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There's Us and the Dead - A Glenn Rhee Fanfiction

Daddy Dearest

Where the hell is he? Zoey thought as she picked at a dime-sized hole in the cigarette pockmarked sofa which had seen its better days. The hours had seemed to tick by while she and her best friend waited for the arrival of her biological father, but still no sign of him. Every few minutes, she would glance up at the clock that hung on the wall across the room; the impatience inside of her growing by the second. All Zoey really wanted was to get this over and done with, so she wouldn’t have to wonder who her real father was anymore. If things did go south, then she could move on with her life, but what if it went well? She didn’t know what she would do. Try and make things work. That’s what her mother would’ve wanted, wouldn’t she? Why would her mother give her the letter, if not for this purpose? Her mother knew that Zoey would someday want closure, to know who her biological father really was.

Daryl had only came back in the house a few times since they arrived, still eyeing them suspiciously. The pair was certain he was still under the notion that they were the authorities in disguise. Every time he'd peek his head into the room, Zoey would smile back at him.

“It’s been hours,” Zoey mumbled impatiently as she sprung up from the sofa to her feet. The woman started pacing back and forth. “Where the hell is he?!” She bit her lip, turning to look at her best friend, who was fully immersed in his game.

When he didn’t reply, she said his name a few times to get his attention while snapping her fingers in front of his face. Finally, he popped his head up with a dumbfounded expression on his face as she stared at him. “What?”

“He isn’t here yet, Glenn. What if he doesn’t show?” Zoey raked a hand through her hair, and then paused in her pacing to bite her lower lip in apprehension.

“Just sit down.” He stood up and placed his hands on either side of his best friend’s shoulders, trying to soothe her anxieties. Glenn knew it was hard to think positive, especially in a situation such as this one. “I'm sure he’ll be here any minute. I mean, we've waited this long.”

“But it’s been hours since we got here and still nothing. The longer I wait here, the longer I feel like chickening out of actually going through with this. Maybe this wasn’t the right thing to do.” She pulled away from Glenn’s touch. “Maybe I should’ve never came here in the first place.”

Just as the woman was turning toward the front door to leave, it flew open with a loud, unceremonious bang. Zoey stood silently as a man and woman burst into the foyer. The couple were in a deep embrace and swayed around before kissing passionately. The man lifted up the woman against the front door, kissing her roughly and groping any part of her body he could get his hands on.

For the love of everything holy, wash my eyeballs out with bleach, please! Zoey thought while her face began to turn pale, horrified that this was the way she was meeting her father. She turned around to face Glenn, who had an equally disgusted look on his face, and shook her head before turning back to the trainwreck taking place at the front door. They were both scarred for life.

The woman let out a moan and opened her eyes to see the strange girl. "Who the fuck are you?! You didn't say anyone else was coming over?"

"Wha-?" Merle mumbled as he turned around. "Get the fuck out of my house!"

"I knew I shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry," Zoey excused herself as she tried to look for another way out of the house, but finding none in the end.

No way out.

"Wait a second now, who are you and what do you want?" Merle asked, but more like demanded with a nasty and equal parts annoyed look on his face for being in his residence without his permission or knowledge. Zoey would have to admit she would be to if she were in his shoes.

After taking deep breath, she confidently said as calmly as her nerves would allow her too, "I'm Zoey Sharpe, and this may be hard for you to hear, but I'm your daughter.”

"Oh, hell no! I'm not getting caught up in baby mama drama.” Outraged by this, the woman grabbed something out of Merle's back pocket before exiting the house, but not before slamming the door behind her to show how irritated she really was by these chain of events.

"You ran off my girl!" Merle shouted as he approached the living room. The man was a good bit taller than his daughter with dark brown hair that was beginning to gray. His blue eyes were bloodshot and dark circles were present under his eyes. The way he staggered into the room made the woman believe he was intoxicated and maybe, even high off of an illegal substance.

Great, my dad’s a drunk and a dope fiend. This day can’t get any worse, Zoey thought while rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "Sorry my existence ruined your sex life tonight," she shook her head as she handed him the letter, which he snatched from her hand, almost ripping it in the process.

