the opening next. He helped Clementine up and Clementine said, "They have a doctor… he's got to have stuff for stitches…"
"Yeah, he was actually my mentor at some point. He taught me to be a doctor." Keith said.
"He didn't seem to be happy to see you." Clementine said.
"Yeah, he doesn't like me. He was forced to teach me." Keith said.
"I could tell. Did you do something to make him angry?" Clementine asked.
Keith shook his head and started to walk toward the cabin. Clementine joined alongside him and Keith continued, "The main reason he doesn't like me is because I'm Carver's son."
"That shouldn't matter." Clementine said with a slight scowl forming on her face.
"I know, but he still considers me a threat." Keith said with a frown. "Anyway, I'll try to tell you everything later. Right now, we need to get your wound stitched up and cleaned."
"Yeah, you're right." Clementine said. The two children approached the cabin and started to walk around it. They were looking for an opening, but there was something on Clementine's mind. She looked to Keith and said, "What happened to Maddie?"
"What do you mean?" Keith asked.
"You said that she went through something. You said it back at the camp with Sam." Clementine said.
"Yeah, I did." Keith said. He huffed and he said, "It happened three years ago. After Nick moved and we got this new babysitter… The babysitter didn't really do a good job. All she did was talk on the phone when she was supposed to look after us. Well, one day, Maddie went outside to play with some of her friends. Her friends said that they found a hole and they lowered Maddie into it to get a better look, but something happened and they dropped her into the hole. Well… the next thing that she saw was bones… lots and lots of bones… Turns out she was in the basement of a nearby house. We always thought the house was abandoned, but it turns out that it was owned secretly by a serial killer." Clementine's eyes widened and her mouth dropped in shock. "Yeah… we always thought it was abandoned, but that wasn't the case. Maddie was able to get out of there but barely. The serial killer grabbed her but he must have been drunk or something since she still got away."
"Oh my gosh." Clementine muttered. "Is she… Is she doing okay from all that?"
"Yeah, she hasn't really been the same since. She has recovered from it by a little bit. Mom and dad also got her some therapy. That really helped. She was in therapy for about a month before she was able to live a healthy life again. Still, after that whole thing, she matured… a lot. Many of the kids in her school didn't like that she changed so much, and well… she soon didn't have any friends." Keith said.
"I never knew that she went through that." Clementine said. They went past the porch and around the side but stopped mid-way. A piece of plywood covered a portion of the lattice. Keith yanked on it which revealed that nails were holding the plywood in place and not screws. He nodded to Clementine and she took the hammer's spike to yank the nails off. Keith pushed the plywood aside and Clementine crawled into the hole of the lattice. Keith followed her and they crept along underneath the house.
"House meeting in five minutes." Someone said from within the house. Most likely Carlos.
"That's… that's great." Alvin complained.
"It won't take long. There's a few things we need to discuss." Carlos replied.
"Fine." Alvin said.
Clementine and Keith approached a trap door. Clementine pulled out the red handled knife that she got back at the camp and placed it between the mechanism and the lock. After she struggled for a couple of seconds, she finally broke the lock but the blade of her knife broke off too. "Shoot." Clementine muttered.
"You alright?" Keith asked as the girl looked for the broken blade.
"Yeah, I think so." Clementine said. She found the broken half of the blade and tossed it away so that neither could get hurt from it. She then tossed the handle away since there wasn't enough of a blade left to be deemed useful.
Clementine turned her sights on the trap door and opened it to get a peek. After a few seconds of looking around, she climbed up into the house with Keith following behind her. The two could hear the adults' muffled voices. By the sounds of it, there was an intense argument going on; however, their voices were too muffled to make out a word.
Keith approached the door and took a peek outside to see if there were any adults. The room that he was looking to must have been a living room. There were a couple of couches within the room along with a recliner and a coffee table in the middle of it all. Keith also noticed that candles were used as a source of light within the cabin. He walked out and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one. He motioned Clementine to come and the two crept across the living room. Both were careful to make as less noise as possible when they maneuvered around the two sofas and recliner. Once they got through the living room, they headed up the stairs.
