𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒.
Somewhere far, far away from home. Not what it was. Not a normal afternoon with nothing to do.
And still we fight.
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THE WALK THERE is one Ellie-Marie is hoping she won't remember when this is over.
It's nothing special. She can't think too much of her ankle stinging each time the gauze shifts or the way her mind starts to wander when someone isn't talking to her, scratching the itch of distraction without the problems she's already causing herself. This is the most peaceful fifteen minutes that she's received in the last forty-eight hours, but that's the problem. It's peaceful. Her life feels close to normal, less like a walk to whatever her maniacal neighbors were hiding and more like a family stroll.
If every family is violently shaken, two of the members include a special agent and a detective she doesn't know well, and none of them are exactly mentally well, then it would be perfect.
Ellie-Marie wants to be fine. It's a motivator for her to keep these absentminded conversations going, making quiet comments about passing places like she doesn't still have blood crusted into the creases of her palms or a scream still looping in her head. She's the one who typically has herself together, has a semblance of a plan or at least a method of shining when everything around her has shorted out. It's less of an expectation from her than it is a routine. Ellie can pick up these little pieces and craft a mirrorball to hang in the middle of a dancefloor. She's the only one now who isn't still tearing up at random, choosing to think about literally anything else. Like how Tara’s hand runs rough only around the outside of her knuckles before softening out everywhere else. Maybe how Mom and Dad keep glancing at each other, maybe how Kirby-
