THICK SKULL , twd [ 1 ]

19. anticipating the worst

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           BITTERSWEET. THAT IS THE only way Sadie can describe seeing her childhood home. It's run down, raided and basically empty. Anything useful has been taken from the home. All the hidden weapons Uncle Shane wasn't able to take were robbed.

It's hard to think barely a year ago she was having a normal day until the cities shut down, military rolled down her street and Uncle Shane was forcing her to grab as little as possible and run out of the home—hoping to find Sadie but that hope would quickly die out. Much faster for their uncle though.

     Food is rotten. The house smells like shit. Koa even found a walker stuck in their algae filled pool. Its skin had melted off in some areas, drooping into the lime green water, turning it a disgusting brown.

    Koa had to leave. Her chest was caving in, breathing shallowing. A framed photo and pieces of jewelry sit in the palm of her hand. Unlike her, their uncle and mother had some pieces to bid themselves farewell. Even if distaste lives on her tongue for the both of them, Koa nearly cried at the sight of her uncle's watch and the photo of their mother. She was smiling. The woman that birthed her was so happy. 

  Koa still remembers the way she'd force a smile. Whenever someone they knew asked her how she was, her mother would smile like a puppet was pulling her cheeks up, thread stitched into her skin. The puppeteer being Koa's father, of course. No, this smile isn't forced. It's genuine. And from the looks of her skin and face, it's before the drugs got to her.

   The youngest daughter has her feet planted into the crumbling front steps of what was once her home. Sadie is still gathering things. Koa spins her uncle's gold class ring around her finger. It's so loose around her much smaller finger. He used to wear it around his thumb. Around her ring finger it slips easily. She slides it on each finger and then it reaches her own thumb. She admires the red and black gemstones that line the ring. So shiny still.

   It's ever so slightly tighter but it doesn't fit on her like it would Shane. "Dickhead," She whispers, scoffing as her eyes subconsciously look up at the sky, "There's no way you're in heaven. If there is a heaven," Her eyes shift to the ground, "This makes more sense."

     "Okay, all done," Sadie says as she stands in the doorway of the front door. Whoever raided the home decided it would be best to just bust in the screen door and then take an ax to their wooden door so it was pretty much an open invitation. Koa turns to face her, dusting off the photo of their mom, "I found this."

      Sadie furrows her brows before realizing what she's looking at through the dust. Her stomach drops. That face that was once blurry is as vivid as ever. All those features float together like the puzzle she tried to figure out in the basement when Merle held her captive. Sadie clears her throat, tears brimming her eyes for a second before she blinks them away.