So… hi.

The last time I updated this story was in April 2018. It's now February 2025. It's been seven long, long years. I didn't mean for this hiatus to last so long. I never did plan on them ever lasting long when I was actively writing this story.

I started writing The World We Live In when I was 14. I'm 25 years old now. I have a steady job, a girlfriend, even an apartment. Went through college and graduated with my degrees. My life is vastly different than what it used to be.

I'm not that kid anymore. I'm not itty bitty Sabrina who had a crush on the kid on tv, who wanted to join a world where her favorite characters would take her in and let her be a valuable member of the team.

Which—by the way—no adult would ever let a child have as much free reign as she did. Especially in an undead apocalypse. Alyssa got to have such an interesting upbringing, haha.

I wanted to pop in after all these years to say a few things.

First being: I'm so sorry I never did finish The World We Live In's last addition, Not How We Were. Leaving this story on such a cliffhanger was incredibly rude of me. I had a storyline planned out, all of the details in my head that I wanted meshed into the overarching canon for seasons 6 and 7. I lost my motivation for Not How We Were once Negan and the Saviors were introduced in the show and killed Glenn.

Honestly, after that night, I stopped watching the show. Dipped my toe in to the fandom every now and then (like Rick and Michonne are married now?! How sweet!) but ultimately, I never finished it (I think Eugene and Rosita had a kid? How odd.)

Second thing I wanted to share: since I most likely won't finish writing this story out, I still want to share what it was going to be. Here are the overarching storylines that I remember and had written out:

~ Alyssa was going to team up with Sam to find Carl and Judith still on their walk

~ The three kids and Judith were going to make it safe back home, and Enid would join them

~ The fight with the Wolves would happen, Alyssa would have a panic attack

~ When the walls went down in Alexandria and there was the giant herd, Alyssa and Sam were both going to be in the lineup when Carl loses his eye

~ She and Rick were going to have a disagreement earlier in that day as well, about his feelings for Jessie. Alyssa would want to ring him out for being so willfully obtuse

~ Alyssa's knife was going to break that night, too

~ Not all of them could make it to the infirmary. Sam was going to sacrifice himself to cause a distraction. He would go out fighting and yelling to bring the walkers to him

~ Alyssa was going to find his reanimated body the next day. She was going to give a tearful, heartfelt goodbye before using his own knife to stop him. She was going to take his butterfly knife to keep his memory alive

~ I forget when Carl and Alyssa were going to officially have sex, but it was going to happen. I know I alluded to them having intimate moments but they hadn't used the box of condoms yet lol

~ When the Lucille line-up happened, Alyssa was going to be there
~ Glenn didn't die during, "Eeny meenie miney moe." He was severely, severely hurt, but he lived after Maggie and Alyssa begged for his life

~ Glenn was going to be slightly disfigured afterwards. He would be brought to Hilltop and the doctor worked his best to fix the damage, but if I remember correctly, he was going to have lots of scars and taut skin, his eye would no longer work, and a chunk of his ear was going

~ Daryl and Glenn (once Daryl was free from Negan) were going to have a very tense relationship during the fight between towns vs Saviors

~ They would eventually be okay with each other but it was going to take a while

~ Carl would kill Negan. It was always going to be him to finish Negan

~ The last chapter was going to be a year post-win. It would showcase all the towns together (Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom, even the Junkyard.) They had a system with each other and they would all trade and benefit from it

~ Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, and Enid moved to the Hilltop. They get to live happily ever after, as much as they can

~ Enid would get to meet a girl from the Kingdom at the one-year visit. Alyssa was going to tease her and force an introduction
I hope that one day I'll be able to find the motivation to keep writing Not How We Were. But feasibly, in my life right now, I don't think it'll be happening any time soon.

This story has been my baby. My first ever fanfiction. It holds such a special place in my heart. I'm so grateful that it holds space with you all, too.

Thank you.

~~ Sabrina