Young and Young at Heart (The Rewrite of The Walking Dead Game: S2) [TWDG/TWD]

71. Perchance to Dream

"Sarah." Clementine looked at the older girl in desperation, horrified by the sight of Sarah holding a gun under her chin. "Please, please don't," begged a tearful Clem. "I'm... I'm sorry I got us stuck up here, but I'll figure something out, I promise." Clem inched closer to Sarah on her knees. "Just please... please don't do this. I know... I know how horrible everything is. But you... you just can't..." Clem watched in horror as Sarah closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. "No!"

Sarah flinched, but the gun didn't fire, the trigger wouldn't move. The safety was on realized Clem. Sarah hastily tried to switch it off just as Clem lunged at her. "Don't!" Clementine tried to wrest the gun out of Sarah's grasp. Clem hit the gun's release as she grappled it, allowing the magazine to fall onto the ground.

But there was still a bullet in the chamber, so Clem pulled with all her might to try to take the gun back, but Sarah was stronger. Clementine watched in horror as the older girl overpowered her and slowly twisted the gun back towards her own head, determined to kill herself.

Looking at Sarah's hands right in front of her, moving the gun into position, Clem saw the solution. She lunged forward and sank her teeth into the older girl's hand. Sarah yelped in pain and released the gun. So suddenly did she release it that Clem fell over backwards, the gun flying out of her grasp.

Turning around, Clementine didn't see the gun anywhere on the ledge, but she did hear something metal hit the pavement below her. Looking back at Sarah, the older girl just sat there with a guilty look on her face, while an angry Clementine stared her down.

"Why?" asked Clem through gritted teeth.

"I... I... I'm sorry. I—"

"Stop saying you're sorry!" screamed Clementine. "Sorry doesn't make things better!"

"I'm sorry... I mean... I—"

"You're not even trying!" accused an infuriated Clementine. "I've been doing everything and you're not even trying!" Sarah turned away from Clem in shame, unable to even look her in the eyes. "Why! Why would you do something so horrible!"

"I... I just want to be with my dad," sobbed Sarah.

"He's dead!"

"No, no, no, no!" Sarah placed her hands over her ears, but Clementine pulled them off.

"He's dead and you know it!" Sarah started crying harder in response to Clem's outburst. "Stop crying!"

"I... I can't," sobbed Sarah.

"Stop it!" Sarah's endless sniveling just infuriated the younger girl, who found herself so sick of that annoying noise she wanted nothing more than to finally stop it. Clem suddenly found herself swinging her arm backwards, then snapping it forward across Sarah's tear strained face. She slapped the older girl with such force it knocked her onto side, where she immediately covered her face with her arms. Clem nursed her throbbing hand while Sarah's hands muffled her cries, which did not stop.

"You think I don't hate this too!" screeched a frenzied Clem. "You think I don't want my mom and dad too! How... how could you be so stupid! How could you be so selfish! How... how could..."

Clementine suddenly found herself breathless. Without warning her whole chest tightened up, and then her legs gave out, causing her to fall forward onto her knees. Sarah momentarily stopped crying as she looked at the small girl lying in front of her, desperately trying not to cry herself.

"I... I can't do this..." whimpered Clem as tears filled her eyes. "I... I just wanna go home. I just want my mom and dad back." Sarah watched as Clem choked back her tears.

"Please... please don't cry Clementine," spoke a deeply disturbed Sarah. "Maybe... maybe Christa will find us and..."

"Christa's not my mom!" yelled a hysterical Clementine. "My mom and dad are dead, and they always were, and I didn't want to believe it!"

"What?" asked a confused Sarah.

"And then Lee died because I didn't listen to him! And Omid died because I did something stupid! And Pete died because I was weak! And your dad died because I was wrong! And now we're going to die, all because I'm a useless little girl!"

Clementine couldn't even muster the strength to remain on her knees. She collapsed onto her side and started bawling uncontrollably. Clem could barely breathe as she cried her heart out. She was sobbing so hard her lungs actually ached in pain, and yet she couldn't stop.

Clem cried harder and harder, nearly suffocating with each breath. Her tiny body racked with pain as she trembled alone in the cold. The thoughts of every horrible thing she ever saw, every terrible thing ever done to her, and every awful mistake she ever made kept flooding into her mind, filling the despondent young girl with more misery and regret than she ever thought possible.

Finding the agony unbearable, Clem suddenly felt the urge to just crawl off the ledge and throw herself to her death. She tried to reach out to pull herself forward, but Clem couldn't move her arms. Fidgeting in place, Clem found something was constricting her whole body. Opening her tear soaked eyes, Clem saw what was holding her in place. It was Sarah.

The older girl had wrapped her arms tightly around the heartbroken nine-year-old. It took Clem a moment to realize she was sitting up now. She was crying so hard Clem didn't even notice Sarah was hugging her until this moment. Looking at the older girl, Clem saw a trail of tears streaming down her face, but she didn't seem to be crying anymore. Clem watched as Sarah looked her directly in the eye.

"I'm so sorry Clementine."