"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four people is suffering from a mental illness. Look at your 3 best friends. If they're ok, then it's you."
Rita Mae Brown

...

Sasha noticed our duffel bags on the side of the road. Her sight was equivalent to hawks. This was the side of Sasha I was most grateful for in that moment. I had my Taser. I had my blade. Nothing was missing. Tyrese will live another day without facing any repercussions for leaving us behind at the gas station. I could rest my imagination on how many ways this man named Rick was going to dismember me and Sasha. I was prepared to give him the fucking fight of his life now that I had my weapons. A police issued Taser was the fucking business.

He kept staring at me and looking away, trying to play it off that he wasn't staring. I was finally glad he found his phone more interesting. He was texting back and forth with someone. What ever he was talking about he was intent on doing it with his index finger one tap at a time.

I watched Sasha play handsy with Daryl upfront. They weren't trying to be inconspicuous about it. Finger intertwined. I realized that I would have to fight not only for my life but foolish Sasha's as well.

"You have a spider crawling on you." Rick reached towards me. I couldn't control my reaction as I swatted his hand away.

"Don't you dare touch me."

"I thought it was your hair at first, part of your hair. You actually have a spider crawling on you."

I calmly asked, "Where?"

That time I allowed him to reach, pulling my hair above my neck.

"See." Rick revealed the tiny black spider.

"I am surprised you didn't scream like shit." Daryl smiled looking at me through his rearview mirror."

"It takes more than an insect to frighten my Cousin." Sasha chimed happily.

Rick slammed his hand down on his lap and rubbed the remnant into his jeans. His hands appeared familiar to me.

I realized I didn't say, thank you. I wasn't going too. Thank you and for him to try killing me in any minute? No. My guard was up and there it remained.

XXX

I have no idea who this strange woman was that I was sitting next to in the backseat of the Mustang. I had no clue to what her name was or if her name was actually Cousin. Sasha consistently kept referring to her as such. Cousin, do you want, Cousin do you remember when, Cousin...

Daryl didn't care that Sasha changed the music. No one was allowed to touch the radio when riding with Daryl and somehow, Sasha had unspoken permission.

I had to admit that Sasha was attractive. She was attractive even though her hair was wild. I had to try and not watch her tame it into a big bun. She was talkative and her Daryl had their own conversation in the front from time to time. A few times they included us in the back seat. When they didn't it was like being immersed in a thick uncomfortable silence.

Something about how her skin contrasted against my hand as I removed the spider from her shoulder. She allowed me to expose her neck and it almost took my breath away. The waft of her scent was familiar but nameless. It wasn't unpleasant. A brief momentary longing stirred within me and was instantly forgotten when I rubbed the spider into my worn jeans.

I had to remain focus on finding out names. First and last of both these women. A background check could happen in a matter of seconds. All I had to do was call up Glenn who worked behind a desk in the Sheriffs department. He owed me a favor. I couldn't figure out how to broach the subject or ask, really who the fuck are you two? Daryl didn't seem to care and I had no capacity of the law to insist that they reveal their identity.

I received a text.

Lori: Come and get your stuff. If you don't I will have it set out to the trash. Trash day is today.

Rick: Do not throw my stuff a...

Lori: You obviously don't want it because it's been sitting on my porch for the last three weeks and some by the front door.

Rick: ...away. Lori why are you doing th...

Lori: I called and you aren't answering your phone.

Rick: ...this. Wait.

I couldn't keep up. Lori was lightening fast with texting and I couldn't relay quickly what I wanted relayed. I wanted my marriage. I wanted Lori.

"Daryl."

"Yea?" Daryl peered at me through the rearview mirror.

"Before we get to your place do you think you could run by Lori's."

"What the fuck for?"

"Please."

We were a few minutes away from the house that Lori lived with Shane. It use to be a house that we shared together. It use to be our home. Everything appeared to be the way I left it so many months ago, even the old black woman who stood on her porch. Always watching. I called her nosy Mabel. Early morning and late into the night, nosey Mabel was out either standing by the stairs of her porch or sitting in her rocker. Not once has she ever waved.

