November 12th, 2010

Over a week had passed since Randall was brought in. However, today was the day that Rick and Shane would drop Randall off somewhere. Winter's ankle had recovered immensely in that time, and she was now walking around just fine. Winter was currently helping Maggie and Lori with Beth's meal. She was still in a terrible state of mind. Winter truly hoped she would recover soon. Winter was cutting tomatoes, while Maggie cut cucumbers. Lori was cutting meat

"Rick say anything to you about Glenn when they got back from town?" Maggie asked Lori

"Just that it had gotten pretty bad" Lori said

"He's not the same. Says he froze. Blames me. Says I got inside his head" Maggie said

"He came back- that's what matters. Men have to do certain things- you know that- and they're either gonna blame the little woman as the reason they do 'em or the reason they don't. I'll tell you both something- what happens out there happens out there. And we- we're just trying to keep it together till they get back" Lori said. Winter didn't know how she felt about Lori's words

"Things were good. Maybe I-" Maggie was cut off

"Glenn's a big boy. He makes his own choices, and then you- do you have anything to apologize for?" Lori asked Maggie. She shook her head

"Tell him to man up and pull himself together. Just don't say 'man up.' It never goes well" Lori said as she chuckled. Both Maggie and Winter smiled

"Let me just get this to Beth" Maggie said

"You go on. I got it" Lori told her as she grabbed the tray and walked out. Winter looked at Maggie

"Glenn is a very simple guy.. Don't think too hard about it. Communication does wonders. It might not solve all your problems, but at least you'll be on the same page" Winter said which made Maggie think. Winter left the house and walked over to the camp. Andrea was on watch. Winter walked into the RV to see Sam reading a book. He looked so entranced by whatever he was reading. Winter thought he looked really cute when he was focused. Winter stood by the doorway and just watched him with a smile on her face. It took Sam a minute to realize she was there. His face turned pink as he closed the book

"Could you not stare at me like that, it's making me nervous" Sam said embarrassed. Winter chuckled as she walked over to sit in front of him

"What are you reading?" She asked

"Hamlet" He said. Winter just gave him a look

"Shakespeare, really? Didn't you get enough of him in high school?" Winter asked

"This is one of my favorite books by him, I think it's really interesting how Hamlet's so desperately wants to avenge his father, yet doesn't take action to do so, until it is already too late. It's a very interesting tragedy" Sam said. Winter was bored

"I'm sure" She said

"It's not my fault you don't understand it" Sam said

"It was boring, and so hard to read" Winter said which made Same chuckle

"I'm amazed how you managed to get a full ride with that attitude" Sam said

"My grades were all perfect A's you know. You know, this reminds me of that time where my two cousins came into town and made me do all their summer homework. Mind you, they were both older than me. I was a freshman in high school, which means Caleb would have been a junior, and Ariya was well into college. Can you believe that?" Winter asked

"You did your cousins homework?" Sam asked

"I got paid so it was fine" Winter said. They had continued talking until Andrea came in and interrupted them

"Hey, Lori is asking for you guys to come to the house. Apparently something's going on with Beth" Andrea said

"Okay" Winter said. The two followed Andrea to the house, and into the kitchen where they saw Lori. They also heard Maggie yelling at Beth. They were arguing

"What happened?" Sam asked

"Beth was gonna use to the knife to kill herself. I'm so glad I noticed it was missing" Lori said

"That poor girl" Winter said

"Where's Hershel?" Andrea asked

"He doesn't want to find out yet. It's a family affair. We'll let them work it out, but we're here to support them" Lori said

"That's working it out?" Andrea asked

"When Beth stops fighting, that's when it's time to worry" Lori said

"You are being so selfish!" They heard Maggie yell

"This could've been handled better" Andrea said

"How so?" Lori asked

"You shouldn't have taken the knife away" Andrea said. Winter was completely caught off guard by Andrea's words. Sam had a look of shock on his face as well

"Excuse me?" Lori asked

"You were wrong, like Dale taking my gun. That wasn't your decision. She has to choose to live on her own. She has to find her own reasons" Andrea said. Winter couldn't believe what she was hearing

"Want me to tie a noose for her?" Lori asked

"If she's serious, she'll figure out a way" Andrea said

"Doesn't mean I can't stop her or let her know that I care" Lori said

"That has nothing to do with it, Lori. She only has so many choices in front of her, and she believes the best one is suicide" Andrea said

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Winter asked. Andrea looked at her

"What do you mean?" She asked

"You can't seriously be comparing your experiences with Beth's, are you? Just because you wanted to kill yourself and didn't, doesn't mean you should let a literal child try to" Winter said

