Life's worth

Damian and Amy soon reached the farm. After moving the car under the tree where other vehicles were parked, they looked inside the RV, but saw no one. After they looked around and noticed that the farm was empty, they moved to the house. Just after entering, they hear two people arguing upstairs. Damian and Amy looked at each other wondering who was fighting. Just then they saw Amy and Lori in kitchen. 

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

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

"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".

"That's not an option".

"Of course it is. She doesn't need to be yelled at or treated like a child", Andria said.

"What are you guys talking about? What suicide?", Amy entered the kitchen and asked.

"You guys talking about Beth?", Damian asked.

Lori looked at Damian and nodded. "She hid the kitchen knife from her plate. Thank god, I noticed it quickly". 

"Yeah. You did good", Damian said to Lori and then turned towards Andria. "You said she should be the one to choose".

"I said that it's not our decision. She has to choose to live on her own. She has to find her own reasons", she replied.

"She's only 17. Are you serious? Just because you don't see a future ahead, doesn't mean you should just end it", Amy said.

While Amy and Andrea started arguing themselves, Damian looked at Lori. "Where is everyone else?", he asked.

"Rick and Shane took the boy away. Hershel took others in the nearby farm to see if there are any cattle left", she answered, and Damian nodded.

"You are saying that we should just give her the knife? Are you serious? We are his guest, and you want to give his daughter the knife to kill herself?", Amy said.

"You guys don't understand", Andrea said.

"And you do. Tell me how did you feel when Jacqui died? Maybe you felt good for her. She chose how she wanted to go. Didn't she?", Damian asked looking at Andria as others also looked at him. "But you know why she chose it. She lost faith. She lost hope. Do you think if she had, by chance, decided to tag along, would she still be wishing to die?", Damian asked her.

"No. But it means she has made the choice to live. It's her choice", Andrea said trying to prove her point.

"Where is she then? I don't see her. As I said, it's a phase. You help a person until he passed through it. Not everyone is as mentally strong as you. Majority of people needs support. I did. Hope is something you give yourself or your loved ones. The people you care about. We need to show her that, yes, there is still hope. It is us. Everything that has happened to us, we are still alive, aren't we? She just needs to see that. Not everything is dark in the world". The intensity of the spoken words was enough to shut Andrea.

Damian left the house to look around the area. To see if by chance anybody followed him to the farm. Just as he got to the gates near the road, he saw Shawn and Kayla walking towards him.

"Hey, where were you guys?", Damian shouted, gathering their attention towards him. 

"Hey man, when did you come back?", Shawn asked waving his hand from far as they paced up. 

As they reached the gate, Damian said, "Hey! I think you should go see Beth. She...", Damian told Shawn about what he heard from Lori. Hearing everything, Shawn ran away towards his house leaving Kayla behind with Damian.

Kayla asked him as they started walking back. "Is she okay?".

"I think she is. Maggie's with her. She's in depression. Hershel shouldn't leave her alone. Someone needs to be with her all the time", Damian said what he thought.

"Yes. People in depression shouldn't be left alone. Thank God, Lori noticed the knife in time. I can't even imagine how Hershel would feel if something were to happen to his daughter. She's so sweet, you know", Kayla said.

"She'll be okay. Everything will be okay", Damian said but inside he was thinking about Jim and his men, Randall, Walkers and other things. They soon reached the house and Damian heard Shawn scolding Beth calling her foolish, selfish and whatnot while blaming Maggie for not staying with her. Hearing this, Damian and Kayla looked at each other and hurried upstairs. They saw Andrea, Amy and Lori trying to stop the argument. Damian asked Kayla to see Shawn. 

 "You should be here with Beth all the time. Have you forgotten us because of that Asian boy?", Shawn said loudly.

"Don't bring him into this. I didn't know, Okay. And you have no right to talk to me like that. You, yourself stay absent these days", Maggie retorted.

"What did you say?", Shawn said in anger not expecting Maggie to talk back to him.

"You guys. Don't start arguing among yourself. You are making the situation worse", Lori said.

"Don't tal-", just as Shawn was about to say something to Lori, Kayla grabbed Shawn's hand.

"Shawn. Beth's not well. Don't do this. It will make it worse", she said to Shawn as he regained his composure. He looked around and then at Beth and realized that he was making the situation even worse, so he walked away from the room without saying anything.

"Guys, I think we should not fill up the room. Give them some space. Let's go out", Damian said from the gate as everyone looked at him. They slowly started leaving. Leaving only Beth, Maggie and Damian in the room.

"Where is Hershel?", Damian asked Maggie.

