"You gotta start taking better care of yourself, Abigail." My dad said to me. We were out on a run and I just told him about my drinking and what happened with Daryl and my friends. I was about to say I know, but my dad continued and he said something that confused me for a moment. "You're all I got left now." He said. What about Judith? I gave him a weird look. My dad looked like he had a thought and corrected himself. "All I have left of the world before this."

Oh okay. I thought. Still Judith kind of is, even though she was born after the turn. I didn't say anything though. "I know, dad. That's why I'm telling you." I said. "I'm finally admitting to my problem." I looked down at my hands and thought for a minute. "It's like what you told me the other day. When you said I have to find what's important." We both looked at each other. "I want to have kids. We do." I nodded. "And give you grandkids." I smiled. I became more serious again. "And I can't be drinking like that when I'm pregnant or even after that really. At least not like I do." I let out a nervous laugh.

"Abby, sweetheart." My dad said. "I hate to tell you this but if you're an alcoholic, then you can't ever drink." We looked at each other again. "You said it yourself, you can't control yourself around alcohol. That means you have to stop drinking. Period." I looked away from him and we were quiet for a minute. "Thank you can do that?"

"Yeah, I can." I said and nodded without much thought. "I'm sure it will be difficult at times but…" I trailed off.

My dad looked at me and nodded. "You can. You can do it. You've done harder things. Way harder things. And don't ever doubt that."

I looked down. He's right. I have done harder things. "I can do it." I said while still looking down. I finally looked back over at my dad, our eyes met.

"Good." He said. He put his hand on the back of my neck. "And I'll be proud to watch you become sober. I'm proud of you now." He gave me a small smile.

I blushed. "Dad…shut up." I teased him. We both laughed.

It was quiet for a while. "Think we should leave the car here." My dad said. "We can walk for now."

"Alright." I nodded.

My dad parked the car and we hopped out. We began walking through a small neighborhood. There were plenty of houses for us to check, but there was no way in hell we were going to check them all. So, we just randomly selected some.

We had a little method we were going by. If there was a house that only had one floor, we just split up and checked the rooms together. If there was a house that had a basement, then I checked the basement and my dad stayed upstairs and checked there. If there was a house that had an upper level, then my dad checked up there and I stayed down. Or if there was a house that had a basement and an upstairs, then we checked the main level together, then I checked the basement and my dad checked upstairs.

So we picked a house, it had two levels. My dad checked upstairs and I stayed on the main level and checked around down here. I ending up finding some tools and utensils in the kitchen. However, I was distracted by the horrible condition of the house. I know what to expect these days but I get the feeling that this place didn't look much better before. This neighborhood was very rundown looking. I heard my dad's footsteps and turned around. "It's clear." He said.

I nodded. "Yeah, here too." I cleared my throat. "Find anything cool?"

"Not really. Some flashlights." He said with a little laugh.

"Well, better than nothing." I said. "I found some tools." I shrugged.

"Good." My dad nodded. There was a brief pause. "Come on, maybe we'll have better luck in the next one."

We left that house and skipped the next one and went to the other. This house was smaller than the last one. It didn't have an upstairs or a basement. We split the rooms and made sure the house was clear before looking for supplies. "I think we're good." My dad said.

"Yeah." I started looking around in the kitchen and dining room. I left my dad the living room and bathroom. I wasn't having much luck.

"Hey." I heard my dad call. I turned to him, he was holding a doll. "You thank Judith would want this?"

I let out a small laugh. "I don't know." I shrugged. "Maybe if you find a toy that's for bigger kids."

My dad sighed and put down the doll. "Yeah, you're right. She's trying to be a big kid." He raised his eyebrows.

"I know all about it." I said looking around at some books on a bookshelf. "She's trying to be a big kid but she's still a little kid."

"Yeah and…she's gonna stay a little kid for as long as I can help it."

I looked at my dad and smiled even though he wasn't looking at me. He went through the same thing with Carl. When I was a little kid, things were different, of course, because we weren't in the walker apocalypse. However, I sort of had to grow up before I was ready because I had a younger sibling and had to look after them. Anyone who is an older sibling will agree with that.

