Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
ELLA HELD HER gaze to the sky during the time Rick was gone. She watched the night turn to the day in what felt like a matter of minutes. She had been counting the stars but now she was counting the clouds over her head. Counting the clouds and the stars helped her suppress the emotions she felt. She wished she were a cloud, they were so free, they never had emotions, they were just floating water vapor. They could go anywhere they wanted to, or that's what she told herself. If clouds did have some emotion, they were probably happy now that they could breathe without all of the pollution hurting the air. No factories pushing harmful chemicals out, not as many cars polluting the air, no aerosol being sprayed, absolutely nothing harmful was happening to the environment anymore from what she knew. The only harmful thing was the virus that was inside of everyone sitting here.
Ella slowly looked to the Sun, counting clouds as her eyes moved. She was reminded of the times when her and her mother would go out to the front yard and watch the Sun set in the sky. Her mother always gave her a brand new fact about the Sun every morning. One point three million Earths could fit into the Sun. She always looked forward to finding out new things about the Sun for the Sun fascinated young little Ella Walsh. The Sun was twenty-seven million degrees Fahrenheit. She used to want to be a scientist to study the Sun. It takes eight minutes for the Sun's light to reach Earth. When she told her mother she wanted to be a solar physicist, her mother was ecstatic and told her if anyone could do it, it'd be Ella. That boosted little Ella's ego. The Sun is the closest thing to a perfect sphere that's been observed in nature. Her mother was her biggest supporter. Helium was first discovered in the Sun, not the Earth. Ella missed her mother dearly, but Ella had to kill the monster that became of her at the start of the outbreak.
Suddenly, something touched Ella's arm. Ella turned her head down to her arm. She was brought back to reality. Tears welled up in her eyes when she remembered the events leading up to this moment. In front of her, Sasha had been taking the gunk out of her hair and watching her intently almost ever since Rick left. She met Sasha's gaze, Sasha's own eyes filled with tears. Her face had a tint of red with her dark skin, her eyes puffy, and dark circles visible under her eyes. No words had to be spoken between them for them both to understand what the other felt. Maggie understood it, too.
The sound of the RV rolling up to the clearing took their attention. Ella wondered if Rick was dead. She wouldn't put it past Negan to have killed a fourth person. After the vehicle came to a stop, Negan came out dragging Rick by jacket and throwing him to the ground. Ella was relieved to see Rick came back alive. He looked amongst the group, a smile curling upon his lips. "Let me ask you something, Rick. Do you even know what this little trip set up was about?" Rick looked over everyone, his eyes lingering longer on Ella and Carl. "Speak when you're spoken to," Negan ordered. He sighed. "This was about the way you looked at me. I wanted to change that, I wanted you to understand. But you're still looking at me in that same damn way. . . like I shit in your scrambled eggs, and that's just not gonna work," he knelt down in front of Rick, watching Rick tremble. "Do I give you another chance?"
