What a Wonderful World

The next morning, I woke feeling some weight relieved off of my shoulders. I felt refreshed and free. And I knew it was because I finally was able to talk to someone about my past. Someone who understood and didn’t pity me. But then the terrible events came floating back to me, I suddenly felt selfish and depressed.
I quickly dressed myself and looked out the window down at the yard of the prison. It was quiet. Not many walkers were around. With one last look, I was making my way to the cell block, my gun resting between my back and waistband of my jeans. When I arrived, no one said a word. Barely paid any attention to me. I grabbed the food that Beth handed to me and made my way to sit on the step above the one that Daryl was sitting on. The others were sitting around at the small table, minding their own business.
Daryl greeted me with a small nod, knowing fully that he wasn’t one for public displays of affections. Which, I was more than okay with. The air around us was stiff and hung low with depression. Just as I was settling in to the awkwardness, the soft clang of the door echoed around us. Rick emerged, looking a lot better than what Glenn had described to me.
“Everyone okay?” He asked, his eyes going straight to Daryl for clarification.
But as soon as he got all the information he needed, he was gone. Hershel called after him but he ignored him and stomped away back to where he came from. I looked at Daryl, his eyes following our leader like he wanted to go after him. I didn’t blame him. We were all worried about Rick. As everyone went back to finishing their food, I slowly reached over and rested my hand on Daryl’s thigh. I gave it a small squeeze before letting my hand drop.
After I was done, I decided to go back up to the tower just to keep watch over everything before I went with Maggie and Glenn on a run. We were in need of more supplies. Especially with a baby with us. As I made it inside, I noticed someone following me. Of course, it was Daryl.
“He didn’t look right,” He said, leaning up against the desk.
I nodded in agreement, “Yeah, although he looks better than what I thought he would.”
I rummaged through the drawers of the desk, just to see what I could find. There were old papers in most of them. Safety procedures and other protocols. I also found a lot of office supplies. The pair of scissors glistened in the sun light as I got an idea.
“Sit down,” I ordered Daryl as I pulled the chair in front of him.
He gave me a look of confusion but followed my order. He sat, keeping his head facing forward even as I circled around him. I got the feel for the way he looked then grabbed the scissors and picked up a piece of his hair.
“Whoa! What’re ya doin’?” He proclaimed after he heard the first snip of the scissors.
“Calm down. I’m giving you a little trim is all,” I laughed, and stilled his head, “Don’t worry, I won’t make you look any less handsome.”
He didn’t move again as I made precise cuts. Although we were still in the middle of the apocalypse, we were human. We needed to feel like humans and if that meant cutting our hair a little bit, then that’s what we needed to do. Daryl’s hair was very thin compared to my own. But then again, I’d al-\ways had wild, thick, mane-like hair. It gets tangled too easily and just forget about putting it in a bun.
“You mess it up yet?” He joked as I lowered myself in front of him to tackle the front.
I just squinted my eyes at him in a joking manner and went back to work. But I could feel his eyes on me. I tried my best to just ignore it and finish up cutting his hair. But I couldn’t. I made eye contact with him for a split second and it was over.
He shoved his lips on to mine causing the scissors to drop from my hand. They hit the floor with a clatter but I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around his neck, letting my hands get tangled in his newly cut hair. He pulled me onto his lap so that I was straddling him. I was pressed up against him tightly, our lips moving fast and in sync.
One of his hands were pressing into my hip which was driving me insane. His other was on my back, holding me close to him. I tugged on his hair a little, trying to deepen our kiss. His response to that was to leave a trail of kisses from my mouth to my neck. I gripped on his hair tighter as he pulled down my shirt to expose more of my collar bone and started to nibble on it. I let my head lean to the side for him to have more room to kiss and bite at my skin.
Every time he bit me, he would leave kisses afterwards. Nothing about what he was doing screamed sadistic and it sent butterflies throughout my stomach. Daryl was gentle with me which seemed completely out of character. And I absolutely loved it. I’m sure later on I would want him to maybe speed the pace up but for right now, slow and gentle was A-Okay with me.
