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THE WOODEN STAIRCASE FLOORBOARDS creaked under her weight as the exhausted brunette descended. As she moved, Danielle desperately hoped that she was wrong. That her assumptions would be proven false.
The closer to the kitchen she got, the more her heart began to harshly beat against her chest. Surely Ellie was just unable to sleep. That was why her side of the bed had been empty, not because Tommy's words had somehow convinced her that she needed to find and murder Abby.
She would go downstairs and find Ellie on the couch with her guitar or curled up with a comic. There was no way that she would be preparing to take off in the middle of the night.
And yet that was exactly what she happened upon.
There Ellie stood, completely oblivious to her girlfriends presence, dressed and readying up her backpack. Item after item was placed into the bag, everything she would need to trek all the way to Santa Barbara. Everything she would need to find and kill Abby.
"You weren't planning on leaving without a goodbye, were you?" Her voice caused Ellie to halt all movement.
The auburn-haired girl slowly spun around, her eyes falling upon her pyjama clad girlfriend in an instant. Had she been planning on leaving with a goodbye? Yes. If she had awoke the brunette, Ellie knew without a doubt that Danielle would have managed to convince her to stay. Hell, she probably would have jumped at the chance to fall back into bed with her.
But in Ellie's mind, she had to finish it. Finish what she had started all those months ago.
"Woke up and noticed you were gone. Your side of the bed was ice cold." She continued to speak but to no avail. Ellie refused to reply, instead choosing to just stand there staring.
"Is there any chance I can convince you to stay?" Danielle knew it was useless. Ellie was far too hardheaded to veer off from her path. It was something she both admired and hated about Ellie.
Ellie's eyes shimmered as she held back the tears that so desperately wished to fall. "I love you."
"Please don't." At the admission of the auburn-haired girls feelings, what should have been a joyous occasion instead was cloaked in nothing but despair. Danielle could swear she felt her heart ache. "Ellie, please don't have the first time you say that to me potentially be the last time I ever see you."
Her head shook from side to side, her low hanging curls brushing against the base of her neck as the nip of the spring morning began to seep through her clothes, sending a chill down her spine and causing goosebumps to built along her skin. "Just don't."