"He went out with others. Glenn has gone to bring him back", Maggie said as she looked at the floor. 'She must be feeling worse right now', Damian thought as he thought about their quarrel.

"Hey Beth. I know you feel like the world has no meaning right now, but-", Damian tried to say something, but Beth interrupted. "-I am wrong. There is some meaning to it. I should live on until I end up becoming a walker?", she said.

"Beth, he didn't mean that", Maggie said.

"Maggie, can you let me talk to her for a bit?", Damian asked politely.

Maggie looked at him and then at Beth and stood up, saying, "I'll go bring something to eat. She didn't touch the breakfast". Then she left the room.

Damian sat on the chair near the bed and looked at Beth. Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes were vacant, haunted by the loss and despair that had consumed her. "You want to die?", he asked.

"What's the point in living?", Beth reasoned.

"There is no point. You are correct. What did humans do except from leading the world to where it is right now. Right?", he said. "Then why did your brother save me? Why did you thank me for saving your brother that day?", Damian asked.

"It was different then", Beth said.

"Was it? How was it different? Was it different because you loved your family? Was it because you thought that life had value?", Damian asked. Beth remained silent. The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken words. Finally, he broke it.

"I had a sister once. Her name was Caroline," he began softly, his voice tinged with deep sorrow. "I loved her so much. I was eight, and she was just a little thing, four or five maybe. I can't even remember exactly now. One weekend, my mother was on a call, busy with something important. I told her to close the gate as I went out to play. Maybe she didn't hear me, or maybe she did and ignored it. Anyway, she closed the door after her call ended. A few minutes later, she noticed Caroline was gone."

He paused, looking at Beth to see if she was listening. She was, her eyes fixed on him, a flicker of curiosity breaking through her numbness.

"My mom searched everywhere, but Caroline was nowhere to be found. She came outside, saw me playing in the park across the road. Asked me if I knew where she was. I didn't. The neighbors didn't know either. It wasn't until nightfall that we found her. Dead. Bitten to death by a stray dog in a nearby alley."

Beth's eyes widened slightly, her lips parting in shock. Damian continued, his voice steady despite the painful memories.

"It was a shock. To me. To my mom. I was just a kid, so after a month or two, life became normal for me again. I remembered her, but life went on. But for my mom, it was different. She never got over it. She blamed herself, and so did I. My dad was never around. Even after Caroline's death, he came home for a week and then left again. My grandmother looked after my mom, but even that wasn't enough. A year later, on the anniversary of Caroline's death, my mom lost it. She fought with my grandma and that night, my grandma had a heart attack and died. The next day, my mom hanged herself."

His words hung in the air, the weight of them pressing down on both of them. Beth's eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"I went to live with my granddad and uncles. Life went on, but it was never the same. Then, three years later, my dad decided to take me with him to Afghanistan. He was a diplomat there. I thought living with him would make things better. But it didn't. He was always busy, and I was left alone. One night, he came home late, as usual, but I wasn't alone. There were men with hidden faces, waiting for him. They made me play guitar for them while we waited."

He took a deep breath, the next part of his story even harder to tell.

"When my dad finally came home. They put a gun to my head and asked him something, but he just looked at me. Then they said something to him that made his eyes widen before they shot him. He died right there in front of me. Then those people took me to their camp, trained me to kill, to infiltrate organizations with other boys like me. They gave us missions: complete them or die, they said. I often wondered why I didn't just end it. Why I let them control me. But I couldn't do it. I didn't want to die."

Beth's gaze was intense now, fully engaged in his story.

"One day, they decided to send me back to the US, told me to wait for the messenger. I returned to my granddad's home. That man had never stopped searching for me. It was him who paid the ransom to those people. I realized why I hadn't killed myself. There was someone who cared about me, who loved me. My grandfather, he was my family. He showed me that there was still a reason to live, a reason to hope."

He reached out, gently taking her hand in his.

"I know you've lost so much, Beth. Your mom, your boyfriend... it's more than anyone should have to bear. But you still have your brother, your sister, your father. They need you. And you need them. Life can be incredibly cruel, but it can also be beautiful. You're not alone. We're here, together. And as long as we're alive, there's hope. Don't give up. Hold on to the people who love you, who need you. Hold on to the hope that things can get better."

Beth looked at him, tears streaming down her face, but she kept quiet. Just then, Maggie entered the room with a plate with pealed pieces of apple in her hand. Damian stood up from the chair and offered the seat to Maggie.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone then", he said with a little smile and left the room. He came down and saw Hershel coming inside in a hurry and going upstairs. Hershel must have heard about it by now and was going to Beth. Damian left the house quitly.