The kisses started to make their way up to my mouth again. They were slower than before and not as long. Knowing that this intimate moment was coming to an end, my grip on his hair loosened and rested on his shoulder. Our breath came out rigid and uneven. Which made me giggle softly. After a moment of trying to calm down, I stood up from my position on top of him and picked up the scissors. I made a few more snips to his hair before I satisfied with the product.
“Done,” I whispered to him, ruffling his hair free of stray hair.
He threw me a smirk as he rose to his feet. We walked out of the tower in silence, but it was a comfortable one that was light. As we reached the door, we went our separate ways. I had a run to go on. And he had another section of the prison to clear out. With one last glance and a smile, I was headed off to find Maggie and Glenn for our run.
On the road to our destination, I couldn’t help but notice the smirks and looks I was getting. I tried to ignore the couple in the front seat, thinking that maybe that I was just overthinking it. But as the looks continued, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Y’all got something to say?” I asked, obviously joking with them.
“The real question is,” Glenn started off, “Do YOU have something to say?”
My eyebrows knitted together in confusion, not fully understanding what they were getting at. I didn’t have anything to tell them. I mean, nothing exciting was going on with me. In fact nothing went on that the group didn’t know about except Daryl but they couldn’t possibly mean that. Could they?
“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.
Maggie turned in her seat to stare at me proclaiming that I knew what they meant. When I still said nothing, she threw her arms in the air and huffed out a breath. When they bluntly demanded what was going on with Daryl and me, I blushed. I had no intention of telling neither Maggie nor Glenn about what happened the previous night as it would probably just end in more questions than answers for them. I didn’t want everyone else to know about my past. Plus that would expose Daryl’s past as well. Which I was sure he didn’t want them to know.
“Nothing that concerns anyone but me and Daryl,” I muttered throwing Maggie and small, shy smile.
She examined my face then suddenly her face lit up while screaming, “You totally kissed!”
I let her and Glenn freak out and assume what all went down between myself and my favorite redneck. I simply kept quiet. Neither confirming nor denying anything. I loved the two of them like they were family. But they needed to mind their own business when they weren’t welcome.
We eventually arrived at a small string of stores. Abandoned cars sat perfectly still around us. It was quiet with no signs of walkers anywhere. I guessed that that area hadn’t seen any survivors in a good while, seeing as the dead navigated towards sound and potential food. I didn’t get my hopes up too high though, knowing full well that most of the supplies that once filled the shelves inside the store were long gone.
My feet hit the hot, paved road as soon as the car stopped. It was a beautiful day out. The sun beamed down on us, causing me to shed Mason’s flannel and tie it around my thinning waist. I was on the fence about the drastic changing of the weather. I guess the heat was better than shivering in the freezing cold.
Glenn cut the chain on the door to a small store. Hope began to rise in my chest. The tingling sensation of good fortune swirled about my body. The store was dark and smelled something foul. But it didn’t soil my lifted mood. It certainly didn’t rain on the couple’s parade. They seemed happier than I had ever seen them. Of course they had always been the ones to have some shred of hope while the rest of us were just sat being gloomy. But I guessed that’s what love did to you.
I stood outside the store as Maggie and Glenn gathered as much supplies as they could. I had offered to stand guard outside the small shop, just in case if any walkers decided to make their presence known. My eyes examined the knife in my hand. I had gotten used to the weight of it during my travels and adventures. The thought brought a smile to my face. Who would have thought zombies would be the way the world ended? I had always thought it would be a nuclear fallout or something to do with global warming. Boy was I wrong on that one.
“Well if it ain’t little Coraline Jones,” an extremely familiar and sinister voice snaked around me, “The Governor’s been looking for you.”
Before I could turn around to confirm my assumption, something cool and heavy made contact to the back of my head. All consciousness left my body, sending me to the ground.
Never in my life before the apocalypse had I experienced something as terrible as abuse. My parents were good people. The boyfriends that I had never treated me badly. I had a good, privileged life. I never had to face adversity or struggles at all. Money wasn’t an issue. I made fantastic grades to the point I had gotten a full ride scholarship. So when the world ended and I had come in contact with so much evil, I thought maybe I deserved it. Maybe it was the world balancing itself out. But now I know that I was wrong. No one deserved to go through what I had experienced.
