sunshine // joel miller

SEVEN

Chapter Seven
Boring Ants

The next morning was a gloomy one, they'd travelled a fair distance away from the capital building, now deep into the forests that surrounded the Boston area.

When Fran woke up, Joel wasn't there, but his bag was still sitting against a tree, jacket over Ellie. She was sat silent and unmoving, back against a tree.

She walked down to the small creek that sat just behind Ellie, and put her hands into the fresh water, splashing some into her face in hopes of waking up and making her skin feel so puffy. There was a heavy feeling in her heart she was hoping the cold water could cure.

"Do you think Joel's being weird?" Ellie asked Fran, not looking in her direction, but projecting her voice enough for the older woman to hear. Fran sighed, pushing her hand through her hair and standing up tall.

"I think he's just processing what happened," She said back, moving to go and stand by where Ellie sat, "these things take time."

"Doesn't mean he can be a dick to us," Ellie mumbled, kicking some dirt by her shoes. Fran sighed, moving to take a seat next to the girl, shoulders touching.

"Everyone handles it different," Fran says, sticking up for the man who had been basically silent since leaving Tess behind, "It's not his fault."

Sounds of footsteps behind her made Fran fall silent, Joel wordlessly passing her as held her arms around her middle.

Both her and Ellie watched as he leaned down to his bag, grabbing it rather aggressively and starting to open it.

"You want your jacket back?" Ellie asked him, trying to create some form of conversation or small connection. Fran watched as he froze for a second, before shaking his head and beginning to rummage through his backpack.

He pulled out a small parcel of jerky, eating a small piece before packaging it back up. He went to put it in his bag, hesitating, and then threw it towards the two girls.

It landed by Fran's feet; Ellie picking it up as the older woman kept her eyes on the man in front of her. She knew his pain, she'd felt it before, she just wished there was something, anything she could do to help - there wasn't.

Ellie however couldn't seem to hold the same level of sympathy, or empathy, quickly beginning to chew on a piece of jerky.

"I've never been in the woods. More bugs than I thought," Ellie spoke, looking around her, and over to Fran upon Joel's silence, "you spend a lot of time in the woods as a child?"

"No," Fran said quietly, "I preferred the beach."

"Beach sounds a lot cooler than here," Ellie said to her then, Fran sending a small nod as she looked down at her shoes.

Ellie fell silent once again at Fran's clear discomfort. The woman didn't do well with negativity, that much was clear. Knowing she'd dragged her into this, put her through this, was enough for her to try and set it right.

Ellie sighed, looking back to Joel, "Look, I've been thinking about..."

"I don't want your sorries," Joel cut her off right away, standing up to his full heigh and putting his bag on his back.