Nightmare || Ellis Stevens (Hiatus)

𝟘𝟘𝟜

𖨆𐬺𞠬𐬺𖨆

"Do you guys do this everyday?" Ellis asks me as he takes off his bandana from his face, using it as a mask to keep the dust away as he moves ruble from the old houses.

"Not everyday." I answer back, continuing to remove big pieces of ruble from the ground with my big gloves, too big they they seem to fall off my hands if I yank my arm too hard. There aren't many gloves to begin with, so, overall i'm grateful.

"We do this everytime we finish a supply run. There's houses running a mile from here. So, naturally, it'll take a bit for us to find everything." I would reach up and wipe the cold sweat off my brows.

"How long have you been here?" He asks me as he fully takes off his own gloves to wiggle his fingers around freely.

I stay quiet for a few seconds...too afraid to think about the question...how long I've been trapped here. "I lost count." I give him an awkward laugh. "We all lose count on just how long we've been here...a lot of people think it's better that way. Your brain always finds a way to cope with stressful or unreal situations—it often puts you in a facade where you seem to actually happy instead of admitting or dealing with your feelings..." I look up at him and note how attentive he looks.

He's showing me...that's he's listening.

"We'll—I know that because...um, because I studied psychology in collage. Graduated just before coming here." I nod and give him the best smile I can before sighing heavily, thinking about the last time Winnie and I were at our uni stressing over how we were going to finish a paper before the deadline hit.

Seems like a lost memory now.

"Your older than me." He suddenly says, making me look up at him with slight shock. "What?" I say dimly. "You said you just graduated before coming here...it means your older than me. I still had a year at my collage." He says with a small smile on his face as he looks down to his hands and starts putting his gloves back on. "Oh...what we're you studying?" I say as I too start putting my gloves on.

"I was there on a scholarship, for football." I look up at him and I can't help but let my eyes roam his arms as he says he was there for football. It makes sense when you see just how fit he is.

I try to discreetly clear my throat and look away before he gets the chance to catch me. "That's so cool—you must be great at...throwing things." I cringe at myself from the fact that I just made it obvious to him that something's up with me. "You okay?" He asks, his face a hit concerned.

"Yeah—just...need water."

"You can have some of mine, that priest gave me some before we you came i to the diner." He says as he goes over to one of the houses steps and gets a small clear water bottle.