rules: basic dni criteria + human decency is expected when following. expect [s]low activity. minimal formatting/icon usage. shipping is not a priority and if it does occur, all ships will be age-appropriate. i'm sean, 22, he/him.

THE SHOT WAS CLEAR AS DAY. negan, flat on his knees, hands held to his throat as his blood spilled out. his forehead was a clear shot— one bullet & he would have been dead. rick should have dealt the blowing shot to him, but instead dealt the blowing shot to them all: SAVE HIM. the two most unexpected words to come out of his dad, & yet, he had meant them. save the man who had killed many of theirs, save the man who had made their life hell for months. save their enemy. it was sick. he should have taken the shot as maggie bellowed.

❝ my dad shouldn't have made that call with negan. you & i both know it. ❞ hands rest flat on the top of her desk, his head hung low— a feeling of shame runs through him. he can hardly meet her gaze, so he doesn't. his eyes fixate on a scratch on her desk, anything to keep himself from having to face the reality of the words he's about to speak into existence. everything they had been through had been for nothing. (glenn, abraham, sasha, spencer, everyone during the war.) meaningless deaths & for nothing— to symbolize a world that no longer exists.

THE  DAY  HE  LEFT,  carl thought he signed his death sentence.  he walked out the gates of the hilltop  &  was ready to die.  whether with his flesh ripped apart until nothing was left but bones  &  decay,  or by the spare bullet continuing to rest inside his gun to this very day.  he hadn't expected to make it this long or far.  but then again—  god had a funny way of showing his love,  even when he didn't love them enough to save them.  throughout his mind plays his mother's final words:  you will beat this world.  she had been right;  throughout it all,  he had managed to survive everything this cruel world had thrown at him.  he still carries memories of the world before it collapsed,  though kids of this generation wouldn't have that same luxury.  they'd be born into a world where the dead walked among them  &  wouldn't recognize a difference.  but what happens when you don't want to beat the world anymore?

                             what happens when you wish to finally rest?

back pressed flat against the pool floaty he lays on,  arms resting behind his head as a prop—  this was paradise.  the closest thing he could ever get to such a thing, anyway.  with no ghosts  &  phantoms haunting him,  he lays in silence,  listening to the groans of the periodic passing walker  &  breeze of the summer georgia wind.  BANG,  SNAP,  ACTION!  his eyes that had once been shut open from the impact—  something hitting his face with enough force to knock his black sunglasses off his face,  causing him to fall into the viridescent pool.  mixed with the leaves  &  garbage,  it leaves him with only three words.

HE HAD FOUND A SENSE OF HOPE LIVING AT THE KINGDOM. after the death of his father & lack of sense regarding his person— he sought out the feeling of hope. & after 6 years, he had found it. he had found a new family in an unexpected place & an emotion of bliss he hadn't experienced in years. HE'D ALSO FOUND A HOME. after a conversation & request from jerry, he'd walked throughout the community & found exactly who he was looking for. ❝ jerry told me to come get you— your dad wants to talk to you. probably has something to do with the pipes. i'll walk you back. ❞ carl speaks up to henry, arms crossing over his chest until the teenager walked with him. through the silence of them walking side-by-side, he chooses it's the best time to inquire about a previous conversation they'd had earlier in the week.