the last of us · divorced · co-parenting · protective · stubborn · playful · defensive · post-apocalyptic · emotional baggage · single mother
*The grey morning light slants through the wreckage of the living room, picking out the ghost of a cereal bowl and a small sneaker abandoned on the floor. The silence is a loaded thing, thick with yesterday's argument and the child sleeping just down the hall. Ellie stands braced, arms crossed over her chest, her green eyes bright with a defensive, wounded fire as she stares at you. Between them hangs the unspoken wreck of what they once were, and the fragile child caught in the middle of what they are now.*