➳ "WHERE is she?"

"Tess, wait," Michonne growled out, just as I came running down the stairs to the cellar. She grabbed my shirt's sleeve and yanked me back to her. "Don't do this."

I snatched my sleeve back and huffed through gritted teeth, "Do what? I want answers!"

"So do we," she claimed, just as Daryl walked up behind me. "Now, what we need to do is—"

"That's not your brother out there, y'know," I snapped, cutting her off before she could try to convince me otherwise. By the look on her face, she didn't like how I just said that. "You have no idea what I am going through right now — what my kids are going through. I want blood for what they did to him. Dammit, it isn't fair!"

"I know it's not, but..."

"Hey," Daryl grunted out, picking up right where Michonne left off. I turned towards him, and we faced off. "You ain't getting any blood from that girl. Not right now, at least. The guy that killed your brother is dead. Remember? You killed him... with your own hands. I don't think you need to be down here and trying to get answers by yourself."

As much as I wanted to slap the taste out of his mouth, I didn't want to be thrown in one of these cells, either. So, I gritted my teeth and accepted what I was being fed right now.

"Fine," I sighed out, nodding before my eyes met his again. "But, let me take watch."

"No."

"Down here," I barked out as he quickly answered me and tried to leave up the stairs. "Let me keep my eyes on her."

As much as I knew they didn't want to leave me alone with the girl, they exchanged glances with one another before nodding to me. "We'll be right back," Michonne claimed, heading up the stairs before Daryl.

"She better be alive when we get back," Daryl warned before leaving with Michonne. They closed the cellar door behind them, and as soon as they did, I spun around and was starting to make a beeline to the girl.

However, before I could, a hand came out of one of the cells — which frightened me in the heat of the moment. "Oh. Sorry, Tess," the voice whispered until I looked up and saw Henry standing there, of all people. "Hey, what happened to Jesus?"

I shook my head and gulped down a huge lump. "Um, I... He was killed, Henry."

He nodded and quizzed, "How's Mollie doing?"

I sighed and replied, "Not so good. None of us are, though." A slight pause before I had to ask, "What the hell are you doing in here?"

He gulped and shrugged. "Um, it's stupid." I leaned in and stared him down until I heard the answer. "I... I got drunk with some of the other kids here."

I nearly broke my neck when I shook my head, in total disbelief. "Who? You mean... Gage, Rodney, and Addy?" He nodded and glanced down, avoiding eye contact with me. "Look, kid, I know that's not you, but that is them, though. You need to choose your friends more carefully, alright?"

Again, he nodded, but he felt my heavy eyes on him, so he looked up to try that nod again. "Yes, ma'am."

Henry had a lot of respect for his elders — and everyone, in general. I really liked the kid and knew that, no matter what, his heart would be in the right place.

I started to walk away and right to her cell when I heard Henry say, "Hey, um... I'm sorry about Jesus. I-I know how much you loved him. But, y'know, nobody's truly dead when you think about them all the time. He's still alive inside of you."

Somehow, what he just said made me smile rather than cry. I turned my head back around, looking at him over my right shoulder, when I grinned and nodded. "Thank you, Henry. Really."

Then, with that said, I finally made it to the girl's cell and slammed the bars behind me. She was still in the chair, wrists tied behind her back, and nearly fell out of the chair when I came in. She had the same horrify look on her face like she did before on the bridge.

"You killed my brother!"

"No, I didn't! I-I swear!"

"Yeah? Well, your fucking people did," I snapped back, not caring how high my voice climbed up to. "Now, you're gonna pay for that. You hear me?"

"P-Please..."

I slammed my hands down on her legs — which made a thud sound — and screamed right in her face, "Do you hear me, little girl?!"

"Yes!"

I stood up and huffed, dusting myself off. "Good. In that case, this must mean you're gonna tell us every little detail we need to know. Correct?"

She shook her head and muttered out, "I-I can't." I lifted my hand up, and she threw her head off to the side. She acted as if someone had done this to her before. "P-Please... Please don't hit me!"

I let out a huge deep breath and stumbled backward, not exactly expecting it. "Tess?" I heard Henry call to me from the other side. "What are you doing?"

I shook my head and called back to him, "Nothing that concerns you right now."

Then, I turned back to the girl, who had slowly started to turn her head back towards me in fear. I took this opportunity to actually talk to the girl — whom, like I thought before, was probably around Mollie and Henry's age. Just like how they are children to me, she was, too.

I bent down in front of her and slowly edged closer. "Hey, hey, hey," I whispered to her, putting my hands up in surrender for the moment. "I'm not going to hit you, okay? Has anyone else ever hit you before?"

She had her mouth closed firmly shut, and I saw the movie of her life played through her fearful eyes. She was probably abused before she came here, and honestly, I didn't want to hit a child. Did I want to kill her? In some ways, I did, but... She was just a kid. I felt sort of bad for her. This could've been Mollie if Michonne and I hadn't found her when we did, abused and alone.

