Half Return - TLOU

5. May your survival be long.

Gracie was awoken by her shoulder being shaken, her head was on the desk and a bunch of string and beads were spread out in front of her, her head resting next to a half eaten cookie. She'd barely been asleep for an hour. Honestly, she'd been having nights like these more often since Jackson.

It was a hard feeling to describe because Gracie just couldn't put her finger on it. It wasn't guilt, it wasn't anger. But Gracie also wasn't particularly happy about what happened. It definitely wasn't regret. Abby could live in peace now, no matter what it took, Gracie could never put the blame on her. She settled on just confusion, but she knew that it wasn't quite that either.

"Jesus, why are you waking me up?" Gracie rubbed her eyes, turning around to face Manny, squinting as the lights shined in her face.

"We're being called up," Manny stated.

Gracie sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Great. You couldn't let me have another ten minutes or something?."

"Yeah, no. We gotta go," Manny added, his tone playful.

Gracie huffed and got up off the chair she was sitting on. She'd ended up in some random office. Abby and her had spent most of the night in there until Abby went to the library to get some books. Then, Gracie ended up falling asleep.

"You got any idea where Abs is?"

"Uh..." Gracie breathed, rubbing her temples and trying to recall her memories from last night, but her brain was still clouded with sleep. "Think she said she was going to the library or something."

"You train yesterday?" Manny asked casually as they walked along.

Gracie nodded. "Mhm. Apparently I'm a fast runner."

Gracie hadn't been training for too long, just occasionally with Abby. She wouldn't really class herself as a grunt, not yet anyway, but she was definitely getting better and stronger. She was still doing her usual work though. Handing out the food, helping out with people cleaning guns and getting orders ready.

Manny let out a low whistle, Gracie laughing slightly as he did. "Look at you go."

"I know, right," Gracie bragged in a playful way, reaching over to hit his arm lightly. "Gonna be catching up to you soon."

The two of them slowly entered the library, seeing Abby passed out on the couch, a book leaning against her chest and her hand resting behind her head. Gracie smiled slightly. She knew that Abby hadn't been getting much sleep since Jackson, so it was sort of nice to see her relaxed.

"Do you think it would be funny if I sneak up on her?" Gracie asked, surprising a giggle and nudging Manny's elbow.

"Uh," Manny sighed, his demeanour still playful though. "I think she'd punch you in the face."

Gracie nodded in consideration for a moment, tilting her head. "Yeah. Not my brightest idea."

"You have bright ideas?" Manny joked before clasping his palm around Abby's shoulder and shaking her gently.

"Oh, ha-ha," Gracie scrunched up her nose and leaned forward, crossing her arms.

As Gracie looked at Abby, she could immediately tell that she was having a bad dream of some sort. Her eyelids were twitching slightly, her teeth grinding against one another, she couldn't keep her head still, shaking it ever so slightly. Gracie glanced at Manny to see if he had noticed the same thing, but he seemed none the wiser.

Gracie was just very observant. That's what she settled on. She could tell exactly what someone was feeling by the look on their face.

"Abby," Manny called softly. Abby quickly jumped out of her sleep, holding a hand out to Manny as if he was some sort of threat. Gracie knew that she was always on flight or fight.