The houses were nice, but they didn't feel like home. Carol wasn't sure if there would never be a place that felt like home again. Every time they seemed to find a place that they would be safe and have a chance to catch their breath it was taken from again and everything thrown to the wind. She sighed and lifted a picture from the end table. There were pictures all over the house, and she wasn't sure if they were the people who had lived here before or if it was part of the staging that had been done to sell people on the community before the world fell apart.
If there were families here before, where were they now? She had the feeling that these were just props, but even so the people in the pictures had once been alive and had hopes and dreams for the future, were having some sort of life that had been torn from them just like everyone else. She set the picture down again, understanding why Sasha had taken all of the pictures from their other house now. It would be a momentary satisfaction in striking out those happy, smiling faces. It wouldn't help in the long run though.
She had a different idea, and after gathering the pictures from all of the rooms and down off of all the walls, she opened each frame and took out the photo. She stacked the pictures and put them in an envelope, and then counted the frames. There were more than she needed for her project, and she set the extra aside before leaving the house.
The garage door was opened when Carol approached the house, and she could see Daryl leaning over the bike and gesturing while he spoke to Aaron. He didn't seem to notice as she approached, but Eric did from where he sat on the short stair to the house. The redhead waved to her and she approached him, giving Daryl and Aaron a nod and a smile as she passed them.
"I was wondering if you could help me with a small project. The pictures we were shown about Alexandria gave me an idea."
Eric nodded slowly, unsure of what she was wanting, "What kind of an idea?"
"I was hoping to use the camera and the printer. The houses we were assigned are nice, but impersonal. I was thinking that I could replace the photos of strangers with pictures of the family, our friends, as a way to make it feel more like a home." Carol glanced at Daryl and saw that he had stilled, looking at her blankly. He must be one of those people who hated to be photographed, but that was just too bad because she was going to have a picture of Daryl Dixon whether he wanted it taken or not.
"That's a great idea. Deanna has the printer in her office, at home, but I think we still have the camera." Eric grinned at her, and stood carefully.
"In the living room; the drawer on the side table I think." Aaron added and Eric disappeared into the house to go find it, "I'm not sure how much of the photo paper she has left, or what kind of ink is still good, but that shouldn't be too hard to find."
"I'll check with Deanna, and add it to a list for Glenn if we need. I'm sure he would want another picture of Maggie too, so I have no doubt that he'd be willing to look for those things." Carol nodded, "And don't you need more pictures of the community, for recruiting?"
"We do. I lost the pack that had all of the old pictures inside, but hadn't really thought about taking new ones. It might actually work to get a group photo together this time." He looked past her as Eric returned, holding the camera. "Maybe we'll let you take those pictures this time. The camera is a high-tech one, and a little tricky. Advanced tech was never really one of my stronger skills."
Carol accepted the camera and put the strap over her head, "Thanks, I'll make that offer to Deanna too. It will give me something else to keep busy with later." She smiled and waved at them all as she left, ignoring the look of reluctant anticipation Daryl gave her on the way out. Aaron seemed to have noticed it too and she heard his laugh as she crossed the yard.