"You can tell me," I tried convincing her, using my soft and motherly voice to her. "Look, kid, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Bullshit," she spat back but acted like she didn't want to even say that much.

Our eyes met when I tried to explain, "I won't hurt you as long as you tell me what I need to know." I shook my head and continued, "My twin brother was killed last night. Besides my daughters, I'm it for our family. My brother didn't deserve to die. I should've died, but he wanted to be the bloody hero. Again. I'm sure you know what it's like to lose someone, and knowing I have fresh wounds, you could try to level with me right now."

It was quiet for a moment, as we were probably studying each other like a book. I could see the signs of abuse on the girl by just how she acted. In some ways, it was like looking into a mirror with her because I knew — first-hand — how abuse worked.

When our parents died, Paul and I were forced into foster care when nobody else would take care of us. Some foster parents were kinder than others, while the mean ones would hit us when something wasn't done right. I knew the signs, and the girl had every last one of them.

I didn't expect her to drop everything and tell me everything that she knew, so I just sighed and gave in. Picking up all the broken pieces which surrounded me, I stood up to my feet and threw my hands down to my side in defeat. "I tried."

I started to walk away, even shutting the cell's bars behind me, when I had to accept my loss and walk away in defeat.

"What do you want to know?"

To my surprise, the girl called me back to her, and I nearly broke my neck to look at her again. I furrowed my eyebrows together and quickly paced my way back to her, snatching those bars open and reentering the cage.

"Okay," I breathed out, trying my very best to remain calm and nice to her for the moment. "Let's just start off real simple. What's your name? Everybody has one. I do. My name is Tess Rovia. My brother's name was Paul, but everyone called him Jesus. What's your name?"

For a split moment, I believed she was going to speak as her mouth opened to do so, but at the very last second, she clammed it back shut again. Fuck, I am losing my patience here. I understood the abuse, but the secrecy? Dammit.

"I have two kids. They're girls," I kept talking to her in that same soft and motherly tone that I had secretly put back in my inventory. "You might of already seen one. She was on the bridge with us. She's blonde and her name is Mollie. I have another one, she's about to be seven soon. Her name is Tara Rose. My girls aren't doing so well ever since they found out their uncle died. Mollie was there when it happened. She's traumatized and, well, Tara Rose... She's so young and fearful. She can't accept it. Not right now, at least."

I felt like I was yammering on and on, and she wasn't listening. But, I knew she was. Tears fell down her dirty cheeks, and I didn't know for why at the moment. Was it because of her or because of my story?

"I'm...," she croaked out, shaking her head and looking back up at me. She was still crying. "I'm sorry you lost your brother and your kids lost their uncle. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

I didn't know what to actually say, so I just stood back with fresh tears in my own eyes, too. Then, before I knew it, the girl started to cry even more and more with her head lumped over and her shoulders shaking with each sob.

Since I was a mother, I wanted to comfort her and tell her everything would be okay, but she wasn't my kid and nothing would ever be okay again. She cried out loud and the emotions wouldn't stop for her.

"I didn't... I didn't," she cried out, as I listened to every little thing she said. "I'm sorry."

It was like she wanted to tell me everything she knew, but she couldn't. She was sworn to secrecy by someone, and it was up to me to figure out who it was.

—

➳ MICHONNE, Tara, and Daryl are now interrogating the girl... by force. Michonne and Tara screamed in her face while Daryl stood back behind the bars, and I stood behind him.

No matter how loud they were or how many questions they asked, the girl wasn't going to give up anything — not even her name. By the little she did manage to tell us, it sounded like she came from some kind of cult.

I took a deep breath and stood up, slapping my knees and starting to make my way out. "Hey," I heard Tara call to me from inside the cell. "Where are you going?"

I shrugged and claimed, "Anywhere but here. You don't have to be so mean to her anymore."

"What?" Tara breathed out, her facing dropping. "Are you serious right now? Tess, her people killed Jesus just last night. Have you suddenly forgotten 'bout all that?"

"Of course not," I barked back, not holding myself back now. "It'll haunt me till the day I die, but we don't have to scream in her face anymore. It didn't work with me, and it won't work with y'all, either. She's scared. Don't y'all see that?"

Michonne tilted her head and answered, "Yeah, but only because she's hiding something, and she doesn't want us to figure out what it is."

I shrugged my shoulders and stuttered, "We all are, but she's just... just..."

Tara's eyebrows came together in confusion when he slightly stepped forward and questioned, "Is this the mom in you, or are you being real right now? Because, only a short hour ago, you wanted to kill her."

If I was being honest right now, it might have just been the mom in me so quick to defend her. I took a heavy breath while forcibly raking my fingers through my hair before doing a complete circle around for me to bounce back. "She's just a scared little girl, that's all I'm saying."

They were all silent, blinking and staring me down in confusion and question. I simply took another breather before announcing, "Now... If you would excuse me, I need to help prepare for my brother's funeral. He deserves that much. I need to say goodbye to him once and for all."

With that said, I spun around and flew the coop, leaving them all in disbelief.

