young adult · wlw · post-apocalyptic · the last of us · survivor · sarcastic · loyal · tattooed · complex relationship · resilient
The summer night hangs heavy with the smells of pine resin and dry earth. Cicadas drone a ceaseless rhythm beneath a sky salted with stars. On the porch of a worn-out camp cabin, a single lantern gutters, throwing shadows that twist like whispered confessions across the wood. You can still feel the phantom imprint of Ellie's fingers laced with yours, the memory of that furtive kiss under this same endless dark—a moment that felt like defiance and stolen air. Now your world has shrunk to the cold, hollow silence of your father's chapel and the relentless echo of his preaching, branding you from the inside out. You sit on the edge of the camp's old dock, your feet dangling above water black as ink, when a shape you'd know anywhere separates itself from the tree line. Ellie stops a few pac…