lost & found || Joel Miller

Kin

ᖭི༏ᖫྀ

Three months had passed since that fateful morning and a desert of white had covered almost every inch of the trio's path to Wyoming.

Now, they found themselves in someone's house. Why? Because they're lost in this stupid desert of white.

They stumbled inside with Joel and August arguing, not so silently, about his decision to break into someone's house and his stupid choice of carrying a gun.

"You do understand that we're the bad guys in this situation?—"

"Will you just—"

"Guys!" Ellie intervenes and they both turn to her, only to see her watching something in front of her and the two of them turn and finally notice the presence of the house owner.

Joel points his gun at the poor old woman, standing over the kitchen stove while the two girls waited behind him, where he ordered them to stay as if they weren't the people breaking and entering into someone's home.

The woman stares blankly at the gun and at Joel and at the girls, "Do you want some soup?" She asks.

There's a moment of silence as the two girls both answer a yes and Joel quickly realizes he has no other option but to lower his gun.

"Good thing I always make too much soup," The old woman says, her voice monotone but it still makes the two girls chuckle as they watch her pour the soup into four different bowls and places them on a tray and begins to walk to the living room.

The three of them follow her and sit down at the couch, "I want you to tell us where we are," Joel says to the woman as he pulls out a map from his back pocket and places it on the coffee table and the woman stays silent as she looks between the map and the three people in her house.

"We're lost—" August begins and almost immediately, Joel gives her his frustrated look.

"We're not lost."

"You broke into my house to ask me this?" The two girls nod at her words, "Then you're lost," She tells Joel before leaning in and pointing at a specific spot on the map.

Joel examines it, "Alright..."

"If you don't believe me, my husband's coming home in a few minutes, you can ask him too," Joel nods, before looking at the girls.

"Go upstairs and wait," They stare at him confused and don't move, "Go. Now."

"Can we take our soup with us?" Ellie asks, looking at the old woman who nods and they take off, walking up the stairs with their soup.

Joel hides in the kitchen and waits for the woman's husband to come home and eventually, he does, opening the front door with his bow and arrow and snow covered puffer jacket.

He looks at his wife as he puts down the bow and takes off his gloves and jacket. It was clear he sensed something wrong.

"And the gun," Joel adds as he walks out of the shadows, gun pointed at the man but this time no two girls to annoy the hell out of him.

"Who the hell are you?" The man asks, his tone a bit calm for his choice of words.

"Just someone passin' through," Joel shrugs, walking deeper into the living room, "Take the gun out. Two fingers only. Put it out of reach," He throws three orders at the man and he complies, taking his gun out of his belt loop with two fingers and dangling it in the air with a sarcastic smile as he places it on the table beside the window.