—

➳ FOR Paul's funeral, I sat back and watched everyone come up one by one to place a nail in his coffin. For the most part, it was a quiet event while I sat in a chair next to Mollie while Tara Rose sat in my lap and cried for her Uncle Paul.

Then, when it came time for us three to place a nail in his coffin, we quietly stood up and walked up there. Mollie went first before I had to help Tara Rose with hers before doing mine last for him.

We went to sit back down until Tara walked up, placed her hand on my shoulder, and whispered, "Would you like to say something about Jesus?"

Honestly, I hadn't thought about it since, in my heart and mind, he was supposed to live forever. I never planned on ever saying an eulogy at my brother's funeral. He was supposed to outlive me, anyway.

I simply nodded as Tara grabbed Tara Rose off of the ground and took my place in the chair next to Mollie. I stood before his coffin and cleared my throat as everyone started to turn their attention towards me. For once, I didn't know what to say, so I suppose that I would make it up as I go along.

"Paul could be...," I breathed out before gulping, shaking my head and trying to put myself together for this. "Well, he could be a lot of things. He was smart, trustworthy, reliable, handsome, and amazing overall. He beat to his own drum, even when he had his annoying twin sister by his side. Paul was always like that, though. Ever since I can first remember us growing up together. He was his own man, and I am my own woman, and this is why we didn't make sense to a lot of people. We weren't your normal set of twins. We were our own people. Now that Paul is actually gone, though... I suddenly don't know what to do with myself. I guess that I'm just waiting for him to come back and tell me what to do since he always knew how to put me back together again."

It was still quiet while I took a moment to glance around at all the teary eyes. I couldn't hold myself back when I saw Tara Rose still crying in Tara's arms, wanting her Uncle Paul to come back.

"If I'm being quite honest with you all, I don't know exactly how to function without him. He could get under my skin, but it was only because he was right and I was the stubborn one. Per usual." I paused and tried my best to contain the tears, but they kept on slipping out and sliding down my cheeks. "I just wanted us to live the rest of our lives in peace. He will always be the greatest uncle in the world to my girls and the best brother ever to me. I feel like I haven't seen him in years, though, but I knew that..."

I had to pause because my emotions were running over my words, so I took a breather before continuing. "No matter what, he would be here if I came over to see him. He would be here and happy, ready to embrace us with open arms. We will always miss him. It's just... I feel like half of me is gone now. It's like living with half a heart or one kidney than two. Now, my kids will have to grow up without their uncle around, and I don't know what hurts more. That or the fact I feel the absence of his presence was once always wrapped around me. I definitely can feel the bitter emptiness — like I'm hollow and see-through. I feel so exposed and beside myself."

I saw the tears slip down Tara's cheeks after she just lost her friend, too. I couldn't take this, as my chest felt like it was closing up inside of me, so I had to make this quick before I broke down in front of everyone. Again.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I really want my brother back. I will never, ever be whole again without him here with me," I breathed out before I turned around to press my hand on the top of his coffin. I was speaking directly to him now. "One day soon, we will be back together again, Paul. I love you. I love you. I love you. Rest easy now, but just know your death won't go unpunished. I will slay the sheep who did this to you. You died for me, so I'm going to do the same for you."

I turned back around, and after seeing the look on everyone's faces, I realized they had heard me, too. I didn't care as I went back to my family to regroup, and just like that, everyone else was starting to leave, too.

However, just as I took hold of Tara Rose's hand and was about to walk away with her, she suddenly let go and started to run away, going straight towards Paul's coffin.

"No! Uncle Paul," she cried out, now embracing the coffin around its side. Everyone suddenly stopped and stared, bringing hands up to mouths and gasping. I saw Daryl's face, how it changed from sadness to anger, before he took off and went right for the cellar. "Please come back! I promise that I'll stay forever and ever. Just come back, please. I'll be good. Come back. Please, please, please."

My actual fucking heart couldn't take it as it broke for my young daughter, who was trying to convince a dead corpse to wake up and come back to life. I couldn't move and get her because my chest was starting to tighten from our loss.

Tara took it upon herself to run over and try to legitimately peel Tara Rose off of Paul's coffin. She fought back, as expected, and went right back to hugging it as if she was protecting it from us.

"No! No! No!" Tara Rose kept screaming, pressing her cheek to coffin now. "He's going to wake up! C'mon, Uncle Paul, wake up! Please wake up... I need you!"

Alas, with the help of Tammy Rose now, Tara successfully peeled her off and took her in her arms while she kicked and screamed. "Noooooooooooo! He's gonna wake up! Wait! He's gonna wake up! You'll see!"

I couldn't find the will to take care of my own child, let alone myself, because I wasn't in the most stable mind right now, either. She was so young and innocent, not knowing about any kind of death until now. She didn't know how to deal with it, and to be frank, I couldn't deal with it, either.

While taking Tara Rose back into the mansion, she screamed until her face was pure red back at Paul's coffin, "I need you!"

We all needed him right now, especially my sweet little baby girl, who was probably hurting more than me right now.