Psycho Love / Troy Otto

Home

Jeremiah smiles and lets out a soft chuckle. "I'm sure you can manage to show her around?"

"Yeah." Troy nods. "Come on, Rae."

I turn to Jeremiah. "Thank you. I'm so happy to be home again."

He pats my back. "We are happy to have you here." At that, he walks off.

Troy comes up beside me. "You ready?" I nod and we make our way inside.

"I can't believe it's still standing or that it hasn't been occupied by one of the other residents here." I say as I look around.

"Oh, that's because I sorta stay here from time to time." Troy says with chuckle. The memories soak through my skin as I walk about the first floor of my home. "Come on. I'll show you your room." He grabs my arm and leads me upstairs.

Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of the door my child self knew so well. In fact my name, which I painted on, was still on the door. "How is that still here? Daddy said he sold the farm, so surely someone else moved in."

"He sold it to my dad. This became a house which he would send me to if he didn't want to see me, also a place for Jake to live when he got married and shit. That day never came. I kept it exactly the way it was."

I opened the door and it was as if I was sent back in time. The walls were the same color, a light purple. My glow in the dark stars were still plastered all over the walls and ceiling. All the furniture was different though. There is a full sized bed sitting on the right side with a bedside table on each side. Each table had a lamp. Across from the bed sat a chest of drawers, and a tall mirror that sat in the corner. In front of the window was a desk with a chair pushed into it. Each side of the desk, a book shelf was placed. It was perfect.

"It's not much. Then, again you didn't like too much to begin with."

I walk over to the window and smirk. "Blocking the window so no boys can come in?"

He chuckles. "I'm sure your dad would have if you stayed here as we gotten older."

"Nonsense, my dad loved you." I say with a giggle, though thinking about him makes my smile fade.

Troy noticed and stands next to me. "What happened to them? Your dad was a survivalist like mine."

"We got separated when we were leaving this estate we were staying at, which was run by some whack job who thought the dead wasn't really dead. A fire broke out and we couldn't find one of our members, Daniel. Daddy went after him....I haven't seen him since."

"Your mom?"

I shake my head. "Momma was bitten in the very beginning. Daddy had to put her down. We buried her in LA." We went quiet for a moment. "I know he is out there. Alive. He taught me everything I know."

I felt Troy's hand slowly entwine with mine. He didn't say anything or move. This was our way of comforting each other without words. After a few moments, he speaks. "Come on. It should be dinner time."

At dinner, I got to meet most of the residents and the militia members. Some of them I knew from my childhood, but most were new faces. It was great to be around people again. It all felt normal for the first time since the outbreak began.

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The next day, we were sitting at breakfast. Troy's walkie goes off saying that Jake was back and someone was injured. I rushed off to the gates. When we all got there, we found a tired Jake and Alicia holding up Luciana.

Where is Charlene and Travis?

I walk over to Alicia and pull her into my arms. "Given me quite the scare Ali!" I pull away and look her over. "What the hell happened out there? Where is Travis and Charlene?"