Title: Unlaid ghosts
Characters: Joel, Ellie
Rating: G
Prompt:
Burn


He keeps the old photograph in his right breast pocket; its edges are stained, dog-eared from too much handling, but Sarah's smile remains bright. Too bright. He has to look away from that smile, lest it blind him. Joel dares not look at his phantom-self, the man who bled as his daughter bled, grew cold in the ground as he did. Mostly, though, he can't look at her. Sarah. He can't look, because she is so much like Ellie, too much, blurring the lines. He has to remind himself of who she is. Not his daughter. He burns the picture.