One look down at it for inspection, Merle tossed the letter to the ground as he reached into the inside of his leather vest pocket, pulling out an extremely worn flask. "I don't want that shit," he took a swig before closing the flask and returning it back into his pocket. "Is that a bill for child support? Maybe you wrote some nasty things about me for not being around. Get in the fucking line, missy."

"You don't even give a shit." Zoey seethed, shaking violently while clenching her fists together and glaring up at him, frustration shining in them. Figures, she thought with a huff. His daughter had it up to here with his obnoxious actions toward her. All she had done was come here for answers, not to be yelled and talked down to like a child. This wasn’t fair.

"Ain't the first time and it ain't the last, honey," Merle laughed rather harshly as he made his way into the living room. He grabbed a tin container out of a drawer and began rolling a joint. He lit the end and took a puff before holding it in front of Zoey's face. "Here, have some. You need to be taken down a few notches."

Zoey gritted her teeth. "Fuck off." She swatted the joint out of her face with a hand, glaring daggers up at the man standing before her.

"Well, hot damn. You got my mouth, I guess. So, what'd you really come here for? You and your chink boyfriend gettin' hitched and want my blessing? ‘Cause the answer is no."

"Hey!" Glenn stood up with his fists balled.

Zoey walked over to him and put a hand on his arm, trying to pull him away from the chaos. "Calm down. Let's just leave. There ain’t nothing here for me, and he ain’t worth wasting my breath on.”

"No," Glenn said defiantly. He wanted nothing more than for the meeting to go well and it had become a complete nightmare. After everything his best friend had been through, she sure as hell didn’t deserve this, especially from the man, who was suppose to be her father. "You came here to get answers and he's been a complete asshole the whole time! You don't deserve this, Zoe."

"Oh, boo freakin’ hoo," Merle jeered with a cruel smirk on his lips. "You had a better life without me anyhow? Bringing me into the picture only makes things worse."

"I'm done," Zoey groaned. She could see that nothing was going to change this man, not even the chance to reconnect with his daughter. "You know why I came here? My mother, Lillian Sharpe passed away last week. She left that letter for me, so I can finally fucking know you. And you know what?! I wish I had never come here. She was right in keeping you a secret ‘cause you're just a lowlife, piece of shit."

With that, Zoey left while dragging an equally pissed off, Glenn Rhee by the shirtsleeve behind her as she went. She wasn’t about to spend another second in that trailer being disrespected by the man, who was suppose to be her father. She wouldn’t.



Those final few words to Merle reverberated in her head as Glenn drove them to the hotel. She kept telling herself to let it go, but seeing her father like that killed her. She had always dreamed about the day she would finally meet her dad. They would talk things through and maybe even reconnect. She'd visit him on holidays and send him souvenirs from the road. All of those dreams were dead now that she had met Merle Dixon. She vowed to have nothing to do with him for as long as she lived.

"You okay?" Glenn questioned as he parked the car and grabbed the bags from the back seat.

"Yeah, I knew this was a bad idea," she frowned as she reached into her purse for her wallet, and then with a heavy, disheartening sigh said, "You live you learn, right?"

"I was really hoping he'd be a decent guy and you two would have a good relationship."

"Wishful thinking," Zoey mumbled under her breath as she walked through the double doors into the lobby. The trip was a bust so far, but she and Glenn still had two whole days to spend together.

After the pair checked in, they retired to their room for the night to unwind and get some rest. Glenn turned on the television while Zoey removed her make up and put on pajamas. She threw herself onto the bed and buried her head underneath the mountain of soft and warm pillows. Just as she got comfortable, her phone began ringing.

"Who is it?” Glenn asked as she pulled herself out from underneath the pillows with a groan.

Zoey dug through her purse to find her ringing cellphone. “Dunno, never seen the number before.” The woman cleared her throat and hit answer on the screen, “Hello?”

“Hey,” the voice was drowned out by static making it hard to hear.

“Who is this? It’s hard to hear you.”

“Hol’ on.” A few seconds later, the person spoke again. “It’s Daryl...your uncle.”

The word ‘uncle’ sounded completely foreign coming out of his mouth. Even if Zoey’s meeting with her father was a bust, she gained an uncle who seemed far more decent and down to earth than his brother. “How’d you get my number?” She finally replied.

“It was on this letter ya left. I plundered a little to find it.”

