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THE FIELDS OF HILLTOP were one of the communities most pleasant spaces. The blades of grass stood higher than the pride of a courageous lion, tips vengeful and unforgiving to the world above. Woven throughout the grassland, contradicting plants of a much softer nature rooted itself into the dark, rich soil. Chamomile, and buttercup blossoms. In the wind, the milkweed sang softly to the surrounding greenery. Across the haze, birds dipped down into the omunisity and landed in the derelict land. The sun should tilt upon the fields, leaving golden light to flicker throughout the last standing shadows.
To be running amongst it was to be running through the tall, overgrown pastures of creation. As I tread on these lands, feathers spread and heightened back into the cerulean skies. The overgrown flora seemed to part at my arrival, or perhaps, the stride of mine had brushed the grass away from my body with a silent wisp of air. The soaring birds above called out to one another as if I were a dreadful danger, melodious chitter drawing the species further away from myself. Once I had nearly reached the end of the field, my boots dug into the earth below. The soles of my shoes scuffed against the dirt, and the grass crawled back up my leg. The reason I stopped in the first place, stood right in front of me.
The man.
He took me into an embrace. It was constricting, but needed. I hadn't seen him in weeks, now. He had been taken to the sanctuary without a single goodbye, and the occasion devastated us all. Not having Daryl around, left the remainder of the world to feel barren, and grayed over. He was the closest thing to a masculine parental figure I had ever been granted, in all my years of life. Not even my father was ever able to achieve the lowest standard. But the man in front of me – he had been more than enough, to show me what a real father should be. What he was. Daryl was not present for the milestones of mine, such as my first breath, or the first step; but he was enough for me, and that was all which mattered in the end.
When Maggie told me of his return to Hilltop, after getting away from the compound, it was not a revelation that I could be found rushing out the door, and down the steep trail to this exact spot. There were some people who we just simply needed to keep ourselves alive; and Daryl was one of them, to me.
