The guys had managed to get the gate propped up and it held the first few days, but they knew it was a temporary fix.
The group had finished supper and Daryl was on the veranda, cleaning his weapons per his nightly routine.
"We can't stay here much longer." Danielle stated from behind him.
"It's nice to see ye up and about."
"I was tired of seeing the same four walls." She sighed, sitting beside him. She hadn't bothered to get dressed, but her making the effort to come down the stairs was huge progress. She spent the past few days in her room, only allowing Daryl and Jace in occasionally to check up on her. She looked better. Her bruises were turning a green-yellow and the burn marks and scratches were scabbing and healing nicely.
The two sat in silence, watching the sunset, then watched the night sky.
"Have you guys seen Maggie?" Glenn asked, rushing out the door. He seemed panicked.
"Not since dinner." Daryl answered.
"She's not in the house!" Glenn yelled. He ran through the yard and eventually ended up outside of the gate and combing the woods.
"She hasn't been good." Daryl answered Danielle's silent question.
"I can understand that." Danielle sighed.
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" Glenn screamed from the woods. Daryl was up like a shot and sprinting towards Glenn's mournful cries. Danielle followed suit and the two came upon Glenn, holding Maggie's limp body up as she dangled from a tree. She had hung herself.
"Hold her still!" Daryl shouted. He pulled out his pocketknife and cut the rope, slicing the girl from the tree's limb. "Catch her!" he yelled as the body landed with a thump on top of Glenn. "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. Please be okay! C'mon, wake up! Please! She's… She's not…"
"Move over!" Danielle cried. She slumped on the ground besides her lifeless friend and began to perform CPR. The life-saving resuscitation paid off and Maggie sprung to life, gasping for air.
"She's alive! She's alive! She's alive!" Glenn shouted through his tears, wrapping his arms around his wife.
"I'm sorry" Maggie cried.
"We'll, uhm… Leave you two alone." Danielle interjected, Daryl helped her up and they walked back to the house. "I can't believe she could do that."
"It's hard to believe anyone can do anything horrible until they do."
"It's a good thing we caught her in time. If she was up there too long she would have asphyxiated herself and been brain dead."
"Are you okay?" Daryl asked, stopping in his tracks.
"You mean am I gonna try to off myself?" Daryl just looked down at his feet. "No, I don't think I can. Terrible things happen all the time. I'm not playing the victim anymore. It's time to move on."
"You wanna leave?"
"I think it's time we see about this refugee camp in Washington." She stated coldly, walking past Daryl and back to the house.
I was actually really excited to write this chapter just because it gives reason to one of the most confusing parts to me in the graphic novels; Maggie's suicide attempt.