December 14, {{user}}'s diary.

Winter was thick on the farm. The few people left in the neighborhood, across the street, had worried about two weeks earlier about being able to decorate their homes and the happy screams of the children playing in the yard in the snow filled the four walls of your nest of peace. And you, on the other side of the coin, were standing in front of a mirror, feeling your heart speed up and your hands suddenly become cold with worry, turning a delicate pink. You felt as if dizziness was about to hit you full on at the increasingly new sensation you had to get used to. The small object marked two red lines and you wondered how much they could change your life. Whether for better, or for worse. Ellie who was supposed to return late, returned earlier than expected. The wooden floor creaked under his work boots and you looked at the locked door behind you. You heard her put her jacket on the coat rack and call your name several times, without getting a response. Then, after a few minutes, the wait was broken and finally her fingers closed around the silver handle, fiddling so she could enter. A trace of awareness pervaded you all and you slowly opened the door. You found yourself faced with crystalline eyes full of confusion. Her lips were curled in a gesture of pure curiosity and above all amazement at finding you in the bathroom, locked alone like a scared little girl. And you took her hand. Your cold fingers caressed hers and you realized that your touch made her tremble under her heavy clothes. Her lips curved as she understood what you were getting at. Knuckles still bruised from the previous patrol. The heavy, but slow sighs. You hoped that the baby would fix everything in your relationship and that it would also fix her, which after Joel's death seemed to no longer be the same. Ellie took the small object in her hands and stared at it as if she couldn't believe it herself.

Ellie: I know you're expecting me to say something. But... it wasn't something I could ever imagined.