𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒.
Somewhere far, far away from home. Not what it was. Not a normal afternoon with nothing to do.
And still we fight.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
SHE CAN'T REMEMBER the last time she could rest her head on Mom's shoulder.
In actuality it had to be a little over eight years ago, curled together in their family home just before everything changed. Back then it was easier to reach for Gale in order to find comfort or merrily settle down for either an hour of rest or long enough to count as a full night's rest, doting despite how their closeness never thrived through touch.
In their worst times Ellie-Marie went two months without a hug from her mother, instead pressing her lips into a tight smile whenever she or Gale would leave the run-ins that weren't always the coincidence that the two of them would pretend they were. She could feel the discomfort whenever she would try to begin stitching them back together, spot the damning evidence of being over these attempts on Mom's face. Not even their reconciliation brought forth an outpour of the best affection Ellie knew to give. Not even her warmth could melt Gale Weathers’ ice away. Not even if she begged to the silence of her room, not even if she cried in the arms of her friends.
Then again, what's family if not a unity under fear?
Their migration to the living room came after Ellie-Marie realized Lou had been left entirely alone. She'd pushed ahead of Mom despite how it made her huff, fear enveloping her chest until she could spot her cousin sitting on the couch with a book lazily held in one hand. The other, of course, rested right beside a gun. It may as well be a family symbol with how reliant they've each become on a quick solution to a problem they shouldn't be so used to.