The first thing I realized when I woke up was how badly my head hurt. The back of my head throbbed from where I had been hit. But then I realized that I couldn’t touch it. My hands were constricted. My hands were bound behind the back of the chair I was slumped in. The frame dug into my arms painfully. Panic started to set in. Merle was definitely the one that brought me here. I knew I was in trouble.
Mustering up all the courage that I had, I lifted my head to get an insight on where I was. The room I was in looked vaguely familiar. I didn’t recognize any of the furniture or the books that decorated the shelves. The couch was well worn, along with the coffee table that held rings infused into the wood where someone was careless enough to forget to use coasters.
The sound of a key inside a lock grabbed my attention. Because of the way the chair was positioned, I wasn’t able to see who was stepping through the door. All I could do was sit hopelessly in that damn chair. The footsteps got closer to me, echoing throughout my ears as if to mock me in some way. A chill ran up my back when two strong hands pressed down on top of my shoulders, holding me against the back of the chair. I feared the worst.
“My sweet Coraline has found her way back to me.” His voice was enough to try and fight my way free. I knew I was in serious danger now. There was no way to deny it. I was back in the traps of Philip. I was back in Woodbury.
Philip came around to kneel in front of me. He looked the same. Still held a desire for power in his eyes which stared up at me wildly. After studying my face and body for a moment, he had a handful of my hair in his fist and pulled me to a standing position. The chair fell with a clatter that shook my heart in my chest. The whimper that involuntarily left my mouth made Philip smile and laugh.
“I’ve missed you so much,” He breathed in my hair as he sniffed it.
“Get away from me!” I screamed, moving every muscle in my body to get away from him.
I tried kicking at him, which made me angry. The rage in his eyes struck my core, fearing what he could do to me. Next thing I know, Philip is pushing me face down into the bed that I hadn’t even noticed before. I cried out as my jeans were ripped off of me, but my voice was muffled within the pillow. I knew no one would come to help me even if my voice reached the ears of another human being.
Screaming and crying, I had no other choice but to lay there as he had his way with me. The only thing I could do was try to think of something else than the events unrolling before me. Daryl came to mind and I cried harder. I needed him here with me. I so desperately needed him. I cried until my throat was raspy and aching. This seemed to power Philip even more. The fighting and screaming encouraged him to continue with much force. Once again, pain engulfed my body and heart.
After he was done and satisfied, he took a moment to hover over my body to regain his breath. My crying had stopped and I numbly laid there with my face mashed into pillow. I felt dirty and disgusting having his sweat bead onto my body. The smell of the unthinkable filled the air and I suddenly wanted to puke. But I was distracted by Philip lifting my shirt to expose my back.
I was kicked into drive and I struggled against his hold on me once more. I feared the pain that would take place against my skin. I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with that anymore. But when I felt the first cut against my back, the familiarity of the knife against my skin brought me to tears again. I howled as he made more marks than what he had ever done before. And I eventually passed out from the pain.
The next time I opened my eyes, I was alone and in so much pain. My throat ached for water. My back ached for relief. My hands were handcuffed above my head where I hung from an exposed pipe in the ceiling. I was hung high enough that my feet barely touched the ground. Even if they had made con-tact with the floor, I knew that I wouldn’t have the energy to hold myself up. I felt so weak and fragile. And there was a small pool of blood collected beneath my feet. I didn’t know how long I’d been hanging up like that. Minutes, hours, days.
I knew I had to somehow get out of there before he came back. I pulled on the handcuffs, hoping to do some good. I kind of expected it do not work, so when it didn’t, I wasn’t that disappointed. But, I did notice the rope was beginning ware where the handcuffs were digging into it. A small volume of hope bloomed in the pit of my stomach. I moved my arms back and forth to try and saw the rope apart. The pain flared up my limbs, begging me to stop. But I ignored the pain and pushed past it, knowing this was the only way to free myself.
I fell to the floor with a loud thud when the rope finally gave way. I only paused for a moment before I was stumbling onto my feet and searched for a key to my handcuffs. But I was interrupted by the door opening in a haste. I spun around, ready to run out the door and not give whoever entered the time of day. But the dark skin of a familiar face made me cry out.
“Michonne!” My voice came out raspy and very weak.
