Save each other // Joel Miller

Stay

The next morning was quiet. The birds once soft chirps rang loudly threw Sophie's window. She rubbed her eyes and winced as she pulled herself off her bed. She doesn't know what time it is but she does know she slept in that horrible position long enough to become stiff. She took a step towards the window and stumbled over her bag, left on the ground. She stared at it for a while before stepping over it to get across the room.

The light is bright and blinds her as she pulled the curtains open to reveal the orange dusted sky. Although the sun is just beginning to come to view, there are a handful of people keeping busy along the streets. She watched them, as her eyes adjust, working on stands of food or hauling items in their arms. One person is even leading a small donkey down the center of the road, slack eared and yawning. It's even to early for the ass to be awake. She chuckled at her own thoughts and did something she never does. She pulled open the window.

The breeze bit at her skin, waking her up faster. The snow had melted significantly since the fateful day she arrived here, but the small piles that remained acted as air conditioners. She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes, enjoying the sound of muffled chatter. Letting out a huff of air she opened her eyes to watch the fogged breath float away.

People had began to notice her, and watched carefully without stopping their tasks. She couldn't blame them, for one she probably looked like a mess. Puffy face from crying and disheveled bed head. But also, she was a whispered secret around town. People knew of her but she didn't ever show her face in day. She has never spoken a word to anyone outside of the Millers and Barb, and avoided contact at all cost.

She ducked her head back in and closed the window. Without a word, she moved to the connecting bathroom and made herself presentable. She can slightly hear voices down stairs and she isn't surprised. Tommy and Maria were often up and moving around in the wee hours of the morning. They didn't claim to be anything but just another towns folk but everyone in Jackson depended on them for questions about their duty's and rules to be followed. The council had made sure to meet once a week to discuss anything worth discussing and today was that day.

Normally she would wait until they had left and roam the house on her own, but today she had different plans. She had a realization last night that made her second guess her feelings about leaving. She still felt a guilt of being unworthy of love, but maybe redemption didn't have to be isolating herself, maybe it could be healing and helping where she could. These people weren't bad, and she didn't want to admit it, but she knew it to her core. So this morning, she was going to ask to stay. To find a way to pull her weight. To make something of herself and maybe make her brother proud...

She finished freshening up by brushing through her hair, watching in the mirror how she looked. Tired. But different. Joel's words cemented themselves in her brain and it was all she could do to not smile. She put the brush down and walk back into her room, grabbing her backpack off the ground and placing it on her dresser, then walking down the stairs.

She can hear Tommy in the kitchen, humming some tune and another set of footsteps across the house, most likely Maria. She slowed her steps as she got to the bottom of the stairs. Her heart starts to beat a little faster and she shoved her hands in her pockets. She may be ready to have this conversation but she was still very nervous. She fought against letting them talk her into staying for so long that it felt a little overwhelming to have this conversation. She stepped out of the stairwell and headed towards the kitchen, where she found Tommy, his back facing her, preparing some breakfast.

"Hey." Sophie chirped out. Her voice is small and scared, reflecting the emotions she was hoping to hide. Tommy swung around quickly, shocked.

"Well hello darlin'! I was not expecting to see you this early." He relaxes a bit and half turns back to his plate, what looks like toast and peanut butter.