There was a certain silence Ellie had grown to know.
Death was one of them.
She sat and let the whistling wind gently sway her about, one foot resting on its heel, letting the other lay flat. The wood would of the porch swing would creek and the metal would screech every so often, if and when the currents had picked up or not.
Though she ignored it.
For all Ellie could hear was the thin but loud thump of her own pulse. Or maybe it wasn't hers. Maybe it was someone else's. How she wished it was… could be someone else.
However she did not want just any strangers pulse; she wanted his. To once again fall asleep to that soft beat, a rhythm of sense and security it had.
Now, the only sense of security was Dead.
Ellie's eyes were as empty as the white void before her. She became so memorized by the millions of snow flurries going in no real direction that she barely noticed a figure emerging from it's depth.
She thought she was dreaming. There, he was waking her up from the most horrid nightmare her mind had ever conjured up.
"… ake… ou ake?"
She thought to murmur something in return to him.
" -eh… ou ake?"
"…Yea."
"Hey!"
Ellie gasped so sharply she almost choked. Her eyes refocused on the scroungy looking Man who stood away from the deck, obviously not wanting to startle a young girl like herself.
"I said, are you awake? You, looked as though you were dozing off there," the Man spoke.
His voice unsettled Ellie, yet was strangely soft and assuring.
Perhaps that's what unsettled her.
She chose not to answer.
He continued anyway. "Name's David… how about yours?"
Again, there was silence.
"Are you alright? You look as if…" David studied Ellie before finishing, "… something happened."
He was obviously implying the dried tear streams upon the Girls face; they were somewhat more noticeable with the seasons bright contrast.
"I take it you're all alone?" David asked, as he jumped over the railing and onto the deck.
Ellie quickly jolted her legs up so her knees shielded the rest of her body.
David stood still with one hand resting on the railing, weary of the young girls reaction.
He grinned, "Don't worry now, i won't hurt you," he said with a meek smile.
She glared at him.
"There's a town not too far from here… other kids there, around your age… you're welcome to come, if you haven't anywhere else to go."
Ellie had made up her mind long before David had even began, though. No. Never would she ever ever trust anyone ever again-
"There's food and shelter, too." He said, kneeling down onto one knee.
-or be close to them or rely on someone else for the rest of her-
"…And a place for you there."
Her eyes darted to were David had laid his hand on top of hers. Ellie noticed the warmth and roughness of his palm, how similar it was to… his.
The sense of security it's pulse held.
She looked up to David's face, whom had a grin that held the innocence of a child.
He asked again, "I'd think it would be better than to, be all alone… wouldn't it?"
Ellie parted her lips enough for her to exhale. For a second she looked away, and then back to David.
"…Okay."