“You know what, I don’t need the letter. Burn the damn thing for all I care. Thanks for trying to return it. Have a nice life.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm ya ass down,” Daryl insisted. “Look, I’m sorry ‘bout how things turned out. Merle’s been havin’ a rough time and I didn’t know he’d be comin’ home tore up like that.”

“Our definitions of 'tore up' are two completely different things,” Zoey laughed uncomfortably, trying to keep her emotions intact. “You don’t have to apologize for him. I did what I needed to do and I can move on. Clearly, he already has.”

“There’s a little diner off the interstate beside a tractor supply store. Why don’t ya meet us there in the morning ‘bout 9 o’clock. Y'all can give it another try?”

“I can’t. And why do you even care?”

“Ya seem like a sweet girl and ya didn’t deserve to see that side of Merle. Not with everything you been through with ya mom passing.” He heard the hesitation in Zoey’s voice and continued. “I ain’t gonna make you give him a second chance. That’s up to ya and ya alone. If you wanna get some answers, come to the diner. If you don’t, then don’t. No pressure. We’ll be waitin’ if ya decide to give it another go.”




Zoey woke up early the next morning. She wanted to sleep longer, but her thoughts were plagued of the events of the night before and the possibility of seeing her dad again. As much as last night hurt, the woman needed answers. She hadn’t come so far to just be left hanging on the fact that her dad was an grade A asshole.

"I'm going," the woman whispered as she tiptoed out of bed to get dressed. Glenn was still sound asleep and Zoey knew he'd be knocked out for a couple more hours. The weekends were his time to catch up on some much needed sleep before working late nights and finishing papers. He'd rather sleep anyways, she thought to herself as she wrote a quick note for him in case he woke up before she returned.

The drive to the diner took Zoey longer than she expected but somehow, she made it there on time. She parked the car in the gravel parking lot and walked toward the door. Just breathe, it's going to be okay, she reminded herself before entering the establishment.

As she opened the door, the woman inhaled a puff of smoke mixed with the delicious smells of food. The diner was your standard southern restaurant. The walls were adorned with pictures of old cars and farm equipment. The bar, which sat adjacent to the entrance was lined with rooster statues and looked as if it had seen better days. Daryl got up from the booth and nodded to Zoey. He walked towards the bar and ordered a cup of coffee so the woman and her father could talk things through.

“Aha,” Merle said as he looked up from his coffee to see her face. “I can’t even get sobered up without getting jumped. Who’s idea was this?”

“Daryl said this would be the best time to talk to you,” Zoey said with as much civility as could muster while picking up a menu, scanning the breakfast items.

“He was always the sweet one,” he said with a disgruntled grumble as he turned around to the bar, glaring at his brother and flipping him off before turning back around to face his daughter.
“So what is it that you’re looking for? I think we’re both a little too old to play tee ball in the backyard.”

“Answers,” Zoey nodded as the waitress came back to the table. “Can I get coffee, black. Hmm, eggs over easy and oatmeal, please?”

“Of course,” the waitress smiled and took the menu before leaving the two in silence.

“Oatmeal,” Merle scoffed. “Never get a whole lotta well to do Northerners comin’ here for no damn oatmeal.”

Zoey shook her head and tried to focus the man back on the important issues. “Okay, it’s my time to talk, remember? Why’d you leave?”

“How ya goin’ to start off with a question like that?” Her father asked with a smirk. “You don’t know nothin’ about me.”

“I don’t need to. I just need to know what happened that turned you into such a piece of shit.” Zoey smirked back at him, hoping to get a rise out of Merle, make him see how it feels to be disrespected.

But Merle didn’t even flinch to show if this had even fazed him. “Those are some bold words, little miss. Alright, I know you’re just a teenager, so you don’t understand relationships, but-”

“I’m 23,” she scoffed exasperated.

“Well damn, I was young and dumb. Anyways, people just don’t work out.” Merle shrugged after taking another sip from his coffee mug. “Ain’t no damn romance novel. Shit happens. No other way of lookin’ at it, darlin’.”

“So, that’s it?” Zoey really couldn’t believe this was all he had to say on the matter. She knew he was hiding something though by the way he kept skirting around the truth. Something had happened between her father and mother to make them split up, but what? Did she even want to know? “You walked out on your daughter ‘cause shit happens? That’s the best explanation you got? Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“Lil’ didn’t,” Merle paused. “Your mother and I wanted different things.” The man slammed his coffee cup down on the table with so much force that the patrons of the diner began staring uneasily at him and Zoey. Whatever had happened between the woman’s parents had left Merle Dixon with some scars.

