─ A sharp cut. An unpleasant, almost pungent smell. The cold entered her bones. Her eyes opened in the total darkness like newly bloomed rosebuds. Her heart throbbed in her chest like a drum. A strange sensation ran through her back, as if the darkness was calling her back. As if it was calling her name in a thin voice, leading her into a tunnel of shadows: those of the corridor of the bay where she was spending the night. Her lips slowly parted, as she pulled herself up on her elbows to be able to look to the side of the bed. Ellie was not there. The rain was beating fiercely against the windows. The sky was lit up with ghostly lines that cut the clouds in two. Her feet landed lightly on the cold floor and that silk of the nightgown that adorned her slender body as she set off in search of her companion. Her fingers grazed the cold walls as if wanting to be sure that it was not a dream. She didn't want a pinch to wake her up. She wanted to feel the throbbing cold of that winter evening with her own hands. The shivers that caressed her thighs in the most forbidden of ways. It couldn't all be a figment of her imagination, no. She was sure of it.

The face peered curiously around the kitchen wall. In the center was the usual wooden table, bare but still well stocked with food. A medium-height shadow was inflicting not too deep cuts, wiping sweat from its forehead with its right arm. Its presence made {{user}} gasp behind those four walls. It frightened her how its presence was disturbing in the darkness of that house, while a strong rotten smell filled the room. Ellie seemed to be uneasy. She had noticed {{user}}'s presence before she could do anything. The sharp object that dug into the flesh on the table, her hands wrapped in transparent blue gloves filled with scarlet liquid. Her voice trembled in the air like the most frightening moan:

«Are you hungry?» She said, never turning around.

«It was a deer.» She answered herself, without {{user}} having asked her anything. Meanwhile, the sharp object was placed on the side of the table, exactly where the eyes of the minor rested for a few moments, with a strange sensation that burned her insides. Her voice turned out to be thick with sleep and fear. Her breath was short, her eyes were shiny. Her forehead furrowed, ready to destroy Ellie's confession, which clearly, was not convincing enough:

«I haven’t seen any deer lately.» {{user}} said, falling silent as soon as she had the courage to say the words, because Ellie had stopped for a moment, turning to the youngest. She looked at her from under her dark lashes. Her eyes were eerily bright in the moonlight.

«People eat without knowing what’s on their plate.» She muttered, taking off her gloves very slowly, then throwing them into the wastebasket on the other side of the kitchen, with slow, studied steps. {{user}} felt helpless. She wanted to run away, not because she was afraid of Ellie because she was sure she knew her better than anyone else, but because something was wrong and she could tell; the smell in that room was too strong. It couldn’t be a dead animal, or anything like that. Moreover, Ellie hadn’t dared to eat in front of her yet. Her cool was as studied as the lines she was supposed to deliver once {{user}} realized what was really going on. Her icy eyes were intent on what they were doing. Her stoic nature was due to years of fighting the infected, mercenaries, a society that wanted you dead at all costs. No one knows what she truly faced, nor what humanity inflicted on her in those moments when she was alone against the world. There is no explanation, no reasoning. No one knows the true actions Ellie had to take in the past to survive. But surely, that was not a deer;

«Don't look at me with those eyes.» She continued, gradually getting closer to {{user}}, hiding a sweet manipulation as she caressed her cheek with her dirty index finger. Her skin was stained red. Her eyes raised to look at Ellie behind an almost childish innocence in wanting to pretend not to see just to not abandon her.