I found a book just then that I remembered reading years ago. "Here." I tossed it at my dad. "Give her that. She'll like it." We smiled at each other, my dad put the book in his bag. Then, we were quiet for a minute. There was something I wanted to tell my dad about Judith and now felt like the right time. "So, speaking of Judith…" I turned back to my dad, he gave me a curious look. I was about to say something but we heard a walker growl. We immediately had our guns up and walked into the living room.

It was just one and it was at the window. My shoulders slumped. "Come on, let's get outta here." My dad said.

"Sure. I got him." I said. I put my gun back in its holster and took out my knife. I stabbed the walker in the head once we got outside.

My dad and I walked around and checked certain houses in this neighborhood for a long time. It was beginning to get dark so my dad called it and said we better pick a house to stay the night. I agreed and began walking down the street a little more. "Let's go down here."

My dad stayed where he was. "What's wrong with all these houses?" He asked me.

"I don't know. That's not what I had in mind." I said. I stopped dead in my tracks at the end of the street and stared at a house on the corner.

He scoffed. "Well, what'd you have in mind?" He caught up with me. "Abby?" He looked at the house I was looking at.

I looked at him and a smile slowly formed on my face. "This is perfect." I said.

"Why?" He gave me a weird look.

"Look at it." I walked a little closer. "It looks just like one of those classic haunted houses!" I was excited.

"Abigail."

"What?" I turned back around to look at him. "Are you scared?" I teased.

"Maybe." My dad said. "I don't want to wake up with a ghost starin' at me."

I laughed. "Come on, dad. It will be fun. I always wanted to do something like this. Don't you want to have fun?"

"Not exactly my idea of fun." My dad said with his eyebrows raised.

"Come on, I really want to." I begged. "Please, daddy." I tried to give him "the look." It's been a while since I had to use that.

He scoffed. "That isn't gonna work on me anymore. You're too old for that now." He smirked at me. I gave him a look and smiled sweetly. My dad sighed. "Yeah, right. Come on." He put his hand on my back and guided me towards the house. I smiled to myself. This is gonna be fun.

This was a pretty big house, it had an upstairs and a basement so we checked the main level together. "Alright, it's clear." My dad said. "I'm gonna check upstairs now. DON'T go downstairs until I come back down." He ordered.

"Okay." I shrugged. My dad went upstairs. I don't why, but I just got a creepy vibe from it, especially by the basement door. I shivered and went back into the living room. My dad left the door cracked open so I went back outside. I don't know why? Something just told me to. Almost like it was calling my name.

I stood on the porch and looked out at the side yard, it was fenced in and pretty big. It was just weird how it was made up though. It had like all these levels, I assumed it was for gardening. Then, I looked down and saw something strange. There were stairs leading down to the yard and there was like writing on one of them. I walked down there to see what it was.

When I got there and looked, I saw that it was a name. Richard. It said. Someone must have wrote that when the cement was still wet. I got a weird feeling from it. Almost as if I knew who this person was. I traced it with my finger. Richard.

It took my dad a long time to check upstairs, apparently there were three bedrooms. I waited in the dining room right where he left me. "It's clear." He said.

"It's about time." I teased.

"Yeah, but I found some cool stuff up there."

"Good." I said. "So…can I check the basement now?"

My dad looked reluctant. "Maybe we should check it together."

My shoulders slumped, and I gave him an annoyed look. "You don't trust me." It was more of a statement than I question.

"No, that is not it. It's just…dangerous."

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, no shit. It always is. I know how to handle myself and he knows that I know how to handle myself. So, why was he acting like this? Maybe he's the scared one? I laughed inside at that thought. "Dad, if someone was down there, I'm pretty sure they heard us and would have come up by now." He was still reluctant. I sighed. "I mean…if you'd feel safer with both us then…"

"No, it's okay." My dad finally gave in. "Go ahead. Just be careful and yell if you find trouble, I'll hear you."

"Okay." I nodded. I opened the basement door and shined my flashlight down there. It sure was dark. I almost chickened out and asked my dad to come with me anyway. However, after that big show I just put on…no. I quickly got over myself and slowly started making my way down the stairs with my gun up.

