save me

EVERYTHING I KNOW BRINGS ME BACK TO US

A loud thud startled him awake, his heart racing. A quick glance to the beside alarm clock showed that it was 3:34 am and that no one should be at his house. He carefully got out of his bed, reaching to the drawer of the bedside table to pull out his gun.

He knew the front door was locked so he wasn't quite sure who was breaking in. No one had the key except him. He had a spare one made for Ellie but she kept forgetting it so he put it under the welcome mat in case she ever needed it.

The house had been quiet without Ellie. He missed Ellie so much. He didn't know why she would burn her arm but he knew it caused him to lose custody of her. He should've seen the signs that something was wrong. She had been showing them for a while, he had just figured that it was David related.

He had tossed and turned in his bed that night. It had been months since his house had been empty. He always figured that the next time it would lack Ellie would be because a sleepover. Not Marlene telling him that he was under review. He took a deep breath before he left his room, carefully and quietly making his way downstairs.

There was quiet muffling sounds coming from the living room, so he made his way into it, flicking the light switch on while pointing his gun forward.

"Holy shit," a boy's voice called out. Joel blinked as his eyes got used to the brightness before he saw a boy standing at his front door while Ellie stood by the couch.

"Ellie?" He asked, confusion striking him. Why was she here at three in the morning with a random boy?

"Joel!" Ellie said, her eyes widening slightly. "Uh, I see you rearranged the living room."

"Only because you ran into the couch," the boy snorted.

"Sam," Ellie hissed. "Be quiet."

Joel sighed, moving to set the gun down as he ran his hand down his face. "Ellie, kiddo, why are you here? You know that you can't be here. Did something happen?"

"Well," Ellie hesitated. "I just missed home...and you."

Joel melted at that. "I miss you too kiddo, but you coming here could make it more difficult for you to return."

Ellie's shoulders slumped. "It's been a week Joel. Why haven't they cleared you already?"

"I don't know," Joel admitted. "It doesn't help that your mom's trial has finally started either."

"What? Why didn't anyone tell me about that?" Ellie asked.

"I don't know, I thought that Tess would've told you," Joel said before he sighed. "Alright, here's the deal. You spend the night here and in the morning I'll call Marlene and tell her everything and then she can come get you to bring you back to Tess's where you'll stay until you can come home. Okay?"

"I don't want to go back there, I want to stay here," Ellie protested. "Don't make me go back there."

"I'm sorry Ellie, I don't have a choice. You have to go back otherwise I risk losing you completely," Joel told her.

"Ellie," the boy, Sam his mind supplemented, spoke up. "You should listen to your dad. Henry and I went through the same thing when he was trying to get custody of us."

Ellie glanced at Sam before her shoulders wilted. "Okay. I'll go back to Tess's tomorrow."

Joel nodded, not wanting to send his daughter away but knowing that he had too.  "Okay," he said before he gestured to the boy. "Who's he?"

"Oh, that's Sam. He helped me get here and he helped me from some weirdo," Ellie explained.

"What?" Joel asked. "What weirdo?"