Title: Difficult choices
Fandom: The Walking Dead Comicverse
Character: Lori, Carol
Word Count: 360
Rating: G
Challenge/Prompt:
comicdrabbles - #111: "book shelf"
Challenge/Prompt:
100_women - #045: read
Lori and Carol had jubilated when the men told them about the library in the prison. They didn’t waste any time to roam the place, and while Lori already had a good share of books in her arms, Carol simply stood in front of a book shelf and didn’t move.
Lori stopped and watched her friend some time: how sad her eyes looked, how her full lips slightly trembled. There was not a single book in her hands yet.
The brunette frowned and put her own pile on one of the tables nearby to walk over to Carol.
“Is everything alright?” she asked and tried a little smile.
“I don’t know which one to read first.”
Lori noticed the worry in her friend’s voice and knew that there had to be more to it. But she didn’t give up on her good mood. “Well, it doesn’t matter, just take the ones you like and read them all.”
Carol shook her head. “No, you don’t understand. It is important that I choose the right one for the start, for who knows if I’ll ever be able to read another one? What if I only have the chance to read one book, what if I don’t even get to finish it? Should I take one I already know, so it won’t matter when I don’t make it to the end?”
Lori’s smile faded and she sighed. “Listen, Carol, it’s going to be okay. We’re finally safe here. Rick, Tyreese and the others will make it alright.”
Finally the blonde averted her gaze from the book shelf and looked at Lori, the movement causing a tear to spill over. “Will they?”
The other woman nodded firmly. “They will. We’re going to have a new life here, a good one; one in which we can sleep through the night, one in which our kids can grow up peacefully … one in which you’ll grow old and get to read each book in this library twice.”
That finally made Carol laugh and she wiped the tear away. “That would be nice.”
“See. Now hurry, before I’ll snatch all the good ones right under your nose!”