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Carl didn't realize it until after Lori died, but he really missed music. Growing up, his parents constantly played music. His father loved all different genres, but was partial to the rock music of the 80s. While his mother also loved 80s rock, her favorite band was Nirvana. Carl doesn't remember ever going a day without hearing Lori listen to or sing music by the grunge band, until the apocalypse started. With no electricity, Lori couldn't play the music, and she was often so busy or stressed that she never even thought of singing anything. One night, however, after he was shot by Otis, Carl asked his mother to sing for him.
"Sing anything," he whispered, voice hoarse, "I miss hearing you sing."
Lori smiled, nodding gently and wiping the tear that fell from her eye. She sang quietly, just loud enough for Carl to hear so she didn't wake the others. It took a moment, but he soon recognized the song as Where Did You Sleep Last Night. He vaguely remembered being told that it wasn't really Nirvana's song, but he'd only ever heard the lyrics sung in Kurt's raspy voice, and his mothers soft, gentle voice. That was the last time he ever heard anyone sing, when he was just 12 years old.
Now, some time later, his group has just moved in to the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Carl doesn't feel like he fits in. Everyone in Alexandria is so sheltered. They have no idea what the world is really like, what Carl and his family have had to go through. Sure, they're all nice and welcoming, but they look at Carl like he's about to fall apart. Everyone tip-toes around him, just because he lived beyond the walls for three years.
One person who didn't treat him like he was so fucking fragile is the Anderson's kid. Rick introduced him as Ron. From the second they met, Ron looked at Carl like he was just a normal teenager.
"Hey," Ron greeted, nodding his head at the younger boy, "wanna come play some video games?"
Carl was hesitant, but the look Rick gave him told him that he couldn't get out of it.
"Yeah, sure," Carl agreed, smiling shyly.
Ron had just smiled back at him, leading the way to his house. It felt weird to Carl, to be around someone his age. Since Sophia, he'd only hung around with adults. Sure, there were some who were younger, like Glenn and Maggie, but they were still so much older.
When Ron and Carl walk into the house, he's introduced to Ron's mother. Carl feels that he's being introduced to too many people these days.
Jessie is nice. She's exactly what Carl thinks a suburban mom would be like. She asks him some questions, simple stuff like "how old are you?" that Carl should be able to answer but he can't.
"I'm 14, I think," Carl says uneasily, "I might be 15."
"How don't you know how old you are?" Sam, the youngest of the Andersons' asks.
"We never kept track of the days out there," Carl shrugged, "Seemed useless to us. We could tell night from day, and when the seasons changed, and that was enough for us."
Ron sensed that Carl was a bit uncomfortable, so he announced that the two were headed to his room to play video games.
"You can sit on the bed, if you'd like," Ron told Carl once they entered his bedroom.
Carl nodded, sitting on the edge of the unmade bed.
"D'you listen to any music? I have some CD's if you wanna look through them."
Carl's head shot up, making eye contact with Ron for the first time since Rick introduced them. "You have music?"
Ron chuckled, nodding. "Sure. I've got an impressive CD collection, if I say so myself."
Carl watched as the older boy pulled open his closet, revealing three shelves all lined with CDs. He stood and walked over to the closet in awe. It'd been so, so long since he'd held a CD, since he'd heard music.
"You pick something out, I'll set up the game. Ever play Mario Kart?" Ron asked, brushing past Carl to get to his TV.
"Nope," Carl murmured, running his hands along one of the rows of plastic cases.
His eyes scanned over the multitude of CDs, his eyes settling on Nirvana's self-titled album. With wide eyes, he carefully slid the case out it's place in the line-up, causing all the CDs to the left of it to lean slightly to the right.
"Can we listen to this?" Carl asked quietly, holding up the album.
"Nirvana, good choice," Ron grinned. He walked over to Carl, plucking the CD from his hands before opening it up and putting the disk into his stereo.
"I grew up listening to them," Carl admitted quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed again, "my mom loved them."
"I'm guessing she's not around anymore, huh?" Ron asked, laying next to Carl on the bed.
This shocked Carl. He wasn't offended by the question, but he didn't expect it. All the other Alexandrians' held their tongues around Carl, but here's Ron, asking if his mom's dead.
"Yeah," Carl nodded, "died in childbirth."
"That's rough," Ron said, handing Carl a controller.
Carl noticed that Ron didn't apologize like everyone else did. Ron didn't pity him. It was a nice change, Carl decided.
Using a small remote, Ron started the music. The beginning of You Know You're Right sounded throughout the room, making Carl's heart clench with nostalgia.
"This game is pretty simple. Here, let me show you the controls.."
The two spent the rest of the afternoon in Ron's room, listening to Nirvana and playing various video games. Carl felt normal for once. He'd missed having friends, he'd missed music, and he'd missed electricity.
Carl decided he could get use to life in Alexandria.