“Where am I?”
Glenn looked around; he
was in a room that he didn’t quite recognize, although it had a familiar feel
to it. It was a square room, the walls a wooden texture and the floor carpeted
. It had a bed in the right corner and empty book shelves lining the wall next
to it. A desk sat across the room to the left, a couple of loose sheets of
blank white paper scattered on it.
There was a big window
straight in front of him and Glenn walked up to it. Looking out, he saw nothing
but white fog; a misty emptiness. He turned around, scratching his head. There
was a door on the opposite side of the window that he hadn’t seen until now.
Curious, he walked up
to the door and turned the knob… but it didn’t budge.
“God damn it…” he
muttered and shook the knob harder, but to no avail.
“Maggie! Rick! Daryl!
Anyone! Anybody there?!” Glenn shouted through the solid wooden door.
No reply.
He pounded on the door
with both fists, making the room thunder.
“Shit!” he shouted
through clenched teeth and surrendered to the locked door.
He turned back to the
window, but there was no way to open it, all the sides were sealed shut.
He shouted again and
hit the glass with the palm of his hand, calling out his friends’ names. He was
about to break apart the bookshelves and smash the window with it when he heard
an audible click.
He whipped back around
and saw the door slowly creak open. He looked around frantically for a weapon
to defend himself with, but there was nothing around him anymore. No bed, no
shelves, no desk.
The door opened all the
way and two women walked through followed by an older couple.
Glenn blinked his eyes
a couple of times and wiped away the sweat on his forehead.
“Mom? Dad?”
They smiled at him and
reached their arms out. Confused, but with a new feeling of warmth, he wrapped
his arms around his parents and held them tight. He felt his sisters hug him
from behind, their body heat radiating him, who’s perspiration seemed to have
evaporated.
After about a minute,
he let them go and stepped back.
“What…? How…? I thought
you were dead!” he hiccupped a laugh.
But his smile turned
down fast when they didn’t laugh with him and instead shook their heads. His
mother held his hand gently, not saying a word and stared into his eyes.
“No. No…I’m not…” Glenn
sputtered out words, his heartbeat flying. He stepped back again, but his
family stayed.
After a couple of
seconds, they dispersed to the sides of the now empty room and more people
began to enter through the door.
Two blonde haired
beauties, an old man in a fishing hat, a long haired brunette, a little blonde
haired girl, a gentle giant, a dark skinned teenager; they entered one by one,
filling up the room quickly.
Glenn, now backed up
against the window, sank to the ground and pulled his knees up to his chest.
They all went to the
walls and stood there; some smiling, welcoming and others sad, apologetic.
Glenn didn’t know
whether to be happy to see them all again, or devastated that he was here with
them.
The old fisherman
walked up to him and held out his hand. Glenn hesitated for a second, but took
it and stood back up.
“Glad to see ya, Glenn.
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” his smile was kind.
“What…what is
happening? Why are you all here?”
“I’m afraid I’m not the
one who should give you those answers.” The man frowned. And just like that,
two more people came into the room.
Beth Greene; her golden
hair was the cleanest Glenn had ever seen. She ran up to him and squeezed him
tight into a hug.
“I’m so sorry.” She
apologized; not for the hug, but for something more sinister. Something Glenn was refusing to believe.
The next to walk up to
him was a two legged, white haired, bearded, old gentleman. Hershel Greene
strode up to him and wrapped him up in another firm hug.
“Hello son.” He spoke
softly and separated from Glenn, holding his shoulders and looking him up and
down. “You look just as I remember.” He chuckled.
Glenn couldn’t speak.
The only thing that was playing in his mind over and over was “Where’s Maggie?
Where’s Maggie? Where’s Maggie?”
“What…happened?” he
finally managed to ask again.
“I think you know.”
Hershel sighed, “What is the last thing you remember?”
Glenn closed his eyes
and saw Maggie. He saw her belly and the sonogram of their child. He saw the
walls of Alexandria. He saw Rosita, Daryl, and Michonne in the back of a van
and stumbling out witnessing everybody down on their knees.
“NO!” Glenn screamed.
He crumbled to the floor and cried. Everyone let him. He cried until his sides
hurt, until he couldn’t breathe, until he felt empty.
After what felt like
days, someone touched his shoulder and he glanced up to see a blurry orange
head. He wiped away his tears and came face to face with Abraham Ford.
“I’m with you, brother.
I gotcha.” Abe heaved Glenn up to his feet and steadied him before leading him
to the window.
“It’s only fair if you
see this.” He wiped away the fog from the glass and Glenn mustered up the
courage to look out.
The fog was finally
dispersing and he could see it was night. There were bright lights spotlighting
the line of people he had seen in his mind. A crowd of people surrounded them,
watching.
There were two bodies
lying face down in the dirt; their heads just a pile of blood and brains and
bone. The RV was gone and so were Rick and Negan.
Glenn put his forehead
against the cold glass and closed his eyes, more tears falling down his cheeks
and to the floor.
“I’m dead.” He
whispered.
“We’re dead.” Abraham said. “All of us.”
“But it’s ok.” Glenn
heard Beth’s sweet singsong voice behind
them, “We can watch over everyone a lot easier. And it’s a much happier place
here. We miss people…but we get to be with them again… eventually.”
“Maggie…” Glenn kept
his voice small, “Our baby…”
“Will be ok.” Hershel
stepped in, “Maggie is a warrior and your baby will be as strong as his father.
They’ll be safe now that you’re here with us.”
“You loved her—she
knows that. She’ll feel you every day watching over them.” Beth said.
“Ok.” Glenn said.
“You’re right.”
He turned to face
everyone and saw that they were filing out the same way they had come in.
“Come with us. We’ll
explain everything else.” Hershel patted Glenn on the shoulder and then
Abraham. They exited the room last.
Glenn looked back,
longing to hold his wife one last time, but had a new sense of peace and
comfort. He was safe, his family would be too. They left the room into a
beautiful new world free of walkers, free of fear, free of death and sadness
and pain.
Glenn smiled.
He visited that room
every single day. Most of the time it was empty, but occasionally he’d come
across a familiar face.
Daryl was the first. A
couple more came after him in the span of a few months. Rosita, Sasha, Morgan,
Carol. His family was at war; but he welcomed each of them to their new home
with open arms and a reassuring smile.
He watched Maggie
become a leader. He watched his son become a man. He watched his home become a
community, the safest place to be. And he waited.
Years went by; family
still showed up in the room, but they’d become sparse.
Then one day, he unlocked
and opened the door and there she was, waiting for him.
Both of them hadn’t
aged a day even though nearly 50 years had passed. They collided in a tight
embrace and cried into each other’s arms.
“I’ve been waiting so
long to see you again.” Maggie sniffled.
Glenn separated from
her and looked at her in the eyes. He leaned back in and kissed her like he’d
never kissed her before and then whispered,
“I found you.”
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