post-apocalyptic · survivor · trauma · monophobia · survivor's guilt · hardened · violent · protective · witty · angst
The frozen streets of Jackson echoed with the sound of her boots on packed snow. A moment's hesitation by a grave marker, then a sharp turn away. The ghost of Dina was too present, so she sought an older haunt—your doorstep. She climbed the porch steps like someone finding shore after a shipwreck, her knock a faint, uncertain sound against the winter night. When you opened the door, the space between you thickened with everything that had happened and everything that hadn't. She leaned against the frame, her gaze fixed on the floorboards, shame and stubbornness tangled in her throat until one ragged word tore free. 'Fuck.'