Chapter 1

Joel pulled into his dimly lit driveway and cut the engine. The radio turned off, replaced by the deep silence you could only find miles from a city. For the first time today, Joel had time to think.

He scowled and shoved the car door open with unnecessary force. He hated the silence. Once he was out of the car, the familiar humming of crickets filled his ears. His shoulders relaxed slightly as he walked toward his opening garage door.

"Hi!" A loud shout shattered the quiet night. Joel jumped involuntarily as he turned to face the offender. A little girl with dirty auburn hair tied up in a ponytail was standing at the edge of his yard. She snorted, "Did I scare you or something?"

"No." Joel's voice was strained, "It's 10pm, kid. Go home."

"Wait!" She hurried across the yard to him and stopped at the edge of his driveway. Joel realized with a jolt that she was older than he'd thought, maybe twelve or thirteen. She was very small for her age. Her bright green eyes seemed to bore into his, "Can I have some water?"

"What?" Joel scowled, his patience frayed, "Don't you have water at home?"

The girl scowled back, "Yeah, but I got locked out and my parents aren't home yet." She crossed her arms, "Happy?"

Joel sighed and went inside without another word. As he grabbed water bottles from his garage, he felt a vague pang of concern. He would have come home right away if she'd locked herself out. "No." Joel growled to himself as he shoved the thought away and walked back outside.

"Here you go, kid." He dumped four water bottles into her hands.

"Whoa, thanks dude." The girl staggered under the weight, "My name's Ellie, by the way." She added pointedly, "Not kid."

"Ok, kid." Joel responded. Ellie stuck her tongue out at him, and he felt his lips curving into an almost-smile as he turned away and went inside. By the time Joel closed the garage door behind him, his smile was gone. "Goddamn kid." He muttered as he unlaced his boots.

He banged through empty cabinets until he found an errant stick of beef jerky, then bit off a hunk. Stomping upstairs, he went to his own room. Normally, he was so exhausted from a day of work that he didn't even look at the door next to his. Today, it took every fiber of his being not to.

Why did that kid have to come along? Why did she have to act so much like her?

Joel's eyes burned. He stepped outside his room and looked at the forbidden door. The knob was dusty. He yanked off his shirt and tenderly wiped the dust away. What did the room look like now? He couldn't think about it.

When he rolled into bed, his last conscious thought was fervently wishing he'd never see that kid again.