I wasn't prepared for what was about to happen and I didn't think things through. It did appear that I was on a date I suppose to Lori, seeing the woman in the back seat. It did appear that I was flaunting a relationship at least in Lori's mind.

I walked up the walkway where Lori stood. I was beginning to be very emotional, desperate for a reconciliation. The need for Lori hadn't dampened even with her being involved with Shane. She was my wife. That had to mean something.

She appeared differently to me. Her face had her own scowl aimed at Daryl's car. The passenger side front and back was revealed to her. The women were in her view.

"Who's in the car with you and Daryl." Lori stood on the porch.

"Some woman Daryl met on the internet and her cousin." I responded.

"Random women?" Lori questioned.

"Yeah." I stated plainly.

"You're on a date Rick?"

"What?" Dating anyone never crossed my mind.

"One thing I never did was parade around my boyfriends."

"Parade?"

Lori was angry and jealous. I didn't want her to be angry and I didn't have the time to relish in the fact that she could possibly relate to what I was feeling when she began dating other people.

She started throwing my shit from the house on to the lawn. I wasn't aware that Shane had pulled up and rushed over thinking what ever he was thinking. I just knew I was going to black out. I was going to fight Shane. I was going to kill him for helping destroy any semblance of getting back together with my wife. I was going to kill him and then she smiled. I caught it from the corner of my eye. Her face pressed against the car window. She was amused. The nameless mean looking woman in the back seat was smiling.

The impact of Shane's fist on my jaw caused me re-evaluate a whole lot of what was important and kicking his ass was on the top of my list.

...

Daryl sat there debating whether to help or to let them duke it out. It was funny at first to see the wife tossing his shit all over the lawn. Things escalated quickly. A clean shaven dark haired man came out of nowhere it seemed. This was a major confrontation. I realized quickly that Rick was going to be on the losing end.

"Don't you think you should help, Daryl?" Sasha asked the man that was apparently in turmoil on what to do or not do and the repercussions of both.

"They both are the law. I can't get my hands dirty because if I help Rick, then Shane could have me easily arrested and I ain't about to do another bid. I am on fucking probation. Shit!"

"Really?!" I couldn't believe my ears. I wasn't surprised but to have my suspicion confirmed that Sasha would be messing around with some type of criminal and then to see what was transpiring outside the car. I got out.

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I knocked Shane out. I picked up a rock and with enough force he was sprawled on top of Rick who was gasping for air. That was when I felt the rip in my jeans. It burned after the sound of Pow. I was grazed. There was heat that passed by my ear. Pow. Then it was click, click. The gun Lori was holding jammed.

...

I pushed Shane off of me and sat up. I saw Mabel across the street sitting on her porch watching and waving. Nosy Mabel was waving when the Pow. Pow. Click, Click, and then silence from Lori's direction.

I had every reason to want to murder Shane but Lori wanted to kill this nameless woman who meant nothing to me?

...

"Mabel, Mabel, Mabel! Why are you interfering?" Herschel rolled down his window as he pulled up to the curb of Mabel's home that was positioned across the street from the disturbance.

"If Lori kills Michonne now, we will never resolve this level and would be on repeat. I am tired, Herschel. I am tired. They need to move on and they can't do it if they don't recognize why they are here, will be here. I don't want to spend my eternity on the porch watching. This needs to be moved on."

"So you interfere because you don't want to be on the porch and yet you have me as the Sheriff? You get to rest Mabel. I have to actively be ready to callback any reinforcement and do this, like I am doing now. I am not supposed to be in a cruiser going to house calls as the Sheriff, that is what the deputy sheriffs are for they are to do house calls."

Mabel walked into her house and Herschel turned the cruiser in to the driveway of Lori's home and parked along side Daryl's car.

There lay Shane sprawled out on the grass. Herschel took one look and surmised he was not dead. He could hear the man's heart beat within the distance he stood.

"Herschel, I can explain-" Rick began and then Herschel cut him off.

"No, you can not. Get you and your injured companion on out of here because Lori is coming to the door with a shotgun 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

...

"Cousin, you going to be okay?" Sasha was concerned about Michonne being grazed by a bullet.