I reached the bottom and brandished my gun around as I looked. So far, there was nothing. I sighed. I turned the corner a little and saw a table with some stuff on it. I guessed it was like a workshop or something. Everything was real dirty and dusty so I tried to not to touch it.

I shined the flashlight up and saw a door that was chained shut. It gave me a weird feeling. I'm gonna go ahead and assume there's nothing in there for us. I walked away from the door. I could see the tiniest bit of light down a little farther. So I began walking towards it.

There was a room that was sort of shaped like a circle. However, the first thing that caught my eye was down on the floor. There were little glass candles arranged in a circle on the floor. Still lit! I got an unsettling feeling but ignored it for now because there was no sign of people anywhere. There was something on the floor that looked like a small radio. I picked it up and examined it. It said Spirit Box + Recorder on it. No way. I thought. I shoved it in my pocket.

I looked around more. A door to the backyard was there and ajar. I opened it and looked out, then closed it tightly. This is weird. I thought while looking back down at the candles. Then, I saw something even weirder.

There were writings all over the wall. Like weird symbols and stuff. What is this place? I swallowed hard. There was a big piece of paper taped to the wall almost like it was covering something. I started taking it off, then that's when I saw what it was. It was a pentagram! It looked like it was painted in blood. Did people do rituals here? I felt a chilling feeling and kind of freaked out. I ran out of that room and back up the stairs.

"Dad!" I yelled once I was almost to the top. "Dad." I ran into the dining room.

"What? What?" He was there immediately and looked alarmed.

"There's…stuff and…" I was stumbling over my words trying to tell my dad. I guess I was just "a little" excited about what I found.

"What? Abby, calm down. Use your words." My dad told me.

I almost got annoyed but I just ignored him making fun of me. I stopped and took a deep breath. "There's candles down there formed in a circle, still lit and everything!" I finally got out. "And there's like weird writings and symbols and…I saw a pentagram!" I was extremely excited but my dad didn't seem impressed at all. "I think people used to have like…satanic rituals here!" My dad was just standing there giving me a look. "What?" I said.

"I don't find that cool and I knew we shouldn't have come here." He finally said.

"Oh, come on, dad." I said a little annoyed. "I find that creepy as hell." I smirked. "And look what I found." I pulled out the little spirit box I found.

"What's that?" My dad said stupidly.

"It's an EVP device." I said. "You can use it to talk to ghosts." I smiled.

My dad sighed and put his head down. "Oh, Abigail."

"What?" I snapped. I was getting annoyed at his skepticism.

"We're not here to hunt ghosts." He kind of mocked me. "We're here to find useful things so we can survive."

I gave him a dirty look. He kind of hurt my feelings, it was almost as if he was chastising me. "Shut up." I said. "I know what we're here for. Don't talk to me like I'm a little kid. I'm not Judith."

My dad looked like he regretted what he said. "I know you're not. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. It's just…" He trailed off.

"We should see if this thing works." I sat it on the table.

"Abby…"

"Look, it's just for fun." I cut him off and turned to him. "We never do anything like this. And I always wanted to. Don't you wanna have some fun for once?"

"Like I said before, not really my idea of fun." He raised his eyebrows. "And…won't you be scared if something actually happened?"

I smiled at him. "No, but you probably will." I crossed my arms. "Dad, me and you never did anything like this. I really want to." I practically begged. "If other people tried it, then there's a good chance that something will happen. Come on, let's talk to some ghosts." I smiled.

My dad gave me an almost annoyed look. "Alright." He nodded. "But if you get possessed by a demon, I'm leaving you here." He teased.

"Hey, you might be the one to get possessed." I put my hands up. "But…I won't leave you. I could probably perform an exorcism, I've seen enough movies." I bragged. My dad scoffed, then we both laughed.

"So, are we doing this?" He asked me.

I thought for a minute. "No, let's wait til it gets a little darker. It's too light out right now. We should have the perfect setting too."

"Great." My dad said. "So, we can be more scared."

I smiled. "Got that right."

A little later, my dad and I were eating some ready-to-eat meals that we found. I had mac 'n' cheese and I'm not sure what my dad had. Whatever it was, it smelled kind of funky. "What even is that?" I asked him.

