Good nights
The static buzzed in your ears before Daryl’s voice cut through, low and cautious, like it had always been.
“I… thought you’d be asleep,” you admitted, fingers tightening around the CB like it was the last lifeline to him.
There was a pause. Then his voice, rough but familiar, drifted across the airwaves. “Couldn’t sleep.”
Your chest tightened, memories of the long, quiet nights under open skies flooding back. Nights where the world had been nothing but stars, firelight, and the sound of his breathing beside you. You had taken those moments for granted then, never realizing how much they would haunt you now.
“Yeah…” you whispered, voice small. “I just… wanted to say goodnight.”
Another pause, longer this time, and then a grin you could hear in his words. “Goodnight.”
The static hummed between you, but it did not feel empty. Somehow, even miles apart, the world shrank back to those nights, quiet, simple, and just yours.