Her eyes widened in response to my cry. Time seemed to get into overdrive for me. Maybe it was because I was malnourished and on the verge of passing out again. But without much effort, Michonne had gotten the handcuffs off of me with her long katana sword and helped me on my feet better. She was guiding me towards the door when we heard the soft moan of a child.
Michonne and I both stumbled towards the sound to find a little girl tied and chained up with a bag over her head. The pain that Philip had inflicted on me was a terrible thing to do. But the fact that he was keeping a child, that was probably his own, tied up was an act so unforgivable that I could have sworn that I growled in response. But as Michonne caught the girl in her arms and tore off the bag, she exposed the decaying skin and rotting teeth of a walker.
I crawled back and away from them, my back hitting the cool glass of a fish tank. I looked up to see dozens of walker heads floating in large tanks above me. I had never been inside his apartment and I suddenly knew why. He was much more delusional than I thought.
“We need to leave,” I coughed out.
Michonne raised her sword to kill the small walker in her hands. But a loud cry to stop signaled us to pause in our place. Standing beside me in the doorway and Philip, gun raised and a look of compassion and fear draped across his face. I had never seen him so concerned for a person like that small child that I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. When he dropped his gun and belt, Michonne took her chance to stab through the walker with ease.
Then a frenzy broke out. I didn’t have much strength but I did all I could to help get Philip off of Michonne. But he was much stronger than both of us. The tanks around us were thrown to the floor. Water, glass, and biting heads blanketed the floor. As Philip kicked me to the ground, I knew that I couldn’t get back up. But he had Michonne on the floor, chocking her. I watched helplessly as she reached for a stray piece of glass and thrusted it in his eye.
“What have you done?” Andrea’s voice filled my ears as she stopped Michonne from killing Philip.
I looked up and scrambled to my feet. Andrea let us pass as Michonne had a tight grip around my upper arm and helped me out of the apartment. We didn’t stop moving for one moment unless we were in the shadows or unseen. The whole town seemed into be in a riot so it was pretty easy to slip un-seen. I still didn’t know how she found me or knew I was even there. But I surely wasn’t going to ask questions.
Michonne lowered herself near a small opening that I’m sure no one else knew about. As she struggled to get herself to the other side, voices filled my ears. At first I thought maybe I was just hearing things. But when Michonne was pulled up by someone, my view become clear and I saw who was on the other side.
“Rick!” It came out weak and pathetic. But it was enough to gather the group’s attention.
“Oh my god, Coraline,” Rick whispered and pulled me up to my feet.
I wrapped my arms around him and let out a small sigh. I had never hugged Rick before, but I didn’t care at that point. He was my family. They were all my family. Then I pushed myself into Maggie’s embrace as Rick began to interrogate Michonne. When Maggie proclaimed that Daryl was missing, my stomach dropped.
“What?” my voice squeaked, my face paler even more than it already was.
“Stay here with Glenn,” Rick said, putting a hand on my shoulder, “We’re gonna bring him back.”
I was about to protest, but I knew that I could barely stand and I was still in so much pain. But I would have still gone because it was Daryl. And I needed to see his face at least one more time. I needed to feel his hair in my hands and his kiss on my skin. I needed Daryl Dixon and I needed him right then.
Glenn wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we watched Rick and Maggie go off back to Woodbury. I could tell that Glenn was unhappy with him staying behind while Maggie went off. He was fuming. But just like myself, he knew that he was in no condition what so ever.
“This is where you were before we found you,” Glenn’s voice broke the silence that blanketed the air.
I looked over at him and slowly nodded towards Michonne who was keeping her distance from us, “I know Michonne. And The Governor. Although I knew him as Philip.”
“Daryl told us what happened to you,” He said, looking at me as we both decided to sit, “Cor, I’m so sorry.”
I just buried my head in my hands and rubbed the sweat from my forehead. The anxiety of everything that had happened filled my chest and the pit of my stomach. I was so tired and hungry. I was scared because no one knew where Daryl was. Glenn looked as though he had taken a beating. And only God knows what happened to Maggie. “I just thought it was over, ya know? I thought I’d never see this place or him.”
“You knew Merle then too?” He asked cautiously.
