"They’ve spent many hours like that, five-year-old Daryl and fourteen-year-old Merle, huddled together in front of a cassette player, with the volume knob as far up as it could go, to drown out the sound of everything else."
One of the first twd fanfics I ever wrote was a story about Daryl's childhood. He's 11 years old, Merle is just about to leave for the military (at almost 20, because of various reasons) and we follow him as he deals with being left behind, as well as his general life, trying to find his footing in a world that ultimately isn't very kind to him.
More info and a bit about the characters under the cut, if you're interested :)
At eleven, Daryl is a shy and soft-hearted, but very angry kid. He lost his mom four years ago and still has a hard time coping with it, even though she wasn't much of a mother to him to begin with, since enduring constant abuse at her husbands hands has made her withdrawn and uninterested in the world around her, increasingly turning to drink in the later years of her life.
Daryl is struggling all around. He's an outsider at his school since he's quiet and doesn't know how to talk to people, but is also very easy to provoke, quickly turning to violence. Also, like many neglected kids, he's generally unkempt and sort of smells, which is not doing him any favors. His grades are bad, mostly because he's barely literate due to his dyslexia (his school doesn't really have the resources to help him, his dad says dyslexia sounds like something Democrats made up to get participation trophies) His home life is terrible. Merle, the big brother Daryl looks up to and wants to be like and always, always desperately searches for the approval and affection of, is leaving. To add to all of it, he's starting to look differently at other boys. It's something he can't quite put his finger on yet, but it makes him very nervous and uncomfortable.
Will Dixon is the brothers' father, of course. He used to be a mechanic, but is currently unemployed and if he's not out hunting, he can usually be found at the local bar. Favorite pastimes include being the worst person alive.
Lindi Anne Carrigan is Will Dixon's new girlfriend in a long line of girlfriends that usually leave after a few months. She's 22 and completely in over her head, but she tries to be a nice stepmom, which neither of the brothers (especially Merle, who's only a few years younger than her) appreciate. She does stay longer than most and eventually manages to build a bit of a relationship with Daryl, because she's the first adult to be gentle with him and letting him be instead of trying to toughen him up at every turn (she even lets him look at the pretty magazines in the hair salon she works at). Lindi Anne is naive, but kind. When she enters the Dixon's lives she has a very bubbly personality, but she starts losing her spark as the relationship with Will wears her down. Even though he knows this, Daryl does not take it well when she finally manages to leave his father, feeling abandoned once again and growing very resentful of her.
Jeremy Elm is a weird kid that bites and has no friends and eventually grows close to Daryl, who's also a weird kid that bites and has no friends. They spend a lot of time building forts out of sticks, trying to catch fish with their bare hands, and playing with discarded weapons kids should not be playing with. The friendship is eventually cut short due to tragic events™
Bobby Banks is Daryl's no. 1 enemy, because his older brother Mitch is Merle's no. 1 enemy. Daryl is very unhappy about this, because no one bothered to ask him if he wants an enemy and he's sort of small and malnourished which usually makes him lose his fights against Bobby, who towers over him (unless he can get his teeth in)
Donny Skinner works at the local gas station. He deals meth as a side hustle and is generally well liked by the teenagers in town, because he accepts even the fakest of IDs when selling alcohol as long as you pay with cash.
Mrs. P is another sworn enemy of Daryl's. Mostly because she keeps wanting to use the gas station payphone at the same time as he does.
The story itself sits at like 15,000 words which is about halfway done, but I haven't touched it in 5 years and I don't think I'm ever going to again. Still, it's my own little mini canon around Daryl and basically the backstory I adhere to in everything I create with his character. Pieces of it are floating around in a bunch of my fanworks!
