Ch.18

Maggie was lying in her bed with Glenn. After Daryl had came to Beth's room she had waited around until Daryl had practically forced her to move just by scowling at her. She still couldn't figure it out. Daryl and Beth had never been close, and then all of a sudden he's the only person she wanted.

"I just don't get it."

"What?" Glenn asked her.

Maggie turned to him, a little surprised. "What?" She asked, confused. She didn't realize that she had said anything aloud.

"What don't you get?"

"Daryl and Beth."

"I wouldn't think too much into it. They were together after the prison; he was the only person she had. They were probably just forced to get closer to each other."

"I know, it's just, she's never acted this way before. She's acting like…like…I don't even know what. It's just so uncharacteristic of Beth. And she refuses to talk to me about anything, so I have no idea what's going on with her."

"Hey, just let her be. She'll work things out. Right now you should just get some sleep."

Maggie smiled and rested her head on Glenn's chest, her eyes growing heavy. Before she knew it the sun was shining in through the window. She nudged Glenn until he was awake and lightly kissed him on the lips before walking out of the room. She decided to peek into Beth's room, expecting her to still be asleep, but she wasn't in there. She then went to the kitchen. Rick, Sasha, and Carol were sitting at the table talking.

"Hey, have you seen Beth?"

"I think she's outside with Daryl," Sasha responded.

"Thanks."

Maggie began walking towards the door, but stopped when she heard Carol start talking.

"Hey, Maggie? Is everything alright with Beth? I've noticed that she's been on edge lately, a little jumpy."

"Honestly, I don't really know."

Before they could ask any more questions she walked out the door. It didn't take her long to find Daryl and Beth. They were down by the truck, and it looked like they were talking. She started heading towards them, and jumped when she felt someone grab her from behind. Glenn.

"Where are you going?"

"Daryl and Beth. Just going to see if they need help with anything."

Maggie continued walking towards them, and Glenn followed. As they got closer the two of them stopped talking. Whatever it was they were talking about, it was apparent they didn't want anyone else to hear.

"Hey!" Maggie said.

Daryl grunted in response, and Beth gave what could barely be considered a smile.

"What are you guys doing out here so early?"

"We were just talkin'."

"About what?"

"Nothin' in particular."

Maggie looked to Beth, who had taken a few steps back and was now looking at the ground and fiddling with her fingers, something she always did when she had something on her mind. There were a few moments of awkward silence, and then the low guttural moan of a walker could be heard approaching. Maggie reached for her knife, but before she even had time to pull it out, Beth was running towards the walker.

Maggie watched, a little shocked at her sister's sudden change, as Beth stabbed her knife into the walker's head. Her shock instantly turned to horror as the walker went down and Beth didn't back away. She watched as Beth stabbed the walker over and over again. She could practically feel the rage radiating from Beth's body, and she didn't know what to do.

She saw out of the corner of her eye as someone moved. It was Daryl. He ran over to Beth and caught her arm before it could jab the knife into the dead walker again. She tried to fight back, but the knife fell from her hand and Daryl pulled her away from the body.

Daryl was horrified when he saw Beth continuously stabbing the walker. He knew she was angry, and it was partly his fault, but he had never seen her act this way; he had never seen anybody act this way. Without giving it a second thought, he rushed to her side and pulled her away.

Maggie and Glenn were standing there, staring at Beth, and not knowing what to do. He looked to Beth. She was covered in blood. If he hadn't been there to see what had happened, he would have thought that someone had brutally murdered her.

"I'm gonna' take her inside, get her cleaned up."

Maggie shook head, still too shocked to form any actual words.

Daryl led Beth up to the bathroom connected to her bedroom. He filled the sink up with water and grabbed a washcloth. He looked at her again. Her hands and arms were coated in a thick layer of the walker's blood. Crimson speckles dotted her face, and a rust colored streak was drying on her temple.

He carefully took the washcloth and began to wipe away the blood on her face. She flinched and backed away, but Daryl held her steady in place. When he finished with her face, he moved on to her hands, slowly working his way up her arms until the blood gave way to her pale skin. The water in the sink was a deep red by now.

He turned away from her and dropped the washcloth back in the sink. When he turned around he watched as Beth peeled the bloodied shirt from her body, seemingly unaware of Daryl's presence. She went to the sink and began scrubbing the shirt.

He took this chance to glance at the bruises that still painted her body. Where they once had been deep shades of purple and blue, they were now a yellow color. They were healing, but Beth wasn't.

Beth continued to scrub away at her shirt, but Daryl knew it wouldn't do any good. He knew that Beth wasn't seeing the shirt and bloodied water; he knew that she wasn't trying to get the stains out. One look at her cold, dead eyes and anyone could tell that there was something else playing out in Beth's head, and Daryl was the only other person who knew what that story was.

He heard somebody coming up the stairs, and he removed his jacket and draped it on her thin shoulders, covering the majority of the bruises. When he glanced at her face again he saw the silent tears. The room suddenly felt heavy, too heavy to handle. And though neither of them was making any noise, he had never heard silence this loud.

Beth's hands were turning pink from her scrubbing so hard. Daryl walked over to her and covered her hands with his, making her stop what she was doing. She didn't look at him, though; her eyes remained glued to the red water.

"Beth?" He whispered.

She didn't respond.

"Beth?"

Her bottom lip trembled, and Daryl could tell that she was trying to stop herself from completely falling apart. Tears were still running down her face, landing in the sink and making the water ripple. Then he watched as she finally broke.

Daryl caught her as her legs gave way and he pulled her close to him. Uncontrollable sobs began wracking her body. She had been trying to hold herself together for so long that everything was now crashing down on her.

"I'm here. It's ok. You're gonna be ok."

They were now both on the bathroom floor, and he was cradling her like a parent would a small child. Her head was buried into his chest, and he rested his chin on the top of her head. He knew now what he had to do. He knew that he couldn't keep this a secret any longer. And he knew that what he was going to do would cause Beth to hate him, and it would break his heart.

Author's Note: Ok, so I realize that I just updated "Ruined" Wednesday, but I had a lot of time on my hands today and felt like writing. So, I decided to start writing Ch.18, and once I started I couldn't stop.

This chapter turned out completely different than I had intended, but I absolutely love it. It is probably one of my favorite chapters so far! It kind of started out a little slow, but I think it definitely picked up the pace.

Beth took out all of her anger and everything she has been keep bottled up inside on that walker. Daryl had to pull her off of it. And then Daryl cleans the blood off of her and she breaks down. I'm not sure if I did her breakdown and Daryl's reaction justice...I can't tell, but I really hope that I did. I wanted it to be really emotional, almost like the weight of the world finally came crashing down on Beth and she just couldn't handle it anymore and, even though she is still trying to keep her composure, she finally breaks. Her breakdown leads Daryl to come to a critical conclusion, something that will change the rest of the story.

The ending is something that even I hadn't expected. I didn't think that I would have Daryl come to the conclusion that he needs to tell someone the truth about what happened to Beth for another few chapters. But as I was writing this chapter, it just felt right, so I decided to end it with him finally coming to that conclusion.

So, what did you think of this chapter? Did you like it? Did you expect that ending?