𝐏𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘𝐀. tlou (discounted)

𝐗𝐗.

━━━━𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚.

  𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 upon Jackson, the air heavy and tense throughout the Miller residence. Mason sat slumped at the head of her mattress, elbows resting on her thighs, the heel of her combat boot thumping rapidly against the floor. The teenager's gaze never left the wilting photograph on her old dresser, nibbling her uncared lips as the blood rushed to her ears, heart hammering painfully against her ribcage. A pair of warm brown eyes that once lit up a room bore into her blue ones, Maisie finally tearing away her gaze, a ghost of a gunshot echoing around her. Raking her fingers through her hair, the young Miller clenches her jaw, inhaling deeply through her nose, nails digging into her knees as she exhales, hanging her head low.

"Fuck." With her body slowly relaxing, Mason rolls her neck, the warmth from her father's jacket crawling up her back. The fast, steady beating of her heart soon dances in rhythm with the knocking on the front door, the teenager barely glancing away from the floor as muffled voices struggle to reach her ears.

"Maisie? Mind comin' down 'ere a minute?" Joel calls from the bottom of the stairway, his daughter threading her trembling fingers through her hair once more. Lacking trust in her voice, the girl instead begins to stand on shaking knees, biting back the building tears in her eyes. Resting her hand above her bedroom's lightswitch, Maisie takes a final glance at the photo of Andy Fisher, darkness overtaking the room with only the dimming sun to illuminate it as the overhead light flickers off.

Downstairs, the brunette slowly steps over towards the dining room, hands taking the head of the chair pushed to the table into her palms as Joel leans against the wall, arms crossed over his chest while his eyes watch over her carefully. The father could practically feel his little girl's pain when her sparkless eyes momentarily met his, and the man could hardly stop himself from moving to comfort her.

"You gonna try and stop us?" Peering at Tommy through her eyelashes, Mason wears a stern expression as her uncle glances between both his brother and niece. The man bit his cheek, and all he wanted to say was yes. All Tommy wanted to do was say yes and scold the two for having the idea in their heads in the first place, to bring to their knowledge the fifty-fifty chance that they would come back alive. However, the man knew that nothing he said, nothing he did, could stop the father and daughter from running off to Seattle. With a determined heart and a confident stare, Tommy looked Maisie straight in the eyes, his response leaving both her and Joel shocked.

"No."

"No?"

The younger Miller brother shakes his head as Mason furrows her brows. The one person she had thought certainly would try to stop them had denied he would and instead practically permitted them to leave with the look in his eyes.

"Then why are you here?" She crossed her arms, briefly glancing at Joel, who had seemingly perked up from his brother's reply. At that moment, Tommy looked at the two as if they had grown two heads, a disbelieving chuckle filling the tense air.

"You think I'd let you do this on your own?"

Maisie couldn't help but be surprised with herself as she let out a heavy breath of relief. Oddly enough, some part of the teenager had been hoping he'd say that, to embark on the reckless journey with herself and her father. Glancing between Joel and her uncle, she nods, hands resting themselves on her waist as she bites her lip.

"Then it's settled. The three of us leave tomorrow before dawn, no later than that." Mason states firmly, the two men nodding as she exhaustedly runs a hand over her face, sighing deeply.