𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐃𝐎 𝐖𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 ⚠︎︎ 𝐉. 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑

chapter eight

"Wait... I don't get it." They'd been walking for some time, trying to get to the location of their meeting with some guys. Thalia had zoned out during that conversation, along with several others.

"The Shining. It's a horror movie in the seventies, about a guy, his wife and kid. They're staying in this hotel and trapped there because of a winter storm. Jack Torrance, goes after his wife Wendy, because the hotel was making him go crazy."

Ellie stared at the ground as they walked, brows furrowed in confusion, she couldn't quite grasp the concept of this movie. "He tried killing his wife with an axe? What kinda movies were they making?"

"This movie was the first and only of its kind. Anyways, Jack came after Wendy with an axe, he stuck his head through the door and was yellin' 'here's Johnny!'. That line went down in history. Pretty terrible, right?"

"Are you kidding me? That sounds fucking awesome! Did he kill her?" Thalia shook her head, brushing a piece of brown hair from her eyes, "Nope. He froze to death out in the maze where he was chasing her."

"Boring." She smiled and looked forward, the sun illuminating her face. "Not really. He did kill another dude though, there were these creepy twins, a bloody elevator- oh and a naked old lady!" Ellie just gazed at the woman to her right, jaw slack and unbelieving.

"Holy shit... we should watch it!" Thalia huffed out a laugh, "Maybe we can one day..." The wistful tone in her voice didn't go unnoticed by the teen, and certainly not the two adults walking just behind them.

Tess was shocked to say the least, watching the woman she'd known as cold hearted for so many years be so open and friendly to someone she'd just met a day ago. It was a nice change of pace, watching her small smiles and the little giggles she tried so hard to suppress.

The blonde shook her head and looked to Joel, who carried that grumpy expression he always did, but now something was bothering him. "What's got you in a mood?"

"She's gettin attached to a kid who isn't going to live. She's setting herself up for failure." Tess raised a brow at the comment, turning her head back downwards, "She's not going to die. Not before your wife."

Joel nearly stopped dead in his tracks, the realization hitting him that Thalia would give her life for this kid, the kid they barely knew. He could lose his wife over someone he currently couldn't give two shits about.

He continued walking though, not letting this revelation overshadow his mind. Ellie and Thalia were happily walking ahead of them, sharing stories and telling a few half hearted jokes on the way.

They all stopped when the brunette stopped, staring down at something in the ground. Joel came up behind her to see what she was looking at and was a bit concerned when he saw she had stopped for a flower.

It was growing from a crack in the ground, a bright orange hue to it. It was a wildflower, one you could find just about anywhere. "What is it?" She didn't respond, just stared down at the ground with wide eyes.

"Touch her like that again and you won't have a hand!" His voice roared across the forest, no echo because of the abundance of trees. The three people standing above him just slammed his head onto the ground, he couldn't help but groan out at the pain.

Thalia had her eyes shut, taking the pain and simply lying a few feet from him, chest to ground and back bleeding from the wound that had just been cut a few minutes prior. Her eyes opened, pink and puffy, stained with tears.

Joel tried his hardest to stay strong for her, he didn't want her to know that this was affecting him just as much. "Aren't you two just the sweetest goddamn thing I'd ever seen? Saw you two drivin' off the road and knew you'd be a good time."