Chapter Thirty-four
"Broken down on memory lane
Alone together, we're alone
We're broken down on memory lane
Alone together, we're alone"
"Don't you know who I think I am" Fall Out Boy
November 2013
During those few short days with Beth in the funeral home, he would wake up in the middle of the night. Sleeping without that tiny weight on his chest felt odd and it still did. When Beth played that piano he pictured Heaven in her place. Heaven had hated playing the piano, but she hated classical music more.
Then Beth started to play that one song. The song Heaven sang at the campfire that night on the Greene farm. Daryl felt as though someone had grabbed his heart and squeezed it within his chest.
"You can't trust a cold blooded man
Girl, don't believe in his lies
Can't trust a cold blooded man
He'll love you and leave you alive
There's one thing you must understand
You can't trust a cold blooded man"
Digging the heels of his hands into his eyes, Daryl tried to steady his breathing and stop the hot tears flowing freely down his cheeks. That one armed teddy named after his brother took Beau's place on his chest. But it wasn't the same. Daryl wondered if God was testing him again. Making sure he was worthy of a woman like Heaven.
"Can't trust a cold blooded woman
Boy, don't you lie in her bed
You can't trust a cold blooded woman
She'll love you and leave you for dead
There's one thing you must understand
You can't trust a cold blooded woman"
Beth's nimble fingers missed a few notes when Daryl began to sing over her. She stopped singing to let him take over the verse, tossing a glance over her shoulder. Daryl lay in the coffin, forearm over his eyes; one hand gripping that little teddy bear. His voice was toneless and rough, in an almost soothing kind of way. Beth was shocked to see him actually sing but she decided that he was only doing it because the song reminded him of Heaven.
Then, not only had he lost his wife and son, he lost Beth. While he sat at that crossroad, exhausted and hopeless, he found himself praying to that God Heaven believed in. He repented every sin he had ever committed, promised to get down his knees every Sunday, if it meant Heaven would find him safe and sound.
X
February 2001
When Heaven dressed up for the winter months, Daryl always seemed to have to hide a smirk. Wool stockings, short shirts or dresses, heeled boots. Even though she was wearing more than in the summer months, he liked this look on her better. Today she was wearing a large maroon sweater she had found in a box in the back of a closet with a pair of thigh high stockings and combat boots.
He smiled to himself as he sauntered over to where she was standing, daintily flipping through old records. It had been her idea to go to the old record store after she found an ancient record player under his father's bed. So there they were, hunting for some good music
"Aha!" Heaven pulled out a record and held it out in front of her.
Daryl stood behind her, placed his hands on her hips and rested his chin on her neck. "Beastie Boys, huh?"
"What's wrong with them?" she pouted, peering back at him.
When he shrugged, she smiled and moved onto another row of records. He watched on as she found Jimi Hendrix, ABBA, and Jefferson Starship albums. He fussed over her choices but drew a blank when she told him to pick out his own. However, he wasn't fussing later that night when he fucked her to "Purple Haze".
X
Sometimes in the middle of the night, Daryl would hear a baby crying. The noise would startle him out of his sleep, causing him to get up and wander around the perimeter of the camp in search of the baby. Joe quickly noticed and asked what the hell he was looking around for, but Daryl ignored him. They didn't need to know that he had a wife and son.
The group he was with reminded him of the group Randall had described to him and he wouldn't have been surprised if they were the same group. He only stuck around with them because part of him had given up hope and the other part of him knew that something good would come out of following them.
Daryl knew that if Heaven had stumbled across the group before him, they would have abused her and left her for dead. Just not before she killed one or two of them in the process. He worried for his son just as much as he worried for Judith and Beth.
At night he slept with that one armed teddy on his chest, something he refused to get rid of. Len made fun of him because of it but Joe made him lay off.
"Musta lost som'un, can't blame a man fer hangin' on."
Joe wasn't as stupid as Daryl had first thought. While walking alongside him towards their next campsite, the old man asked about the ring on Daryl's finger.
"Wife?"
Daryl grunted, wanting the new conversation end as quickly as it had begun.
"I had one. Had ta shoot 'er right 'tween the eyes." Joe curled his fingers so they made the shape of a gun, firing imaginary bullets.
The hunter's insides twisted at the thought of having to put down Heaven like a sick dog. He had no idea how Carl had managed to do it to Lori- and the boy was only thirteen at the time.
Lost in his own thoughts and hopelessly trying to ignore Joe, Daryl was startled to hear a woman's scream before the shrill cry of a baby. He darted towards the noise, his heart skipping beat after beat as he raced towards the rest of the group.
"Claimed!"