Rick
Rick closed the door softly behind him and looked at Carol.
"What do you think?" Carol looked behind her and sighed.
"I think something bad happened to those boys and that's why he's scared of us." Rick frowned and rubbed his neck.
"You think he's scared of us?" Carol nodded.
"Come on Rick. We've been through hell and back these last few months. I had nightmares about the complex for a week after we left. Georgie has only just started to come out of whatever state she was in. Can you imagine how it would affect two young boys, alone, without their parents?"
Rick swallowed. He thought of Carl, alone in this new world, facing walkers and people like the Governor. It made his stomach clench. He began to wonder what the two boys had been through, what they had seen. He wondered where their families were. Had they started out together? Had they just gotten separated, or had they lost them? Matthew couldn't be older than fourteen. Had he been looking after Harry? How long had he had to act like an adult? He sucked in a breath sharply, shaking his head.
At the bottom of the stairs, Ben and Adele were waiting for the pair of them.
"How was he?" Rick exchanged glances with Carol before answering.
"Hard to say. He's been through a lot that's for sure. They both have. But, I think he's hiding something."
Ben nodded. "He could well be. Like you say, he's been through a lot. We don't know if he's met people like the Governor. It'd be hard for a child his age to trust again. Especially when you take into consideration that he seems have taken charge of his brother's welfare. A lot of responsibility for someone who looks barely into their teens."
Rick nodded. What Ben was saying made sense. When he thought back, to how readily they'd accepted Georgie into the group, he couldn't believe how naive they'd been-how trusting-compared to how they were treating two boys under the age of 16. The complex had taught them some harsh lessons, lesson's that Matthew had obviously also learnt. But that didn't explain all his strange behaviour.
"There's something else. When he woke up, he was fine. Then I turned around and the kid burst into tears. I didn't do anything, say anything, but he still started crying."
Ben looked thoughtful for a moment. "That could be exhaustion. Trauma. He could have been scared-I don't know why you thought it was a good idea to wear your sheriff's uniform. I said you two should go because you're both parents. You should have been talking to him as a kid, not a suspect..."
Rick cut him short before he could be given a lecture. "Not only that, he was acting really weird when we were talking to him too. He kept..."
"Matthew!"
A child's cry stopped Rick mid flow. He looked up to see Georgie ushering in the three children, followed by Daryl. Harry was at the front looking behind Rick up the stairs. The four adults turned to see Matthew coming down the stairs. Rick couldn't help but wonder if the boy had been listening at the top, or if he had just come out of the room. Harry ran across to his older brother, glanced at Rick and then almost stopped dead in his tracks, a look of shock etched into his face.
"Harry." Matthew strode across to his brother and put a protective arm around him. "Are you ok?" Harry seemed to recover and nodded mutely, still staring at Rick. "Ok then." Matthew was now talking unnecessarily loudly, seemingly trying to detract attention away from his brother. "Take me to the eggs. I'm starving." Harry tore his gaze away from Rick, and lead his brother towards the dining room. As the pair passed Daryl and Georgie, Rick noticed that Matthew glanced at Daryl-not as obviously as Harry had done to him, but enough to notice it. As soon as the two had entered the kitchen, Adele turned to Rick.
"What the hell...Did you see the way that kid was looking at you?"
"He was staring that way at Daryl too." Georgie and Daryl crossed the room and entered the conversation. "I went outside with the kids first and started building a snowman. When Daryl came out, Harry just froze. I called him three times, no response. He just stared at him, like he'd..."
"...Seen a ghost." Ben finished. "That's what it looked like, it looked like he'd seen a ghost." He looked at Daryl, then back to Ben. "It's possible that you both remind them of someone they knew, that they believed to be dead. If that's the case, it might be easier for one of you two to gain their trust." Adele snorted.
"Rick maybe. I can't see Daryl being a sensitive listening type." Daryl made no response, just looked bored.
"Look, I don't know how to deal with this trauma thing you keep going on about, but you're the expert Ben, whatever you say we need to do, I'll do it." Rick glanced over at the restaurant doors, to check that Matthew wasn't listening in on them. "But I gotta tell you, there's something else going on with that kid. When we were talking to him, he paused before he answered us. Not only that, he kept looking at the wall"
"So?"
"So, it was like he was looking at someone, like they were telling him what to do or something."
"You sayin' the kid's crazy?" Daryl looked up from his nails. "Hearin' voices, seein' pink elephants, whatever?"
"Could be another symptom of the trauma," Ben said. "Doesn't mean he's 'crazy' Daryl. Just the effect of stress on a young mind."
"So he's crazy. Ev'y time someone loses it around here, you go callin' it stress, or trauma. Just say wack job, call it what it is." Georgie looked at Daryl, a mixture of hurt and amusement on her face.
"Hey. Ben said I was suffering Post Traumatic Stress." Daryl looked bored again.
"Yeah, so ya went crazy for a while."
"HEY!"
"Regardless of who's crazy and who's not, it's obvious we need to keep an eye on them both." Carol intervened quickly, to Rick's relief. He didn't put it past Daryl and Georgie to start a full blown fist fight.
"Agreed. So, be kind to them both, but not pushy. Hopefully we can get them to tell us where they have been of their own accord." On those words, the group dispersed, and Rick walked over to Carl, who had been sat on the couch talking to Sophie.
"Dad, why was Harry staring at you?" Carl didn't even wait for Rick to sit on the couch before he asked him.
"I don't know Carl. Maybe I remind him of someone he lost." Rick hugged his son close to him, and tried not to think about what Carl would do if something happened to him.
"Like his dad you mean?"
"Yeah, maybe." Carl was silent for a moment.
"It must be hard for him. I mean, there are loads of grownups here. So me and Sophie will always have someone to look after us. But Matthew and Harry didn't have any grownups." He looked up at Rick. "Are we going to look after them now?"
Rick felt a surge of love for his son, who somehow seemed to have managed to avoid developing a suspicion of strangers, and thought only of helping others. He kissed him on his forehead.
"Yeah. We're going to look after them both."
A few notes:
Thanks for all the reviews so far! Please keep commenting, ESPECIALLY if you're not convinced about a character-constructive criticism is really important to me!
Some of you who read the comics may have twigged that Matthew's conversations with Mr Lister are similar to Michonne's conversations. I did this deliberately, because I don't have any intention of writing her in any time soon. Maybe in the distant future.
Oh, and those of you who PMed me-
1-yes T-Dog and Miao have 'a thing'. But that'll all come out later.
2-I'm not telling you if Matthew and Harry are good news or bad news. Mainly because I haven't decided myself.
3-I promise, there will be some action soon!
Oh and Nelle07. Yeah, she will. Big style