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THE DEAFENING SOUND of silence had been all Ellie had awoken to. Her sarcophagus had been the empty cell she once shared with Coda in cellblock A, where life came to die.That very morning, there had been no bounces to her rib cage. No fresh flowers picked by the thoughtful fingers of a virtuous girl. No infectious laughter to lift spirits. It was only Ellie. Forgotten—with loneliness draped around her like an anchor, dragging ceaselessly with each footstep. And being happy again felt more like the attempt to stuff a frayed thread through the eye of a needle.
Her aching body slowly raised from the folds of the mattress, weakly rising to her feet as her eyes tuned in to her surroundings. Ellie blinked the sleep away from her eyes, terrorised by the ache residing behind them. A throbbing headache perched on her temples like hawks. The door screeched as it suddenly opened, and in hobbled Hershel with a medical mask enveloping his mouth protectively, along with his gloved hands of caution.
"How are you feeling today?" Hershel inquired calmly, though made no point in reference to either the illness, or the news of Coda's demise.
Ellie shrugged weakly, slowly trailing her vacant eyes to meet his as he sat nearby, "How am I supposed to feel now?" her voice trailed off as she clenched her eyes shut, releasing a shaky breath before she finalised, "I don't feel anything."
"I can't expect you to agree, but I know you, El. You're not ready to give up yet." Hershel asserted, his tone had been firm, yet wholly pleated with compassion, "You have to keep going."
"What for?" Ellie snarled, hoisting herself to her feet as she turned back to Hershel, "I am gone."
Hershel sighed loudly, subdued with the unmistakable sorrow she had been withstanding so bitterly. He nodded shortly, his eyes suddenly softening as he proclaimed, "You may not be religious, anymore, but I am. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
"2 Corinthians 4:17-18," Ellie muttered weakly, though her gaze respectfully raised to meet Hershel's kind eyes, "
"You got it, Ellie. Your symptoms have ebbed. You're healing at a much better rate than many of the others," Hershel notified, his eyes gleaming with delight at her recovery, "That's got to count for something."
Ellie could only enable a harsh huff of air to trail from her lips as she glared down at her lap, before she grumbled, "It might be something to you, but I'm tired of fighting so much, Hershel."
Struck like a lightning bolt; Ellie's words punctured Hershel's skin like heated shards of titanium. He swallowed hard as he intensely studied her eyes, only to be welcomed by darkness. He slowly picked up her necklace, permitting it to fall into the warmth of his palm. There wasn't a single moment that Hershel regretted his choice of gifting Ellie the necklace. It had been her faith when she hadn't retained any, since the day he had bestowed it to her. But somehow, along the way, she'd merely forgotten. All Ellie could do was flash her tearful eyes in his direction, awaiting his words of solace.