"I would've but Dale-" Andrea was cut off

"No, don't bring up Dale. Don't use him as an excuse because we both know that is fucking bullshit. Listen, Beth is a child, who is grieving and is not in a state of mind where she can think properly for herself. Amy told me that you used to work at a law firm, so you should know that already. Beth is legally disabled" Winter said

"The law doesn't exist anymore" Andrea said. Winter was physically repulsed by Andrea's thinking

"Look, I get what you're trying to say, Andrea. However, like Winter said, Beth is not in a state of mind where she can truly comprehend what she is trying to do, and with your way of thinking, you'd be okay with Carl trying to kill himself? I'm sorry, but I'm truly disturbed by your thinking" Sam said

"You only say that because you don't understand what it's like" Andrea said. Winter couldn't take it anymore so she just walked out and sat on the couch in the living room. She was truly disgusted and horrified of how Andrea thought about this. She put her head in her hands as she sighed. It was scary how she truly thought it was okay. A couple minutes later, Sam came in and sat next to her

"You know I really get what Andrea is thinking, and I understand it, but I feel like she fails to realize that this isn't like Jacqui or Jenner. They were both in states of mind where they were thinking clearly, and not only that, they were adults. I would never think someone is selfish for wanting to kill themselves because I know it's not like that, but to just let a child try to see if they're serious? I.. I don't get that.." Sam said

"I know Beth is only like four years younger than us, but it's really different. The maturity level is really different. I don't want to treat Beth like she's a child, because she's not five, but she's not an adult either" Winter told him

"I get that" Sam said. Maybe twenty or thirty minutes later, Sam and Winter had both heard glass shatter upstairs. They both got up and quickly ran up the stairs and into the room Beth was in. She wasn't in her bed

"Beth? Beth?" Maggie asked as she couldn't get the door open that led to the bathroom. Maggie began to bang on the door as Lori came in. They could hear Beth crying

"What's going on?" Lori asked

"She's in there. I heard glass" Maggie said. Winter's eyes widened

"Oh my God" She said

"Is the door locked?" Sam asked

"Obviously it's fucking locked!" Maggie yelled at him as she tried to open the door but couldn't

"Move out of the way" Sam told her with a serious look on his face. Maggie got out of the way and Sam rushed over to the door before kicking it open. They saw Beth crying in front of the mirror. She turned and looked at them. Her wrist was bleeding

"I'm sorry" Beth cried. Maggie hugged her sister while the other three just watched in horror. Winter wanted to know how this had even happened. Maggie led Beth out while reassuring her that it was okay. Hershel had come in and was horrified, but sprung into action

"I need some bandages and something to clean the wound" Hershel told them. Winter rushed out and grabbed some bandages before coming back in. Lori had grabbed an antiseptic. Hershel took the bandages and antiseptic and began to clean Beth's wound. Beth was crying the whole time. Winter's heart broke at her state

"We're lucky the wound isn't deep" Hershel said. Patricia had come in briefly before leaving

"I was downstairs the whole time, if I had known no one was watching her I would've come u-" Winter was cut off

"Andrea said she was gonna watch Beth" Maggie said visibly upset. Winter's eyes widened as she felt her blood start to boil

"That stupid bitch.." Winter muttered angrily. Hershel had begun to stitch up Beth's wound. Maggie was furious

"Sam, will you stay with Beth and my father?" Maggie asked him

"Of course" Sam said as he nodded

"You two, come with me" Maggie said. The three left Beth's room and went outside, where they saw Andrea rushing over. Winter held such feelings of disgust towards Andrea that she could barely contain herself just by looking at Andrea

"Where were you?" Maggie asked

"Is she all right? I heard" Andrea said

"She would be if you had stayed with her. Where were you?" Maggie asked

"How bad is she?" Andrea asked

"It wasn't deep" Lori said. Andrea was relieved to hear that. Winter thought that Andrea might have felt guilty and was relieved to hear that it wasn't serious

"She wants to live. She made her decision" Andrea said which completely repulsed Winter. She couldn't believe Andrea was still thinking like that

"She tried to kill herself" Maggie said

"No, she didn't" Andrea said

"My father is stitching her wrist right now" Maggie said

"She'll live" Andrea said before trying to go inside. Maggie didn't let her

"Stay away from her. From both of us. Don't you dare step foot inside this house again" Maggie said. Andrea looked at Winter and Lori shocked. But neither of the women felt sorry for Andrea. Andrea nodded before walking away

"I'm not gonna say she was right but Beth has made her choice. She wants to live and now she knows it. And sometimes you have to cross the line" Lori said. Maggie didn't respond and went inside

(1920 words)
12/2/22