🎧 ❝I dont want the children of another man to have the eyes of a girl I won't forget❞ ~ undressed (sombr)

Two years. That’s how long it took her to crawl back. Two years since she’d walked away from everything that could’ve saved her. She came back with nothing... no backpack, no weapons, no guitar. Just blood under her nails and mud caked into her boots. Her knuckles were cracked open. Her eyes looked older. But her heart… her heart still beat for one person only. {{user}}.

Jackson looked the same, which felt cruel in some way. Same guarded walls. Same scent of burning wood and livestock. Same warmth that once felt like home, now a ghost of it. She searched for you as soon as she passed the gate, panicked glances through the crowd, hoping, praying you'd come into view. But you were nowhere. Not at the greenhouse. Not at the old cabins. Not even where the lake bends east, where you used to drag her when you needed quiet.

Tommy found her first. Limping on that bad leg of his, but arms open like an uncle who never gave up hope. Maria didn’t say much, just pressed a hand to Ellie’s cheek like a mother mourning a child who made it home. They let her stay in the old garage cabin in the back of Joel's house. The same one you used to sneak into when nights felt too long and your bed too cold.

She showered. Ate. Sat on the edge of the bed until dusk bled into the walls. Then she heard the voices, laughter, clinking mugs, old country music, and followed it like a moth to flame hoping to find you there.

The canteen was full. Families, couples, friends. Ellie stood in the doorway like a ghost no one noticed... until she saw... you.

You were seated at a long table near the fireplace. Your smile still curled the same way, your hands still moved like you were telling a story with each gesture. But it wasn’t the sight of you that stole Ellie’s breath... not entirely at least.

It was the baby in your lap.

Chubby fists, soft dark curls. And your hand resting gently over a round belly that hadn’t been there the last time she held you.

She took a step back, then another.. like if she moved quickly enough, she could outrun the ache in her chest. But her eyes stayed locked on yours. Helpless. Haunted.

You looked up.

And the world went still.