My brows knitted together as I looked up at him, “Yeah, I did. He and my brother helped Philip a lot when he was alive.”
Glenn struggled to find the right words. He sighed a few times before gathering himself and whispered, “That’s Daryl’s brother.”
The similarities between the two suddenly became apparent. And I felt so stupid for not realizing the thick, southern accents were the same. I didn’t exactly know what that meant for the group. Or if it would actually affect us in any way. But I had a bad feeling in my stomach. The cries in the distance made me shiver and pull my arms tighter around my body.
“We need to get back to the car,” Glenn said, helping me stand.
We vigilantly walked back to the car. The sun was starting to rise. When the car came into view, I let a small sigh of relief escape my mouth. I opened the trunk of the car and sat down, pulling my legs up. A few hours passed and still no sign of the rest of our group. Doubt began to cloud my mind.
But then Glenn and Michonne started running towards the sound of our leader’s voice. After resting for a while, I couldn’t find the strength to move away from something that could hold my weight. I tried my best to angle myself so I could see what was happening and who was (or wasn’t) with them. The group before me started yelling and screaming at each other and it was all because Merle was there. And Daryl was right in the middle of it.
I wanted so badly to have him pull me into his arms and tell me in was all in the past and everything was going to be okay. But I knew that wouldn’t happen. Especially in front of his brother. But I pushed myself to stand and made a few small steps so that I was just in reach of the car.
“Is that little Coraline?” Merle asked, causing everyone’s eyes to lock on to me.
I stared at Daryl, tears already ready to spill over. But he didn’t come to me. He didn’t even say anything to me. My heart ripped in two. Why had I thought that maybe he would even talk to me and make sure I was okay? If he had made the connection that Philip was the one to abuse me, then why wasn’t he even concerned? With depression settling over me, I turned away from them and nestled back into the trunk of the car.
I listened to them speak of Andrea, surprised to learn that Michonne knew her. Ironically, they didn’t know that I knew her too. But I wasn’t planning on joining the conversation any time soon. I honestly needed to get my back looked at. But the only person I was comfortable with that task was Daryl. Maybe Maggie if I was feeling up for it.
The group walked up the road without Merle and had a heated discussion. Michonne sat beside me, in the trunk, knowing that the conversation wasn’t for her to partake in. My eyes stayed glued on Daryl. I couldn’t help but glare a little bit. It didn’t matter though. All of his attention was on his brother and saving his ass. The same person that kidnapped us and took me to Philip. I felt sick.
“You’re just gonna leave like that?” Glenn’s voice made my ears perk up, “What do you want us to tell Carol? To tell Coraline? God, we don’t even know what happened to her back there.”
It suddenly became quiet as everyone looked back at me. Then Daryl finally stepped away from them and booked it in my direction. Michonne somehow knew to give us some space because she was limping over to the side of the car. Daryl put his hands on either side of my face and examined me.
“You’re leaving?” I whispered, clearly upset with this accusation.
“Come with me,” He said in a hushed tone.
I stared at him without giving him an answer. I couldn’t just leave everyone at the prison. They were my family. They were there waiting for us to come home. All of us. I didn’t want to go with him. But I wanted him to come with us. As a few moments passed and I still hadn’t answered him, he knew what my answer was. His hands slipped from my face and grabbed some stuff from the car beside me.
He was moving into the wood towards his brother that looked to be just waking up. Disbelief was worn on my face as I stared after him. I then stood up and made a few steps in his direction.
“What about us being family?” I shouted with all the energy I could muster. Daryl stopped for a second, looking somewhat over his shoulder as he thought. When he didn’t turn around and run back to me, all hope was lost. He couldn’t just leave us. Leave me. Tears spilled over on to my cheeks as I watched him continue his steps away from us. “Daryl! You stupid son of a bitch, don’t you dare leave me!”
As I screamed out to him, I toppled over onto my knees in a mess. With no energy to fight, I let whoever had the courage to pull me from my spot in the middle of the road. I expected it to be Maggie or even Glenn. But it wasn’t. It was Michonne. She pulled my face to look at her and told me that it was time to go. With one last look over at him, I let her drag me to the car and get me inside. The car sped away from Daryl as I realized that we had left my heart behind with him.