Wildflower Wildfire, Ellie Williams.

𝟎𝟎𝟓. how to disappear

  She freezes in her spot when Ellie opens the door but she doesn't look away. Neither does Ellie. Alaska feels as though so many words are spoken, so many apologies and understandings, despite having said nothing at all.

  "Hey." Alaska spoke first, breaking through the silence, offering nothing but a short grin.

  "Hey." Ellie sighed.

  Alaska can hear the crickets chirping in the distance. The silence is overwhelming. She misses when she used to like the silence. She misses when the silence used to be her favorite song. She misses when she used to live in it as if the silence had been something she couldn't live without.

Now, though, the silence is much different.

  "Can I come in?" Alaska curls her brows with a familiar sense of sorrow.

  Ellie nods her head softly, "Yeah." She mutters as she moves away from the door, letting Alaska pass.

Alaska notices an untouched box sitting on the coffee table by the couch. Tommy had passed by earlier and dropped off some food that Maria made. Tommy told Alaska about their interaction— how Ellie was so determined to go to Seattle and catch the people that killed Joel. Tommy and Maria had been arguing about it while Alaska was locked in her room, unwilling to listen to the two banter back and forth.

  The truth is: Alaska will do anything to get justice. Just like Tommy and Ellie would. And Maria might just hate them for it.

Alaska stands by the door as Ellie closes it. She doesn't know how to shake the awkwardness in her body. She hasn't been inside Ellie's place in years but she notices how it all looks the same. Every time Alaska's eyes catch something— the posters, the drawings, the guitar— she thinks about the memories that come with it. Her heart aches slightly at the thought.

"Ellie?" Alaska turns to face her.

Ellie wipes the tears away from her face, "Yeah?" she lets out in a whisper.

  The pain on Ellie's face is something that physically hurts Alaska's chest. Like a knife stabbing into her lungs, twisting and turning. It's like a wave of sadness radiates across all four walls of the small garage, consuming them entirely. Mercilessly. 

"If you end up leaving tomorrow, I wanna come with you." Alaska let out, never pulling her eyes away.

Ellie shook her head instantly, "It's too dangerous—"

  "I don't care." Alaska cut her off.

  "Maria wouldn't just let you leave." Ellie continued to argue, crossing her arms over her chest. "And she won't change her mind."

  "Neither will I. She'll understand." Alaska nodded her head, looking down at her shoes. "These people... they're the people I grew up with. They don't care about who they hurt, and I can't just let them get away with it." She said, looking up at Ellie with a pleading look. "I'm done running from them."

  Ellie lets out a deep sigh, shifting in her place as she looks down at her feet. Deep down, Ellie knows that nothing will stop Alaska from coming to Seattle with her. And there's a small part of Ellie that's relieved by the thought of knowing that Alaska feels the same way she does. They'll stop at nothing to get what they want.

"Okay." Ellie says, barely nodding her head.

  For a short moment, the unbeatable silence returns. It echoes loudly, like a lingering shadow or an endless void. Neither of them know what to say next. It's so odd to suddenly speak to someone that you haven't spoken to in such a long time. Someone that's become a stranger, yet someone that you know so deeply.