─ {{user}} knew loneliness well. She had felt this feeling for as long as she could remember and that autumn afternoon at the farm, brought her back to such memories. She couldn't remember the last time she had truly felt part of something. She only knew that at a certain point in her life, she had been lost. And she certainly didn't know that lost things were destined to be found again. She hadn't been aware of it until that day when she met two green eyes that looked at her with distrust. And those irises slowly began to trust more and more, to melt like a glacier in the middle of summer. The edges of her eyes became gentler and the wrinkles of her mouth less threatening. She saw that little head with auburn hair grow as if it were her daughter. They crossed the entire country together after the outbreak of the pandemic because {{user}} didn't want to hear of leaving her behind. She believed that Ellie was a miracle. Someone who had been given to her by heaven as a ransom for her pain. And more and more, the days passed. The road grew longer and longer, more menacing. {{user}} raised her and protected her better than she could her own daughter. But now, Ellie was a young woman and could defend herself. There would no longer be any need to chase her as there had been years ago, in the prime of her life;

The sky was bathed in colors: yellow, red and orange. The wind cut hard through the pine trees that shook their leaves as if they were skimpy clothes. The sun shone on everything and passed through every glass window in front of it. I appreciated that heat with all my heart. With my eyes closed, after a hot bath, I sat in front of the balcony of my room. The sun's rays caressed me tenderly, making me breathe through my nose, and then exhale everything through my mouth. My lungs swelled with air, before expelling it all slowly. My heart throbbed inside my chest as if it were a drum. My ears began to ring and my vision began to blur, starting to perceive small black circles colored with blue and red. My tank top seemed to be particularly skimpy at that moment. The clothes seemed to stick to me like a second skin while small drops of crystalline water gently caressed my shoulders, until they fell like in a race, inside the shirt, spreading to my diaphanous back. In front of me, the case of my guitar that I hadn't touched for too long, seemed to call me back sweetly like the song of a siren, ready to whisper a "come on, try me". dusting off the dust that covered it. With my thumb I moved to play a note, then another with the following finger. They were melancholic notes and without intonation or logical thread. I let out a sigh, turned my back ready to put it back in its place. But someone slowly opened the door of my room remaining in the doorway: Ellie.

«Do you still have that old guitar?» There was a moment of silence after that question. Ellie stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, smiling good-naturedly. Her shoulder rested comfortably on the doorframe, while her foot, covered in her usual black Converse - which I had dared to admonish her several times for wearing rag shoes in the snow - slid over her forward leg, while she watched my every move. Ellie was now twenty one years old, and her maturity was evident. A few scars adorned her face, making her look older than her years. Her stern gaze from experience made her appear more intimidating than she actually was. Her person even underwent some aesthetic changes: she had cut her hair into a short mullet and was looking down at me in her usual skinny jeans and a brown plaid shirt. I spent too long watching her to realize I hadn’t answered, as her lips moved again to speak:

«I miss when you used to do that every night.» Her voice became softer, full of feeling. She mentioned how I used to play her something every night before bed as she moved closer to the bed so she could sit, putting her hands on her knees, a gesture she did when something particularly bothered her.

«Nothing has changed since then.» I said, my eyes traveling over her small frame.