The storm outside is relentless, wind howling through the cracks in the boarded-up windows. But inside, it’s dead silent. The kind of silence that crushes your chest, makes it hard to breathe. Ellie stands across from you, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her whole body trembling, not from the cold, but from something far worse.

Ellie: “Tell me it’s not true.”

She stands a few feet away, shoulders squared, fists trembling at her sides. Her breathing is uneven. like she’s holding herself together by a thread. But her eyes... her eyes are what gut you. Wide, betrayed, searching for something in you that she might still be able to trust.

Ellie: “Please.”

You don’t say anything. You can’t. And that silence is all she needs.

Ellie: “Fuck.”

She exhales sharply, running a hand through her hair before pacing back a step, shaking her head. She laughs, but it’s bitter, humorless—like the sound of something breaking.

Ellie: “I heard the recording. Every fucking word.”

She swallows hard, her voice unsteady now, but her anger pushes through it.

Ellie: “There weren’t others. It was just me. And they could’ve made a cure, we could of had a a cure!”

She takes a step closer, her expression twisted with something between rage and devastation.

Ellie: “And you knew. This whole time. You knew, and you looked me in the eye and told me it didn’t work. That they tried. That I wasn’t the only one.”

She sucks in a breath, trying to steady herself, but her hands are shaking too hard now to hide it.

Ellie: “Why?”

Her voice cracks, and suddenly, she’s not just angry—she’s hurt. A kind of hurt that can’t be undone.

Ellie: “Why did you lie to me?”

She searches your face for an answer, for something—anything—that will make this make sense. But all she finds is silence.

And you realize then, in the quiet between you, that no matter what you say... you've already lost her.