CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
We slowly walked inside the dusty old house, both of my hands on my gun. My heart raced with anticipation.
The room was large with two white marble staircases on either side. There was a small, desk like table in the middle of the black floor, white with a broken vase. Maybe at one point it held beautiful bouquets of flowers. But now it was cracked and pieces of glass littered the floor. On both sides of the desk were old fashioned little chairs. White and wooden. One was toppled over, missing part of a leg. The other stood across from it, almost proud looking. It was such a large room to be so empty.
I held my breath as Daryl signaled for us to follow him, heading to one of the two giant archways. He led us through a small parlor like room. The walls were a light pink and the carpet was probably once white with a gold window seat and a black baby grand piano. It seemed to shine in what little light there was, even though it was covered in dust.
We walked through the room on to a giant dining room. A mahogany table stretched across the room, four matching chairs on each side, two on the ends. A deep green table cloth laid in the middle, three candle sticks sat on top of it. One of the candles were broken in half on it, but everything else was near perfection. A window stretched tall behind the table, about as tall as Daryl and nearly as wide as the room itself. You could see the side of the yard from it, continually stretching.
We moved through a swinging door into the kitchen. Just as large and fancy as a five star hotel kitchen. This is where we seen the first walker. Daryl took it out with a quick arrow and we moved on from it.
With every step I anticipated opening a door to find a hundred walkers, every sound I heard I involuntarily squeaked, blushing a deep red every time. We eventually made it into the living room. A red couch with a matching chair and love seat were ordered around a gold rug. The entire room was overly large and there was no tv. There were three long windows facing the back of the yard. The yard seemed to stretch on forever and forever.
No walkers, so we found ourselves back in the first, lobby like room. We went up the left stair case, my hand never leaving my gun, although I let one hand go to crawl up the hand rail.
Upstairs there were four bedrooms, each with a private bathroom and a walk in closet. Each bedroom had a twin bed, only the master bedroom having a king sized bed. They were all beautiful with rich looking comforters and expensive vanities and dressers. Only two of the rooms actually had anything in it. The master bedroom, where we took down four walkers, and what seemed to be a nursery.
There were boxes and suitcases packed, nearly overflowing with stuff. I supposed the family before us was planning on leaving. Wether or not they ever did, I wasn't sure.
"So," Daryl began, looking tired. The sun had set now and we were in the master bedroom, fixing to leave. "Does this seem like a good place?"
"Better than good," I answered, eyeing the king sized bed with it's light yellow comforter and comfortable looking pillows. I blushed awkwardly, my thoughts somewhere else.
"But we haven't seen a water supply yet," Michonne reasoned. She was right. It would be difficult without a source of water to work with it.
"But this land goes on forever. Maybe they used well water or something," Daryl shrugged. "We can come back tomorrow morning and check out the land. See how far back it goes and if it's all fenced in or not. If it, we may be lucky enough to not even have to worry about that. We're sure to find some sort of water."
"I guess. It'll be better than that campsite at least. We can go home, get some rest, and then in the morning we can pack everything. We don't have much anyway. Then we can come up here and make sure everything checks out ok."
Daryl nodded and I did too. I was giddy with excitement about finally having another place to stay. And a beautiful place at that.
"This place reminds me of the farm," Daryl commented as we walked out of the room.
"Why?" I asked, slightly afraid. I'd heard what happened at the farm. It was over run in the middle of the night. Lots of chaos at what was a seemingly safe place. I didn't need that to happen here.
"It's just old," he said faintly, walking through the door and disappearing into another room. As Michonne looked around the room I followed him.
It was the nursery with it's yellow walls and light brown crib. Everything seemed distraughtly beautiful. It was almost sad.
Daryl stood in the middle of the room and picked up a book on the small, overturned shelf and sat down. I walked up behind him and wondered if he was thinking about the baby.
"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked, standing a few feet away.
"Do you think the baby was ever born?" he asked, looking at the colorful pictures of the book. He turned each page slowly, as if he was really sinking in the information.
"What baby?" I asked, sitting down beside him, leaving about a foot in between. We weren't to the point of being all over each other again.
"The baby that this room was for," he said softly, setting the book down.
I shrugged, leaning back on my hands. What an odd question.
"It's possible, I guess. Not every baby dies."
Why did I say that? It sounded so rude and sarcastic. It wasn't supposed to come out like that.
"Well, I know that, Kyra. I'm not stupid-"
"I wasn't suggesting you were," I mumbled.
"Anyway," he sighed, "I'm just curious. If we do stay here, it'd be a nice place to have kids, huh?" he asked, and my mind went back to the conversation we had after the baby. That he wanted kids and wanted to be a dad. I figured with our arrangements, we wouldn't even talk about it for a long long time. I wasn't even sure if I wanted kids.
"Yeah," was all I said, reaching over and taking his hand in mine. We sat there for awhile, just holding hands awkwardly. I wish I could read thoughts. That'd be nice.
"Daryl," I started, unsure what to say. There was no light coming in through the windows now and I dreaded having to make the long creepy car trip.
"We should get a dog," he announced, standing up and holding a hand out. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. What a random thing to say. A dog?
"If you can find one.." I gave him a weird look and he smiled.
"I think I could eventually. I've always wanted a dog."
"You want everything," I nudged him playfully.
"I do not," he nudged back, turning to look out the window. "We should get going."
"I suppose," I frowned, wishing that we could just stay here. I was hungry and sleepy and my head ache hadn't actually dulled. Plus, Daryl and I were really talking.
"Come on," he threw an arm around my shoulders and we walked out of the room and down the stairs. Michonne was waiting at the small table, picking up pieces of glass and putting it in the vase. She looked at us and hid her smile.
We all three walked outside, making our journey back to the cars. We stayed silent as our shoes hit the pavement. Daryl shrugged his shoulder off, and I tried to hide my frown. I liked being able to touch him again.
I slid my hand into his and he tugged me closer as we walk. The semi frown vanished as my grin appeared. It was like we were a fresh couple, still in the honeymoon phase.
As we neared the gate, I thought about getting on the back of Daryl's bike. But, the thing already scared me and with it being dark, there was no way I was going to.
So, I got in the car with Michonne and thus our ride home began.
At the campsite, I nestled next to Daryl in the tent. It was good to be able to do that again, to wrap my arms around him and lay my head on his chest. No kissing, no sex. Just cuddling. It was alright for now. It would do.
But, the new place meant a new beginning. A new life for Daryl and I. Maybe we could finally have a kid. And maybe we could take in stragglers, and eventually Michonne could find someone. The possibilities about the new place were endless. I eventually fell asleep as the tree stand dream slowly made it way into my mind. But, I was happy and by morning, my mind would be on other things.