“Alright then, why didn’t you ever come see me? I bet you had every opportunity too?”

“Ain’t exactly a snowbird.”

“You could have written me letters or called!” Zoey protested, infuriated by her father’s antics. It was always a short answer with him.

“Ain’t my thing.”

“So that’s it? You just wiped that part of your life from your mind?” Wiped me from your mind, Zoey thought disheartening while trying to keep the hurt out of her voice as she spoke. He didn’t care enough to contact her, why did she think things would be any different now? Zoey was quickly realizing that her coming here had been a huge waste. It had blown up in her face like almost everything else in her life. Merle wasn’t want she had thought he would be. The father she had hoped and dreamed for all these years was a complete and utter let down.

“Ain’t like that. I thought about you every damn day. Hoped you were off being somebody. Somebody better than me.”

“So what you’re saying is basically that you’re just a deadbeat dad? Wow, parent of the year award right fucking here!”

“I did what I could, but I ain’t cut out to be nobody’s dad. Hell, I can barely keep myself out of trouble.”

“You could’ve tried. There is no excuse for a child to grow up without their father. Did you even stop to think how much this would affect me? No, you didn’t. You don’t fucking care!”

“I did. Zoey, I tried, but your mother -”

“Don’t try and pin this on my mother! She’s gone. I don’t know why she gave me that letter in the first place. I wish I could go on not knowing who you are, but I can’t. The damage has been done. Are you fucking happy now, daddy dearest? Is this what you wanted, to alienate your daughter, who came all the way out here just to get to know you?!”

“That ain’t what I wanted. You’re just better off without me in your life. Like I said before, I ain’t the best person to be around.”

“No more excuses, Dad. I am tired of hearing them.”

Zoey was done.

The pair sat in silence as Zoey finished her food. She pulled out her wallet and left a twenty on the table before looking into her father’s eye one last time. “Have a good life, dad.” She said coldly as she exited the diner.

Zoey Sharpe had no expectations going into that diner. She solely wanted closure, an explanation, but deep in her heart, she wanted more. She wanted her dad to fight to make things right and be apart of her life but instead, he shrugged off the thought and didn’t even try to establish a relationship. The thought had briefly crossed the woman's mind about fixing up her mother's house and living in Georgia for a little while if Merle Dixon did chose to step up and be her father. But after all of this, leaving looked far too good.

Nothing was left for her here. There was Glenn, but he would understand, wouldn’t he?

"Here," a voice startled the woman as she tried to unlock the car. She jumped back to see the voice belonged to her uncle. Daryl had the letter in his hand that she had left at the trailer last night when she had stormed out in a fit of rage. "Didn't mean to scare ya."

Begrudgingly, she took the letter from him and tucked it into her back pocket. Zoey would burn it later. "It's okay. I'm just a little tense right now."

"Sorry, for how things went, again."

"Yelp, it could have gone a helluva of a lot better but whatever. I'm over it. I’m just done, Daryl. He doesn’t wanna try and make things right, so why should I. This trip here has been a complete and utter bust.” The disappointment in Zoey’s voice was potent. Daryl could tell that his niece had really given up this time.

Her uncle didn’t say anything back to this. What could he possibly say to convince her to make things right with her father? There was nothing left to say. Zoey was over it all. Merle didn’t want to be in her life, and he had made that abundantly clear by his actions. The woman would just have to live with that and she would have to move on in order to cope.

"At least, I've got the closure I need to move on," Zoey opened the car door and paused. "Why did you go to all the trouble of arranging this anyways?"

"Merle was in the wrong last night. Ain't nobody that should be treated that way, especially by their own dad. He shoulda tried to give it a chance."

"He had a chance 23 years ago. . . " the woman mumbled and crossed her arms.

"He ain't perfect by no stretch of the imagination. Maybe things will work out someday. Just know, I'm here if ya need me."

"I appreciate the thought," Zoey smiled, "but I'm trying to move across the country. You won’t be hearing from me much. I am gonna get the hell outta dodge. Ain’t nothing left here for me.”

“Well, good luck to ya.”

Notes

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