After everything we'd been through we had finally made it back to Tommy's dam. We had moved into this house, it wasn't too far away from the dam but we still had our own space. The house was abandoned but still in a pretty good shape. Ellie mostly spent her days riding the horses with Maria. She got to enjoy life, which was all I wanted. And when it came to me.. well, Tommy had found a guitar from this same house while he'd been around looking for supplies. He'd given it to me, and so I'd spend most of my time playing guitar on the porch. Even now. It was almost like everything had returned to normal, even though nothing would ever be quite the same. But we had to keep living.. to keep fighting through every single day. Me and my baby girl.
And as I sat there, playing the guitar in piece, my mind took me many years back into the past. Back to that time before the world turned to hell. I had lived together with my daughter, Sarah. She had been my everything.. but then this cruel world had taken her away from me. Everything had changed that night.. my whole life and myself included. And even now, remembering her brought some lonely tears into my eyes. I couldn't help it. The memories came rushing back and made everything pretty hard. Sometimes I felt like I had nowhere left to go and nobody really cared. But then I remembered Ellie, and I knew that I'd never give up on her. Together we'd been through thick and thin, and we were still here, alive and together. That couldn't be for nothing. Ellie.. in some way she really reminded me of Sarah, and even though the thought of my daughter pained me greatly, I had learned that there was still some good left in this world. If I had never met Ellie, I probably would never have learned that. So I've got so much to thank her for. In some way she'd saved me.
There I was, just staring into the sunset and playing my guitar.. so deep in my thoughts that I didn't even hear the footsteps that approached me. But as I saw someone's shadow next to me, I turned my head and saw Ellie. She had that smile on her face which told me that she'd been having fun.
- So, how'd it go with the horses? Everything went fine?
I asked, and she nodded. Oh, how I loved that happy smile of hers.
- Yeah, it was amazing,
she immediately replied.
- Hey, Joel, why don't you come with me tomorrow?
she then asked.
- We could go together!
I didn't have the heart to turn her down, but before I could answer, we heard a dog barking next to us.
- See, even Lucy wants you to come!
Ellie continued. Lucy. We had found her roaming the forest. I think she was a shiba. She had seemed harmless enough so we had brought her back home with us. She didn't seem too old, maybe a year and a half. So now she lived with us, and seeing how much Ellie loved the dog made me feel that I had made the right choice. Ellie had even named her.
- Okay, Ellie,
I finally answered to her question.
- I'll come with you tomorrow.
- Great!
she said with her face lighting up yet again. She sat down next to me, eyed me for a little while and then asked:
- Joel.. can I play for a little bit?
I nodded and handed the guitar to her. I had taught her how to play it. We had talked about it somewhere on the road, and once we had finally settled in, I had kept my promise. And as I listened to her slowly play the guitar next to me, I had to admit that she was pretty good at it.
I knew that memories about my past weren't going to leave me alone, but I had learned to continue onward. I had everything I needed right here, and life was still worth living.