𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 - 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙮

Fifty-Nine

It's late in the afternoon when Ellie wakes up. She yawns, stretches, and gets out of bed when a folded up piece of paper falls to the floor. She picks it up and unfolds it. She smiles, realizing it's one of Abel's drawings. Her smiles drops when she examines it. There's two stick figures. One is standing up with what looks like a gun in it's hand while the other figure is laying down on the ground with what looks like blood surrounding it. X's are drawn over the eyes. Ellie sees a word written over each figure, in Abel's sloppy handwriting, as she tries reading it. She squints her eyes, stares at the drawing closely, and gasps.

'Grandma' and 'Mommy' are written in big messy letters above the two figures.

Ellie holds onto the drawing and goes into her brothers bedrooms to find them both empty. After having just seen the drawing, and connecting the dots, she panics. She goes into her parents bedroom and finds the gun her mom keeps hidden in her closet. She puts it in waist of her pants. She goes to the bathroom, her heart racing, hoping what Abel's just confirmed for her isn't actually true. She puts on her shoes and grabs the house phone. She dials the first number that comes to mind, "Hello?" Jax asks.

"Hey, dad," Ellie breaths, "I- uh, just woke up. Noone's home. I was wondering where Abel and Thomas are."

"Wendy took them to Gemma's," Jax tells her, "Wanted to let you get your rest. Everything okay, Ellie? You seem out of breath."

"No, yeah, I'm fine. Just... had a nightmare. Um, I wanna go see them. Can someone pick me up?"

"I'll have one of the prospects give you a ride. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, dad."

"Love you. See you later."

Ellie hangs up, grabs a jacket, and waits for the sound of a motorcycle out front.

~ SOA ~ ~ SOA ~

Arriving at Gemma's, Ellie heads inside. She walks inside the house and finds Abel and Wendy in the kitchen.

"Sissy!" Abel greets her, waving, "Hi!"

"Hi," Ellie gives them a weak smile, "Where's... Thomas? Grandma?"

"She's putting him down for a nap and then it's time for me to go home." Wendy ruffles Abel's hair, "Almost bedtime for you too, little man."

"Abel?" Ellie goes over to him and holds his hand, "C'mon, I'll help you get ready for bed."

"Goodnight." Wendy cleans up the table.

"Goodnight." Abel responds.

Ellie walks into her dad's old room and sees Thomas asleep in his portable crib. She tucks Abel into bed, kissing him, "I love you."

"I love you." Abel rolls onto his side, yawning.

"Abel?" Ellie debates on asking him as she takes out his drawing folded up in her pants pocket, "Did you draw this?"

"Yes." Abel says.

"Why?"

Abel does say anything.

"Did you see something? Hear anything?" Ellie points at the figure he labeled Gemma, "Why did you write Grandma here?"

"Grandma said so." Abel tells her.

"Grandma said what?"

"She told Tommy."

"Did- did she tell Tommy that she hurt mommy?" Abel nods and Ellie's heart races.

"Thank you for telling me. Stay in bed. Kay?" She kisses him and then checks on Tommy. Once she watches Abel close his eyes, she shuts the door softly and heads into the kitchen. She doesn't see Wendy around, just Gemma, washing dishes at the kitchen sink.