take on me, e.williams

epilogue

—back to
jackson—

———the car had just broken down. lucky for joel, odessa, and ellie, they weren't very far jackson. the car ride had been mostly silent, no one wanted to speak about what happened. the vehicle rolled to a stop as the hood started to smoke. joel shut the car off and got out.

                 "well, it took us most of the way." joel told the two girls. "we'll have to walk the rest of the way. probably only a five-hour hike, but we can manage that. right?" joel leaned on the open car door and looked at odessa and ellie.

                      "yeah." ellie smiled softly and nodded. the trio collected their things and began to walk.

                       "you know, sarah and i used to hike like this all the time." joel spoke, looking around. he was starting to talk about sarah more now, it made odessa feel really happy for joel. "i wouldn't say it was her favorite thing. she wasn't a fan of the mosquitoes and such."

                      "i'm not either." odessa chimed in. she walked next to ellie and they walked behind joel.

                      "but she was a big climber... or scampering. that's probably the right word." joel nodded to himself. "that girl... she'd see a big rock and just... swoosh." joel pointed his hand in an upward motion. "she woulda liked you two, a lot." joel looked back and smiled at ellie and odessa. "not to say that the three of you are the same, definitely different kids."

                   "how so?" ellie asked, as they made it to the top of a hill and into a clearing.

                      "well, she was a lot more... i wanna say girly, and i'm not sayin' y'all aren't girly—" joel tried to think of the right words to say.

                    "i'm not. odessa probably is more than i am." ellie objected, odessa nodded in agreement with ellie.

                    "yeah, i know you're not." joel looked back at the williams girl. "so that. she was taller, maybe the same height as odessa. she had a killer smile— again, not say that you don't." joel turned back to the two girls, putting his hand out to show he meant no offense. odessa laughed. "but you know why i think she'd like you two?"

                     "why?" odessa asked.

                     "well, for starters, you're both funny. sarah and odessa would've probably talked for hours, and ellie, you'd just listen. you'd probably interject with all those questions you have." joel explained. "so, yeah, i think the three of you would have gotten along nice."

                       "i bet we would've." odessa smiled at joel as he glanced over his shoulder. now they could see jackson, it wasn't much farther away.

                       "there ya go. almost there." joel looked down at the town. he and odessa kept walking, but ellie had stopped.

                         "hey, wait." ellie called out. the miller's turned to face ellie. "fuck." ellie muttered under her breath as she walked a little closer to them. "back in kansas city, you asked me about the first time i had killed someone." ellie began, odessa nodded to her to tell her to keep going. "when i got bit in the mall, i wasn't on my own. my best friend was there, and she got bit, too." ellie's voice shook. "we didn't know what to do, and she said to just wait it out and be all poetic and just lose our minds together. and then she did, and i had to—" ellie stopper and swallowed hard.

                     "it's okay, el." odessa gave ellie a sympathetic smile and nodded.

                      "her name was riley, she was the first to die. then it was tess and ellen, and sam and henry—"

                        "that's not on you." joel shook his head.

                        "i know, but—"

                          "look, sometimes things don't work out the way we hope. you can feel like you've come to an end and you don't know what to do next. but if you just keep goin', you find something new worth fighting for." joel told ellie. odessa hummed in agreement with his words.

                  "swear to me." ellie said suddenly. "swear to me that everything you said about the fireflies is true." ellie's eyes flickered between odessa and joel.

                   "i swear." joel said to ellie.

                     "it's true." odessa spoke for herself. ellie was quiet for a long time, odessa was holding her breath.

"okay."

take on me

take me on

i'll be gone

in a day or two...