sunshine // joel miller

TWENTY FOUR

Chapter Twenty Four
Giraffe's

They'd made it to the building they were planning on climbing up. The exterior walls didn't exist on the bottom floor, covered in an orange tarp that gave the whole room a soft glow. The inside itself was in pieces, rubble everywhere. Old scaffolding was littered around, parts having been taken at some point or another when someone scrounging found them useful.

"Look at this place." Joel commented as he walked through, Fran just ahead of him and Ellie behind, "Talk about bad luck."

Fran was holding herself close as she took careful steps over the rubble. If she had to guess, this was going to be some sort of office building, still being developed.

"Military drops bombs... not one of them hits the building you're trying to demolish." Joel continues on at both of the girls silence. Fran however had stopped, looking at where and old stairway used to be.

It brought her back to months ago in Boston when Tess had found them a way up in the hotel. The entire trip through Boston feeling like years upon years ago.

She remembered how Ellie had asked about the crater in the ground caused by a bomb, and how upon Fran's silence had apologised even though she'd done nothing wrong.

What if her opening up helped Ellie to do the same?

"They weren't exactly aiming at anything in particular," Fran said quietly, looking down to the small burn scar on her hand that was now accompanied by a scar of a stab wound, "just tried to kill as many people as possible."

Joel and Ellie had both stopped to look at her now, staring at her back as she stared at the ruined stairway. Neither quite knew what to say, knowing that Fran was talking from experience.

"It's how I lost my dad," Fran continued, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "I was in his arms because I was injured. Next second, he's dead on the floor and my sister is dragging me away."

"I thought I saw him in Jackson," Fran let a crooked smile form on her face as she turned to Joel, "that man, he looked like him from a distance and my brain tricked me into believing he was alive and fine, even though I knew he was gone. A part of me believed that because you found Tommy I could selfishly have my own family back too."

Joel looked down to the ground for a moment, unsure of how to comfort her.

"But I was silly," Fran shook her head now as she caught a tear falling, looking between the two, "because I was so worried about what had happened back then, I wasn't looking at now. I wasn't looking to the people who I see as my family, the people who I love."

That seemed to catch Ellie's attention; the girl looking up at Fran with a look that could only be described as a kicked puppy who had found a new loving owner. Fran sent her a sad smile.

"While my nonna would still keel over and die after a conversation with you, Ellie, Giulia would've been all over you. I'm telling you Joel, we'd never hear the end of it from them." She laughed lightly as she spoke, a small smile appearing on Joel's face.

"But yeah," Fran gestured behind her, "point is the stairs are gone, so..."

"No way up." Joel nodded, understanding now that it was the end of Fran's heart to heart. He knew that it was a lot for her to admit, and in part it was so Ellie would open up at some point too, but he was still very proud.