"It hurts." Michonne gasped as she hobbled along to the worn outdated sofa where an even more outdated television sat on a plastic crate.

"Let me take a look." Rick offered his assistance.

"Don't you touch me. What part of that you don't get?" Michonne challenged.

Rick stepped back when she flinched as if his touch burned her somehow.

"He's only trying to help." Daryl snapped.

"Maybe we should have taken my cousin to the hospital."

"I don't want to go to any hospital Sasha. I just need some antiseptic and bandages. Does a place like this have any?" Michonne looked about her surroundings. Not much better than the circumstances that they left in Millen. This wasn't as clean but it wasn't the dirtiest environment that Michonne had to tolerate in hopes of a better arrangement. A better life.

"I got what you need. I guess you will tend to yourself. The extra bedroom is there. The restroom is over there. You can shower. I have clean towels." Michonne took the items from Daryl without a thank you, grabbed her duffle bags and headed to the bathroom closing the door behind her.

"You got anything to eat here?" Sasha asked. "I can cook something up for all of us." She walked over to the refrigerator and found nothing but spoiled milk and lots of beer. Nothing in the cabinets but unused pots and pans. "Do you two eat?" Sasha turned to find a red-faced Daryl.

Daryl was embarrassed that he didn't consider food. "There is a store around the corner we can go and pick some things up from there." Daryl offered with his attention on Rick. Rick gave him a look that he wasn't going to leave either of the women alone in the home he shared with Daryl so they could be robbed blind. Not that Daryl had much but he did keep 500.00 dollars under his mattress. "I mean, you and me Sasha. We can go to the store."

Rick moved the boxes with the items that belonged to him that Lori had tossed about the yard into his room. He unpacked a few things when he heard the creak of the bathroom door that use to indicate Daryl entering or exiting, now it meant that Cousin could be moving about.

The bathroom door was partially opened. He could see that she was tending to the wound on her upper thigh area and the pain caused her to wince. Rick noticed how her thighs glistened and how they were visually appealing to him. She was in yoga shorts and a tank top, a severe contrast to her jeans and sleeveless vest that she wore earlier in the day. He noticed she made quick work in bandaging herself without assistance.

Rick was standing in the kitchen with a beer in hand taking a long gulp when he heard her voice behind him. He was startled to have her actually talk to him.

"More of that?"

Her eyes were on the beer in his hand. "Yeah. Plenty." Then there was the silence. Rick didn't know what to do with it so he offered to give her one out of the refrigerator but she took his instead. "I was going to get you your own out the frig."

Michonne gulped down the remainder finding the taste not bad. "What kind of beer is this? This taste good." She looked at the bottle that she didn't recognize as she read aloud the label:

Meryl's Fine Brew

Shit SO Good

100% Guaranteed to keep you shitfaced or your money back.

...

We had three bottles each and we were shitfaced. I have no memory of anything else other than I liked the way she said my name, Rick or did she just call me a Dick and storm out the room? I was going to show her a dick alright...

...

I had a heightened sense of paranoia. Sasha was outside the trailer still talking to Daryl, giggling at whatever she found to be funny. I fell back to sleep. A very deep sleep and then I began to dream or it felt like I was dreaming.

Eyes. Eyes everywhere looking at me. I was valued and devalued. The only familiar ones were a set of frantic blues on his knees begging and a voice insisting, Your loss is Mr. Nee Gain. Your loss is Mr. Nee Gain. Your loss is Mr. Negan's.

I was frantic as I sat up screaming, trying to catch my breath. I had no idea where I was and why there was a naked white man at the foot of my bed. I grabbed the Taser next to me and I tasered him good. I was going to pull the trigger again when Sasha and Daryl entered the room.

"Oh my fucking God! What the hell you do to Rick?" Daryl was surprised to find his friend sprawled naked on the floor in the room while I was standing fully clothed on the bed ready to give him another five seconds.

"Michonne, what the hell?" Sasha looked from Rick to me.

...

Rick was unconscious not because he was shocked into being immobile for 5 seconds but because he had then officially blacked out.