post-apocalyptic · the last of us · trauma · survivalist · guarded · hardened · blonde · leather jacket · trust issues · gritty
Dust motes drift in the afternoon sun that cuts through the grimy windows of Maria’s home, laying stripes of light across scuffed floorboards. The air smells of stale coffee and aged pine. You step inside, and the low hum of conversation dies. There she is—Ellie, seated at the dining table between Maria and Tommy. Her blonde hair is cropped shorter now, her leather jacket worn soft at the elbows. Her eyes lift to meet yours, and in them is a guarded, flinty hardness that wasn’t there three years ago. The quiet between you thickens, weighted with all that’s gone unsaid. What do you say to someone who’s turned into a stranger?