He looked at me before answering. "It's chili."

I scrunched my nose up. "That's foul."

"What's wrong with chili?" My dad said with a laugh.

"Uh, I like chili but that smells deadly." I said. He laughed and took a bite. "What's it like?"

"It's good." He said with his mouth full. "Want some?"

"No, no." I raised my eyebrows. "I'll just take your word for it."

He laughed, then things got quiet for a few minutes. "Oh yeah." My dad said breaking the silence. "I just remembered that when we were in that one house, you said there was something you wanted to talk to me about?" He looked at me. I gave him a weird look. "About Judith?" He said again.

My eyes widened a little. Oh yeah! I completely forgot about that when the walker interrupted me! He was looking at me waiting for an answer. "Um…" I made a weird face as I took another bite of my food. This was not the right time to talk about this. "It's nothing." I shook my head. I needed to think of something fast to change the subject before he starts asking questions. I thought about our conversation from earlier. "Dad, are you a skeptic?" I said randomly.

He gave me a weird look. "What do you mean?"

"Like…do you not believe in ghosts?" I really wanted to know his answer.

He seemed to hesitate. "Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "We never talked about that kind of stuff before. I just never knew." I hope he doesn't blow off the question. I want to know what he thinks about paranormal stuff.

"Well…mostly, yeah. I would say so." He nodded.

"Oh." I was a little disappointed, not going to lie. Then, I thought more about what he said. "Wait, what do you mean mostly?"

My dad looked at me, then away and seemed to hesitate. He was rubbing his bottom lip with his spoon. I was wondering why he was acting strangely like this. We were both quiet for about a minute or two.

"Alright." My dad finally said, he finished his food and pushed it aside. "I'll tell you a story." He tapped my shoulder. My eyes widened. Is my dad about to tell me a ghost story? I could hardly contain my excitement. Also, no one ever tells stories. I'm always the one who tells the stories. "Your mom thought her house that she grew up in was haunted." My dad started.

"Really?" I said. "Like grandma and grandpa's house?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I never believed in that kind of stuff. My parents didn't, so I didn't. But…that house did give me a creepy feeling." My dad was looking around the room. That house gave me the creeps too. "Anyway…" He sighed. "When we were just dating, I went over there to pick your mom up for a date." He smiled at me. "But I wanted to use the bathroom before we left, and I always used to the one in the basement because the upstairs just…creeped me out."

"Right." I said. I took another bite of my food.

"So, I went upstairs…and I immediately got this scary feeling." He smiled. "Well…I saw something."

I stopped eating and looked up at him. "What? You saw something?" My eyes were wide. "Oh my God, dad. What was it?"

He paused for a moment. "It looked like a dress." He said. Like the back of a dress, you know like the train of a gown? It went into one of the back bedrooms." He said. I'm sure if my eyes were any wider they would have popped out of my head. I was practically on the edge of my seat listening to him. "What happened next?"

He let out a small laugh. "I got so scared, I jumped the damn stairs."

My mouth gaped open. "What?" I laughed pretty hard at that. He joined in with my laughter. "Did this honestly happen or are you joking right now?"

"No." My dad said wide-eyed. "This is a true story. I wouldn't make that up. And I didn't even get to the best part yet."

"Oh God." I said.

"I told your mom about it later, and she said she saw the same thing a few years before." My dad informed me.

My eyes were wide again. "Oh my God! Are you serious?" My dad nodded, he was laughing at me. "Wait, why wasn't I ever told this? I'm actually mad right now, like really mad. You guys suck." I crossed my arms.

"We didn't want you guys to be scared." My dad said seriously.

"I wouldn't have been." I said. "You knew what kind of kid I was. Carl maybe, but not me." I paused. "See, now you saw that and you still don't believe?"

"Yeah, I assumed I imagined it." He nodded.

"Dad." I gave him a stupid look.

"Hey, you have your beliefs and I have mine." He said ending our conversation.

I sighed. I realized, just then, how dark it got. It's time to have our little seance. "Well…maybe tonight will make a believer out of you." I smirked. "Let's do our experiment with the EVP now."

