Mia
I'm sitting in my shared cell, trying to figure some things out. Carl isn't here to entertain me, so I'm left to my own devices. I think about the run. Rick was right. Something was different between Carl and me. It isn't that we aren't friends anymore. That definitely isn't it. I think we're becoming more. Or, at least, we want to. I've noticed that since the day he found me. Damn it. I think I'm crushing on my best friend. And the worst part is I don't know if he likes me back. Then I realize that I'm thinking about this during a zombie apocalypse and I laugh. This should be the last thing on my mind, yet the normalcy is refreshing. My thoughts are interrupted by the door to the cell opening. I knew it was Carl because nobody else would enter without knocking. I sit up and smile. He smiles and sits next to me. He rests his hand close to the hand that I'm supporting myself with. I look down to hide my blushing face.
"I didn't get a chance to say it before; I missed you too," Carl says.
I look up. Yep, this is the point of no return. I can't just be friends with this boy anymore; I like him too much. He smiles sheepishly. I take my hand in his. Now it was his turn to blush. I've heard about that awkward stage between dating and just like. Now, I was experiencing it.
"I need to show you something," he said suddenly.
His hand left my grasp. He lifted his shirt. His stomach was scarred horribly. I'd gone swimming with him before, and he hadn't had them then. It was from since the apocalypse started.
"We were in the woods, my dad and I. I saw a doe. She was the most beautiful thing I'd seen in months. She was living, whole, and completely oblivious to the world. She let me get closer to her. I reached out to touch her, but I never got there. A man named Otis shot the doe. Went straight through her, and into my stomach. That's when we found Herschel and his daughters. Herschel fixed me up, but I was in and out of sleep for weeks. I remember that I dreamt of you. That was when I started to miss you," he explained.
I touched the scarred skin of his stomach. He quickly put his shirt down, his face reddening as he did so. He seemed to have realized what he was doing. I gripped his hand again. I couldn't imagine what it was like for him, heck, even for everyone else around him. I squeeze his hand, and tears threaten to pour from my eyes. When one slips, Carl lifts his hand and wipes it away. He lets it linger there for a moment, and then he drops his hand.
"Time for bed, lovebirds," Daryl laughs.
Carl spun around, releasing my hand in the process. He rubs the back of his neck, like boys do when they are embarrassed.
"What- why would- um," Carl stutters.
"Shut up before you hurt yourself, kid," Daryl jokes.
Daryl leaves, laughing. Carl turns to me again, pecks me on the cheek, and climbs up the ladder to his bed. I hold my cheek where he kissed it. The spot was getting hotter under my hand. I lie down with no intent to sleep. I couldn't with my mind racing like this. I accept that fact, and I just lie there and think.