My hands shake as I walk through the gate , it's not cold I'm not scared I don't know what it is . I slowly walk through the gates as people call my name , 'Ellie?' 'Ellie is that you?' 'Ellie where have you been?' 'Ellie what happened to you'. The peoples voices began to muffle and I just kept walking, as I walked through the gates a familiar face appeared in the corner of my eye ,I turn to see who it is and then suddenly I feel faint .
Maria?
Maria stares at me with a sorrowful look on her face , as if I had just killed someone she loved . She looked like she had been hurt , her hands were covered in mud and dirt , her short sleeved grey button down had blood on its collar as well as her blue jeans and short cut boots. She steps forward and As she walks towards me her eyes fill with tears , her face covered with scars and bruises and a bit of dirt lined below her eye as if she had attempted to wipe dirt off her face . As she reaches me she pulls me into a long meaningful hug, wrapping her arms just below my shoulders, as she hugs me her tears fall onto my shoulder and all of a sudden I feel bad . Bad for what I did to her , she was my family and I pushed her away , I haven't seen her for just over 6 months and I feel nothing but deep regret. And even more regret knowing I couldn't even finish it , I couldn't finish it because that's not what he would have wanted . He would have wanted me to happily move on with my life, but I couldn't , I can't not anymore.
Maria sniffles into my shoulder and I stand still unable to move from her clasp. I wait a couple seconds then She steps back from me and takes a breath , 'your back?, is it really you?' she stutters , I just stare at her for a second not knowing what to say . 'Im back, i mean for now ' I muttered . I observe my surroundings for tommy, 'um actually I wanted to talk to Tommy if that's alright' i sigh as Maria tilts her head downward , Maria sighs and looks towards the gate . 'Maria where's Tommy?' I ask , 'he left , he began missing his patrols , at first it was a couple weeks then a couple months , I told him he needs to help around Jackson if he wants to stay here then he left without a word' she says as more tears roll down her eyes .
I eventually end up walking Maria back to her house and having breakfast with her . We walk into her house and we sit in her dining room together, I look around at the pictures on the wall with some being covered with white cloth and others sitting in the corner of the room on the floor, she's pulled all of Tommy's pictures off the wall . Her house is like a ghost house nothing but empty memories. Maria walks out of the room , I just continue observing the room for a couple minutes, as the minutes go by all I can think about is my memories in this house . My 18th birthday was spent here it was a family day , Jesse tagged along to , it was fun I remember Joel played his guitar at the bottom of the stairs and Tommy was singing. Tommy had a terrible singing voice but it didn't bother us because we were all having so much fun , Maria made us a fruit feast , she was so full of joy and happiness. Joel and Tommy were getting along for once instead of fighting of patrols . I haven't ever seen Maria more happy in her life , watching her cry today was really hard she's been so good to everyone and now she's alone in this big old house .
Maria walks back in the room with some steak sandwiches , she sits down in the chair across from me. 'How've ya been Ellie ?' She asks trying to lighten the mood , 'Santa Barbara was cool, lots of um .....lots of amazing views' I say awkwardly ,then there is silence for a couple minutes .Maria coughs 'did you finish it?'she asks confidently, I look at her plate, she hasn't touched a bite she's just tapping on the table . 'Maria...I couldn't , Abby had a kid with her I wasn't just going to let a kid die , plus it's not what Joel would have wanted' I reply with , Maria stands up and bangs her hands on the table 'Tommy risked his life for you! I risked his life for you! My husband nearly lost his eye because of you!' She yells at me . She coughs 'My ex-husband nearly lost his eye because of you'. I sigh and we just sit there in silence until I'm done eating, Maria looks a bit annoyed , her hand sitting on the table in a fist. I stand up and nod at Maria , 'Thankyou Maria, but I uh . I need to go ' I say before walking out of the door.
I walk around the town trying to find dina's whereabouts, I eventually make my way to Joel's house . I heard that Dina moved into Joel's house . I knock on the door a couple times and eventually someone answers. 'Dina?'