We began setting up, well there really wasn't much we had to do to set up. I looked at the EVP in the candlelight. "So, do you wanna to this in the dining room so that we're sitting at a table or do you just want to stay in here?" I asked my dad.

"I don't know, Abigail." He replied. "I don't even really want to do this." My dad sat in the chair. I was on the floor.

"I know you don't but too bad." I said and laughed. "Let's just stay in here since we already have candles in here." I looked back at the spirit box. "I actually have no idea what to do with this. How do I do this?" I asked myself out loud. My dad kind of snorted. "There's not directions." I flipped it around. I sighed. "Oh well, I'll figure it out." I turned it on. "I've seen people use these are those dumb ghost shows." I laughed. There was static on the EVP. My shoulders slumped. "Aw man." I said. "This is gonna be so annoying. All we're going to hear is the static the whole time."

"Welp." My dad said. "You tried."

I gave him an annoyed look, he was smirking at me. "Can you stop?" I said. "We're doing this." I sighed and sat it back down, then turned the volume up. "Okay." I took my hand away from it. "What now?" I looked at my dad. "Do you wanna go first?"

"No, you do it." He said. "This is your thing."

"Okay." I smiled. What should I say? "Umm…hi." I said. My dad laughed at me. "Shut up!" I threw a pillow at him. "Sorry about that, um…so, hi. My name's Abby and this is my dad, Rick. We were wondering if there were any spirits in this house and if we could talk for a minute." I paused for a few seconds. All we heard was static. "Anybody here?" I said, then waited.

"See, it doesn't work." My dad said. "Just stop and turn it off." Right before my dad finished talking, the static stopped for a split second and it made a noise. It sounded like "boop" in a robot-like voice.

"Did you hear that?" I looked at my dad.

"Yeah, Abby, that was nothing. We used walkies at work and sometimes noises came through."

"Wait, be quiet." I waved him off. "Was that a spirit?" I asked. The static stopped for a second but it didn't make a noise or anything. "Are we speaking with someone right now?" I said more aggressively.

"You are." The robot voice came through on the EVP again, then went back to static.

My eyes widened, and I looked at my dad. My mouth gaped open. "You heard that, too, don't even try to pretend right now." I grinned.

My dad hesitated, almost like he was thinking. "Yeah, I heard it. Doesn't mean it was a ghost."

I ignored him and went back to the box. "Okay, so, you let us know that someone's here. Can you tell us your name?" I waited for "it" to reply. It was just static. "Come on, don't go away already. Tell us your name." There was nothing but static. I was losing hope.

"See, it was nothing." My dad said. I looked at him.

"Nothing." The robot voice said. I looked back down at the box.

"Was that you just now?" I said a little annoyed. Nothing happened. "Tell me or I'm shutting this off."

"Off." The robot voice said.

I looked at my dad and smiled. I was getting a little irritated. "Didn't you say that's a recorder too?" My dad asked me. I nodded. "Well, that's all it's doing is recording our voices."

"Dad, shut up. No, it isn't. That's not even how it works." He was starting to annoy me too.

"You better quit telling me to shut up." He said. I got the feeling that he was only half joking. I decided to mess with him.

"Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do?" I teased him and laughed.

"Spaghetti." The robot voice said. I looked down at the box.

"Spaghetti?" I said stupidly. My dad laughed pretty hard after that.

"Maybe it's Hershel." I said.

"Abby." My dad gave me a stupid look.

"What? He said he wanted to have spaghetti Tuesdays every Wednesday." I shrugged. "It could be him."

"Dancer." The robot voice said. I looked at the box, then back to my dad.

I saw the look my dad was giving me. I started to laugh and he did as well. I kind of got a different out look on the whole situation. I mean…most of those ghost shows that used to be on TV were mostly, if not all, fake. "Alright, fine." I said. "You're right. It's bullshit. I'm gonna shut it off." I reached for it but the robot voice spoke again.

"Off." It said.

I stopped and just looked at it. I had a thought. Maybe I'll try one last time. "Alright." I said and cleared my throat. "This is your last chance. If you want to talk, then talk." I paused. "Can you tell me your name?" I said sternly like I did before.

"No." The robot voice said.

