𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘪𝘹

                                    

                                          


                          
Last Day of Peace
                          
1390 words 
                          
The time went slowly, two days going past until somehow their final day in Jackson came, the sun barely above the houses as they stared down at Joel's grave. Violet held a vase of flowers in her hand, some she'd collected from the gardens and other's from her room she'd wanted to get rid of, slowly crouching down to set it on the frozen over grass, the snow beginning to melt away as spring crept up on them, plants slowly beginning to come back from the dead. Violet stared at the stone carved name, the gravestone making her begin to tear up as she shook her head and stood up walking to the front of the graveyard leaving Ellie to stand at Joel's grave for a moment, quietly mumbling a few words and then moving away from the grave and walking to Violet's side. 
                          
"I need to stop by the house, grab a few things before we leave." Violet muttered, wiping away any traces of her tears and began walking side by side with Ellie down the street neither really knowing what to say. The house was just down the road, Violet couldn't really even look at it but when she did, she couldn't take her eyes off of it, she wanted to just go back in her room and not leave, she couldn't look at his door, not yet. "Hey." Violet turned to look at Ellie not realizing that she'd been crying, her hand coming up to wipe away some tears as she looked away back at the house. "I'll get your stuff, okay?" Violet nodded as they finally walked up to the porch of the house, the entire front covered in flowers and little notes. 
                          
They both walked up the stairs, slowly making their way to the front door. Violet set her hand on the doorknob and slowly forced herself to push it open. The house no longer had the warm and welcoming feel that Joel had always given it, Violet nearly expected to hear the strumming of guitar strings coming from the living room but instead there was nothing but silence greeting them from every corner of the house. 
                          
"What do you need?" Ellie's voice was quiet, almost like a whisper as she stood watching Violet glance around the house before turning to look at Ellie. "I need my necklace, it's in the bathroom." "I'll be back in a minute, okay?" Violet nodded, Ellie then looked away and walked off leaving Violet to stand in the living room, quietly sitting down on the couch, her eyes slowly making their way to a framed photo of her, Ellie, and Joel. None of them were paying attention when it was taken, far too focused on the paper in front of them creating different origami figures out of different colored sheets. She stared at it for a moment, remembering how Joel couldn't figure out how to make a butterfly to save his life. A small smile made its way onto Violet's face as she remembered the moment, a part of her wishing she could go back to that day. 
                          
A knock then came from the door, Violet flinched, snapping out of her thoughts and standing up walking to the front door. She slowly opened it, Maria standing on the other side, her face showing clear signs that something was wrong, anger and stress written all over it as she made her way past Violet and into the house looking around with her hands on her hips. 
                          
"Is Ellie here with you?" "Yeah, why? Maria, what's wrong?" Maria shook her head and nodded for Violet to follow her, the girl's making their way into the dining room. "It's my idiot of a husband." Violet pulled a chair out and sat down looking over at Maria pacing back and forth with her hand on her head. "What did Tommy do?" "He left. I told him it wasn't a good idea, and there he went, I didn't..." Ellie's footsteps slowly made their way down the stairs, Maria and Violet turning to look at each other before looking at Ellie who now entered the room. Maria pulled out the letter she held in her hands, the one she assumed Tommy left her, the woman opening it as Ellie made her way to stand behind the chair that Violet was sitting on. 
                          
"Maria. I'm headed to Seattle. I wish I could let it go, but I can't. I have to bring these people to justice. Ellie's going to try to come after me but stop her. Take her guns. Lock up the horses. Maybe lock her up. Buy me some time so I can end this. Tell Violet I won't let them get away with this. Love you always. Tommy." Maria folded the letter back and leaned on the table looking back and forth between Ellie and Violet as she spoke. "He's gonna get himself killed." "He should've taken me with him. You should've given us a group to go after those fuckers!" "Ellie-" "I wish I could." Violet leaned back against the chair, Ellie's hand moving to rest on her shoulder but her stair never left Marias. "You gonna try to lock me up?" "I prefer you to stay-" "That's not gonna fucking happen-" "I prefer you to stay, but I know you better. Are you going with her?" Maria looked down at Violet, the girl silently nodding despite the blank expression on her face. 
                          
Maria nodded, her eyes softening slightly at how tired she looked, the girl not even speaking. "So you just gonna sneak outta here?" Ellie stood up straight, crossing her arms. "Yeah, was never that hard." Violet would've smiled at the memories if it wasn't for Maria's lingering threatening presence right in front of her. "On foot?" "Yeah." Maria then looked at Violet. "You would've let her?" "It's not letting her if you can't stop her, you and I both know she wouldn't have listened." Maria nodded, leaning on the table once again, her eyes shifting back and forth between the girls for a moment. 
                          
"I told the stable to let you out with your horse. Grab some ammo too." Violet looked up at Ellie, the girl meeting her eyes for a moment, Violet then turning back around to look at Maria. "Thank you." "Just do me a favor and bring my dumbass husband home in one piece, please." "Of course." Maria turned around to look out the window, before looking back at the girls. "Get going... you're losing light." Maria walked off without another word. Violet stood up from the chair, slowly pushing it back under the table before turning to look at Ellie, the girl's eyes already on her. 
                          
"Are you sure you wanna go?" Violet stared at her for a moment before nodding, crossing her arms over her chest. "Of course, Ellie." Ellie nodded before putting her hand in her pocket and pulling out Violet's necklace and pushing herself off the table. "Turn around." Violet complied, facing the wall as Ellie put the necklace around her neck, her fingers lightly grazing the nape of Violet's neck. She could feel Ellie's breath against her neck as she clipped the necklace, the butterfly pendant falling onto her sweater softly. Ellie's slowly pulled her hands away from Violet's neck going back down to her sides as Violet's hands went up, rolling the pendant in-between her fingers as she turned around to face Ellie once again. 
                          
"Ready?" Ellie seemed to snap out of something, quickly nodding her head and looking away, licking her lips. "Yeah." Violet took a deep breath before shuffling past Ellie, pausing for a moment as her eyes then moved to the living room. "One sec." Violet left Ellie standing in the hallway, lightly jogging over to the picture frame and taking the back off, the photo sliding out and into her hand of the three smiling at each other with origami figures in their hands, a smile making its way onto Violet's face as she turned to show Ellie. 
                          
"For the road." Ellie looked at the picture, a small hint of a smile on her face as she nodded watching Violet carefully fold the photo and tuck it away following Ellie to the front door, both oblivious to what was going to happen.
                          


                          
A/n: this sucks <3 thanks for 60 reads though holy crap, love y'all <3