They soon reached the top of the stairs and breathed a sigh of relief. They knew that the creaking steps could draw the group's attention, but the creaking must have went unnoticed. The two children looked around upstairs and noticed a door on the right. Clementine went toward it with Keith following close behind. They opened it and inside was the girl from earlier. It was Carlos's daughter, Sarah.
Both children were horrified that they were spotted. Clementine pressed her finger to her lips in a gesture to stay quiet while Sarah said, "You're not supposed to be in here."
"Can you help us?" Keith asked as he entered the room with Clementine close behind. The girl closed the door and looked to the Sarah.
"Please, we need your help." Clementine added.
"I'm not supposed to talk to you. My dad can't know." Sarah said.
Clementine eyed an open book on the girl's bed and asked, "What are you reading?"
"A book." Sarah said.
"What book? I like books." Clementine said. Keith decided to not speak up. He figured that Clementine's kind approach would help them rather than his.
"It's called the Guurgles. It's about trans-dimensional body snatchers." Sarah replied.
"That's so cool." Keith said. Sarah jumped a bit when he spoke up. "It's alright. We're not going to hurt you."
"Your dad is still looking for us." Sarah said.
"I know but I'm not him. He-" Keith said, but Sarah interrupted him.
"I still don't trust you." Sarah said with a stern look.
Keith looked down with a frown and he sighed. "I'm just like you and your group. My dad is out to find me and my sister to kill us." Keith said. "We're on the same side."
Sarah appeared to be contemplating on what Keith said until she asked, "Where's Sophia?"
"She's… She's dead." Keith said with a frown. "Carver thought that she was working with you and your group to escape. He beat her to death." Sarah's eyes widened and a frown formed on her lips. Keith knew that Sarah and Sophia were close friends. Carlos didn't approve of the friendship, but both still hung out with each other. They just had to hang out in secret.
Sarah's gaze turned to Clementine's arm and she asked. "What happened to you?"
"A dog bit me." Clementine said.
"Sounds scary… I bet it hurts." Sarah said.
"I could die if I don't take care of it." Clementine said as she gestured to her arm. "Do you understand?" Sarah nodded in confirmation as a sign that she understood. "I need something to clean it with and then something to wrap it with. Do you have something like that?"
"Yeah, I do. It's with the rest of my medical supplies." Sarah replied. She looked over to Keith and shook her head. "I…I don't know if I should help you though."
"But if you don't then Clementine might die…" Keith said.
"Please." Clementine begged as she sent a set of sad eyes towards the girl.
Sarah looked into Clementine's eyes and gave in. She couldn't say no to that expression. "Okay, I'll help you, but please don't tell my dad. He'll never forgive me otherwise."
"I promise, if we get caught that I'll take full responsibility." Keith said.
Sarah's expression toward Keith changed. She went from being suspicious and frightful to kind and relaxed. She realized that she was talking to a friend, not the enemy. "Thanks Keith." Sarah said. She turned to Clementine and she said, "My name's Sarah."
"I'm Clementine." Clementine introduced herself.
"I would introduce myself, but you already know who I am." Keith said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Sarah nodded and she looked to Clementine. "We're friends, right? We can be best friends." Sarah said. "I haven't met another girl my age since we left Carver's. It's kind of hard being the only girl in here. I mean Rebecca is a girl but she's older. And I know Talyne's a girl too, but she's always going out and doing supply runs with Nick. We almost never hang out."
"Yeah we can be friends." Clementine said.
"Me too." Keith said. "I'm sure Madeline would be happy to be friends with you."
"Promise?" Sarah asked. "This is really important to me."
"Yeah, I mean it." Keith said.
"I promise." Clementine added.
"Me too." Sarah said and she brought up her arm with her pinky finger extended. "Pinky swear."