I glanced at my dad quickly, his eyebrows were raised, then I looked back at the box. "Why can't you tell me your name?" There was nothing but static. "What is your name?" I said more forcefully. I waited for a minute and listened to the static.

"Richard." The robot voice said.

It felt like I was punched in the stomach right then and my eyes were wide. "What? Richard? Like the carving on the stairs Richard?"

"Yes." It said.

I looked at my dad with wide-eyes and my mouth hanging open but still smiling. I kind of screamed. "You heard that!" I pointed at him. "That was legit! That was a legit, clear plain as day answer!" I was super excited.

"Alright, yeah. Turn it off." My dad said.

"Why? Cuz you're scared?"

"Yeah, I am." He admitted. I laughed. "Now turn it off. You got what you wanted from it, now turn it off."

I slowly stopped laughing. "Okay, I'll shut it off." I reached for the EVP. "Bye, Richard. Thanks for talking to us." I waited but all I heard was static. "Aw, I was hoping he would say bye." I smiled and sighed. "Oh well." I turned the device off, now it was completely quiet. "That was fun." I smiled at my dad. "And funny." I laughed.

"Maybe for you." My dad said with raised eyebrows.

"You laughed too! You laughed when he said spaghetti."

"Yeah, but…that was before it said my name."

I stopped for a second. "Oh yeah, your name is Richard." I said and smiled. "I wasn't even thinking that. Earlier today, I saw the name Richard carved on the stairs outside. That's why I got so excited."

"Oh, I didn't see." My dad said. "I was only thinking about my name. But your story makes more sense." He kind of laughed.

"Yeah." I said with a sigh. There was a brief pause. "So, did that make a believer out of you?" I looked at him and smirked.

He shrugged. My eyes widened a little and my mouth gaped opened. "Not really." He said.

"Oh my God, dad. Are you serious right now?" I gave him an annoyed look. "That wasn't enough proof for you?"

"No, Abby, it wasn't." My dad said a little louder. "There's no way for us to tell what that really was. It was creepy, I'll admit that, but that doesn't mean it was a ghost."

I huffed and shook my head with a smirk. "You suck." Right after I said that, it sounded like something fell upstairs. I immediately became serious…and a little scared. I looked at my dad. "Daddy?" He was looking back at me. I watched his face harden as he grabbed his gun, then jumped up and headed for the stairs. I looked down at the spirit box and had a thought. "Wait." I said to my dad. "I wanna come with you." I jumped up with my gun and followed my dad up the stairs.

It was really dark so we had to use our flashlights. My dad was ahead of me. "Dad, wait." I caught up with him and was practically on his back.

"Abby, back up." He said. I giggled.

We checked all of the rooms, the one that would be right above us where we were downstairs is the one we checked last. There was a statue on the floor. "That's what it must have been." My dad said. "Must have fallen."

"Yeah, but how?" I looked at him. I mean…the thing looked pretty heavy, it couldn't have just fallen on its own.

"I don't know." He said while checking around some more. He looked in the closet and stuff, there was no one there. "Let's go back downstairs." He guided me out of the room.

My dad and I decided to go to bed after that. He had the couch and I had the little love seat. I'm short so I can fit. I felt like I was sinking down into the furniture, I don't like that. I thought about putting the cushions on the floor and sleeping there for the night, but I decided not to. It was already pretty late anyway. I sighed trying to get comfortable. Eventually, I dozed off.

I was awakened by loud noises that sounded like voices. I sat up quickly, my whole body shaking. It was the EVP device. It was going crazy! But how? I turned that shit off!

I grabbed my flashlight while breathing heavily and shined it at my dad, he was looking back at me but squinted from the light.

"Secrets!" The robot voice yelled. "Secrets! Secrets! Sister! Truth! Lies! Fear! Cheating! Sister! Secrets! Secrets!" It was yelling and it scared the shit out of me.

My dad and I shared a look. We grabbed our stuff and got the hell out of there. We can pick a different house to stay the night.

However, I couldn't stop thinking about what the EVP device was saying. It was just a coincidence, right? I mean…there was no way it could know. Could it? It doesn't know me or my family. I swallowed hard trying to convince myself. What I did know was that…I was really freaked out.