Walking Dead: Unknown Trials
Episode 1: Dawn
Chapter 4 of my Walking Dead story, enjoy.
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Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, yeah, well, this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or its characters.
Chapter 4
Entering the cafeteria and looking around Clem spotted Violet sitting by herself. She quickly approached, still feeling down over what had happened earlier.
"Hey."
Violet started but then smiled lightly. "Ah, hi there."
Clem sat down with a heavy sigh and Violet took notice.
"Everything alright?"
"No...I tried to stop that girl, Michelle Brown..." Clem trailed off, wondering if Violet knew her.
Violet confirmed she did with a nod and a simple word. "Bitch-face."
"Well, I tried to stop her bullying this other girl, Becca Jones?" Violet nodded again and Clem continued. "Michelle turned it into a fight and now all three of us have detention."
"Whoa, you...detention, on your first day?" Violet gasped but then sighed. "Urgh and that's the reason why, man, that sucks..."
She was annoyed, not only at the injustice but also as she knew nothing could be done, especially upon hearing it was Deputy Principal Taini that had administered the punishment.
"Biggest bitch in the school that woman." She muttered shaking her head.
Clem just nodded and began eating, wondering what was going to happen next. She got her answer in the form of a tall, red haired girl approaching, a girl who instantly made Clementine nervous as she couldn't help but feel something dangerous coming from her. She noticed that Violet seemed to stiffen slightly with the girl's arrival. That told her instantly something was very wrong here.
Violet swallowed and tried to stay calm as Minerva approached, she saw the narrowed eyes and the suspicious look on Minerva's face and she could guess right away exactly what was going through Minerva's mind and knew she had to act quickly to try and head off another loss of temper, especially as she could still feel the throb in her shoulder blades from last time.
"Violet." She greeted, her voice terse but level.
Sensing Clementine's concern, Violet knew she had to act quickly.
"Hi Minerva, um, this is Clementine, the girl I told you about, my room-mate." She said before turning to Clem. "Clementine, this is Minerva Leigh, my girlfriend."
If Clementine was surprised by the revelation of Violet's sexuality, she didn't show it. Instead she considered what she now knew about this tall red headed girl.
'Girlfriend huh? So why did Violet seem so nervous upon seeing her?' She couldn't help but wonder.
Meanwhile Violet just had one thought echoing through her head. 'Please say she's taken her meds. Please say she's taken her meds.'
Unfortunately, the answer soon appeared to be no. For Minerva glared.
"For God sake, you can't just blurt that out." She snapped. "Why not tell the whole damn school we're dating huh?"
She wasn't shouting yet, but Violet knew she wasn't far off.
"Don't they, kinda already, know..." Violet mumbled.
Minerva just growled, clearly about to snap again.
But then, at that moment Sophie appeared and Violet couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped her.
"Minnie, c'mon, it's time...I already told you." She said cajolingly.
Minerva took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm herself and then stalked off.
"What the…?" Clem began, startled by Minerva's display of temper.
"It's...sorry, but she's not really that bad." Sophie said quickly.
She then hurried away to follow her sister while Violet quickly explained who Sophie was to Clementine.
"Twins huh, and yet...God Violet, the way she..." Clem replied.
"No Clem, you heard Sophie." Violet insisted. "It's just...part of her problem, nearly all of us have problems at this school, remember."
Clem nodded at that, but she still wasn't sure what to make of it all. She was still pondering what to make of what she had witnessed even after the school day was done and she was in detention. Her detention was to help the caretaker with some tasks. Said caretaker was a tall muscular dark skinned man in his late twenties to early thirties, with short crew-cut black hair, black eyes and a notable scar the right side of his face, with part of his ear missing. He was clad in jeans, a grey button up shirt, brown boots and a navy blue ball cap.
"Mike White." He introduced himself. "Well, we better get started, right."
He seemed friendly enough and so Clementine agreed and began to work, all the while her mind still wandering to the disturbing scene in the cafeteria and wondering how Violet could date a girl like that and what was the cause of Minerva's suddenly loss of temper.
It was night time now, certainly after curfew. Violet was seated on her bed, knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, her chin resting on her knees as she gazed listlessly at nothingness. She had already changed for bed, which meant simply stripping down to a pair of powder blue panties and a white worn vest. Thanks to which the bruises on her shoulder blades were partly visible.
'Urgh, fuck, what's...what's even the point anymore…' She thought to herself. 'I've got nothing, nothing waiting for me at home, that's worthwhile...Minnie is just, every time she blows up I feel so, so worthless...'
She stifled a sob and tried to will her eyes to dry again, she couldn't let herself be seen like this, it was part of the reason why having a room-mate caused her concern.
'Why am I even still alive?'
Her gaze briefly flickered to the pill bottles on her bedside table before she was distracted by the door opening and Clem returning at last. To her relief, Clem didn't say much other than to greet her and, after getting ready for bed in a pair of baggy grey shorts and a matching tank-top, saying good night.
It was late at night and Clem turned over in her sleep, mumbling to herself. Feeling restless she opened her eyes.
"What the?" She gasped.
For Violet was sitting on the edge of her bed, wide awake.
"Sorry, didn't mean to freak you out." Violet said quickly.
Sitting up Clem felt herself worry. "Are you, okay, is…?"
Violet sighed. "It's...just, one of my issues...I've gotta take all that crap."
She gestured to the pill bottles before continuing.
"The only one that's even starting to work, somewhat, is the stuff I'm taking for my social anxiety...the other stuff, for my insomnia, clearly not working is it."
"You...you have insomnia?" Clem gasped.
Violet nodded. "Yeah and when I can sleep, night terrors...the third bottle, again, waste of time, doesn't work."
"God, Violet..."
"I...it's why I'm here, all part of my past..." She said shakily.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Clem insisted quickly.
But Violet sighed. "Maybe I need to...say something about it. You see I...I've been here since I was eleven. I used to spend a lot of time with grandparents, since dad was a worthless drunk and mom worked three jobs just to keep the family afloat, but didn't give a shit about me. After Grandpa died, Grandma just, gave up living I guess, she'd just sit there in her rocking chair and sit there and, sit there...I'd sit and watch cartoons, she'd never complain. Sometimes she start crying and I would feel awkward and just, turn up the volume."
Clementine bit her lip, listening worriedly as Violet revealed this startling information about her past. Yet she noticed that she was avoiding mention of any recent issues, like Minerva.
Violet bowed her head.
"Anyway, one day she left the den and came back with another chair and a 22 rifle. Set the rifle butt on the top of that chair, holding the barrel back to her chest. so, you know... she had trouble to reaching the trigger this way, but she must have known it would happen..." Violet continued to explain. "She used this ugly old back scratcher she had, to pull the trigger...boom."
Clementine froze at that. "My God...What did…?"
"I do? I just sat there and kept watching my shows, till my mom arrived." Violet replied. "She asked why I didn't do anything, I just said, what was the point, Grandma was dead, there was nothing I could do."
Clem swallowed hard, digesting this information.
"I was packed up here within a week." Violet finished.
Clem shook her head. "Violet that's...I'm so sorry. You were so young, I can't believe..."
"I guess, yeah..." Violet replied.
But the look on her face made it clear, she didn't want to talk about it anymore. Despite Clem doing her best to be understanding, Violet still felt lost, it still seemed to her, that there was only one way out of her nightmare, for good.
End of chapter, things are getting a little more intense now it seems, read and review please.