"Uh… that's more of a girl's thing… but alright." Keith said as he wrapped his pinky around Sarah's and shook it.
Clementine followed and Sarah said, "A pinky swear is forever." Clementine returned to griping her injured arm as Keith looked to her with a worried stare. He needed to clean and stitch the wound. "I'll see if I can find the stuff my dad uses when I get a cut." Sarah said and she went over to the other side of the bed and checked the nightstand drawer. She returned to Keith and Clementine with a bottle of disinfectant and some bandages. "I think this is it." Sarah said as she handed the items to Keith.
"That'll work." Keith said as he accepted the supplies.
"You can't do it here though. Someone will find you." Sarah said.
"Don't worry; we won't." Clementine said and she and Keith turned to head out of Sarah's room. They opened the door and looked around the hall for any trace of the adults. After seeing that the hall was clear, the two walked across it to another room. Clementine turned back to Sarah and said, "Thanks Sarah."
Sarah shushed her in response. She must not have wanted Carlos or any of the other cabin members to find out what she did for the two.
They walked into what appeared to be a bathroom and Keith whispered, "They got to have something in that cabinet." Clementine nodded and opened it. She saw a needle and took it out to examine it.
"It looks clean." Clementine said.
"Yeah, a little big though." Keith said.
"Beggars can't be choosers." Clementine said.
"Very true. Okay, let's get out of here before someone sees us." Keith said.
"Okay." Clementine said. Clementine and Keith approached the door until both could hear a faint voice approaching the door. Clementine pressed her ear against the door and her eyes widened when she could Rebecca grumbling. "That man sometimes, I swear!" Rebecca said from outside the door.
Keith heard it as well. His eyes widened along with Clementine's and Clementine started to hyperventilate. Keith looked to the bath tub and dragged Clementine inside of it. He closed the curtains and the two squatted down. Both looked in between the curtains to see Rebecca opening the door.
She held her head in a stressful manner and muttered under her breath. She huffed and went to the sink to wash her face. Keith had never seen Rebecca so stressed and anxious. "I just need to have this baby… Please just let this baby be okay and let it be his." Both children looked at each other with surprised expressions as Rebecca exited the bathroom. Keith waited for a couple of seconds before he turned to Clementine and nodded as a signal to come out of the bath tub. The two got out and breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was close." Keith said.
"Yeah." Clementine said. She looked to the bath tub and back to Keith with a smirk. "By the way, you smell really nice."
Keith scratched the back of his head and he said, "Thanks. I… uh… my mom said that the most important thing to do nowadays was to have good hygiene. So, any time we can, Maddie and I will usually try to bathe. Of course, we don't do it at the same time."
Clementine giggled and said, "I understand."
"You must do the same. I mean… you smell good too." Keith said.
"Yeah, I try. I can't do it very often." Clementine said. She looked to the door and said, "Let's head back. I think Maddie's worried about us."
Keith nodded and replied, "Sounds like a good idea." The two headed outside the door and made their way down the stairs. They were careful and quiet while they headed down the stairs. It was shocking for both to still hear the adults arguing in the kitchen. Again, neither could make out a word, but they could hear the muffled yelling and arguing. Both maneuvered around the living room and headed into the room with the trap door. They headed down the trap door and headed back to the shed.
Keith approached the hole in the shed and crawled back inside with Clementine close behind him. Keith looked over to see his sister. She smiled to him and Clementine and she asked, "Did you guys get everything?"
"Yeah, we did." Keith said as he grabbed an electric lantern from his backpack. He turned to the workbench laid out the obtained supplies from the house along with an electric lantern. He then turned on the lantern.
Keith, Clementine, and Madeline looked away until their eyes could adjust to the blinding light of the electric lantern. It took a few seconds but they looked back to each other. Clementine huffed and walked up to the workbench. She pulled up the sleeve of her injured arm and placed it on the workbench. "This is going to suck." Clementine said.
"I'm not going to sugar coat it; yes it is." Keith said as he untwisted the top of the disinfectant. "Okay." Keith said as he started to tilt the bottle. "This is going to sting." Clementine was speechless and somewhat nervous as she closed her eyes and awaited for the pain of the disinfectant. Keith grabbed her arm and kept one hand on it with a tight grip, so Clementine couldn't retract it. "Okay pain city, here we come." Keith said and he tilted the disinfectant. The contents poured onto Clementine's arm.
She gasped which was followed by her yelling in pain. Tears started to form in her eyes and Keith looked to her with a worried and saddened look. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry; are you okay?" Keith asked.
"I… I'm fine." Clementine said as she tried to regain her composure. "Okay time for the worst part." She looked to the needle and fishing line. Keith knew what she meant. Before he went for either he turned to see how Madeline was doing. To his surprise, she was very calm about how things were going. At the moment, all she was doing was shaking in fear, but Keith knew that the worst has yet to come.
Keith turned back to the disinfectant and placed the cap back on. He then started to thread the needle. He struggled at first and he said, "I never was good at sewing. I did a better job of breaking things and getting in trouble for it."
Clementine giggled in response and said, "I can't see you getting in trouble."
"He's joking with you, Clem. Keith's really good." Madeline said as she sent playful glare to her older brother.
"Oh trust me, I was a master at getting in trouble when I was younger. Probably the worst thing I ever did was hit this antique vase that my mom liked. I was only six at the time but oh boy! Mom was furious. She paddled me so hard, I think my butt was red for two days. And of course, I was grounded for a week." Keith said as he continued to try to thread the needle.
"What she ground you from?" Clementine asked.
Keith sighed and he looked up from trying to thread the needle. "Okay, don't laugh but she grounded me from drawing and playing basketball." Keith said. "I could live without playing basketball but drawing was one of my favorite things to do." Keith turned back to trying to thread the needle and he said, "I could spend hours on one drawing. My dad hated that I spent so much time drawing but I couldn't help it. I would just lose myself in it; go into a new world…"
"I liked to draw too." Clementine said. "After everything happened, this boy and I would always draw, granted it was the only thing we could do without getting into trouble but I still enjoyed it. Along with drawing, he would always talk about something called Robosaurus."
"I watched that before everything happened. It was kind of stupid." Keith said. A smirked formed on his face as he recalled Clementine's own words of a boy. "A boy huh? I bet you liked him."
"What? No!" Clementine exclaimed. "I was too young at the time. I was only eight."
"You're never too young to like someone." Keith said. He started to blush and he said, "I mean I've only met you and I like you."
Clementine's eyes widened and she started to blush as well which easily indicated that she liked Keith too. The two remained in silence for a couple of seconds as Keith's shaky hands were unsuccessful in threading the needle. Meanwhile, Madeline snickered at the two and said, "I knew you two liked each other." The two blushed even more until by a stroke of luck, Keith was able to thread the needle.
"Okay, I admit… I do have a bit of a crush on you." Keith said as he looked to Clementine. "I mean, it's just a crush."
"Uh… yeah, of course. I understand. I mean… I feel the same way." Clementine said.
"Cool, so we're good then, right?" Keith asked.
"Yeah, definitely." Clementine said.
Keith huffed as he tied off the knot. He was trying to calm down from the whole scenario, but it wasn't working. He looked to Clementine and noticed that he was infatuated with her. She was beautiful, kind, and very friendly… what else could someone ask for? "You ready?" Keith asked as he tried to forget his thoughts on the girl.
Clementine shook her head. "Not really, but I want to get better." Clementine said.
Keith placed his hand on her arm to prevent it from moving and brought the needle closer to her arm. "I hate causing pain, especially towards someone I care about." Keith said.
"Don't think of it that way. Just think of it as helping me." Clementine said.
Keith looked to Clementine and nodded. "Okay; I'll go as fast as I can." Keith said.
…To be continued.