This is a drabble. Feel free to make a request or two.
This was the end of my journey. This was the moment that would allow me to finally find peace after Joel was murdered. My body felt like it was going to collapse in on itself as I walked to the Pillars on the beach.
Like the man had said, the Pillars were impossible to miss. It was like looking at a forest of rotting trees. Each pillar had a different person hanging on them. Each a person that had angered the Rattlesnakes.
After looking for a minute I found the pillar with Abby on it. I had wanted our final confrontation to be rewarding but how could that happen now? It was surprising to see that she was still able to breathe. Not knowing what I planned, I cut her down so that she collapsed onto the sand.
As if from a great distance I watched Abby cut a small boy from his own pillar. I hadn't expected her to help someone else. I had expected her to attack me which would've allowed me to take all my pain and anguish out on her. Who was he to her?
"Come on," Abby said as she picked up the boy into her arms. "There are boats around here."
Why was I walking after her? I had come all of this way to kill her. I had sacrificed my relationship with Dina all so I could kill Joel's murderer. Yet with every footstep the idea I would kill such a worn down woman who, in her darkest moment, was thinking of helping someone else seemed ludicrous. It seemed horrible.
Abby and the boy went to one boat and I went to another. As I put my belongings into my boat the thoughts inside my head solidified into one: Joel's corpse.
Abby had bashed his face in with a golf club. But in this memory she wasn't there, only he was. The man who I considered a father and then a distant friend would not breathe another breath. There was no chance I could make amends with him like I should've before. The warm smile had been replaced by a face that was hardly a face anymore.
"Joel was like a father to me." I said faintly as if the words were having trouble getting out. "I know he wasn't perfect. I know how he massacred the Fireflies so that I wouldn't die. We weren't close at the end because...because I would've preferred being killed if it meant that everything would go back to like before."
I had expected Abby to get defensive. But she only remained silent and listened.
"Joel killed my father." Abby said after a moment's silence. "I was wrong for making you suffer. But we don't have time for this right now. Lev might not last much longer."
She was right, we didn't have time for this now. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let a child die. That child had been the only reason Abby hadn't killed Dina. Dina...I wondered if she would wait for me or if she would move on. Not wanting to feel more pain than I was already, my mind went back to when we had kissed for the first time.
Without meaning to, the memory of that kiss faded into Joel standing on the porch of his house that same night. A warm smile on his face. The words we had spoken became about more than just us and him.
"You're right." I replied as we both got into our boats. "I don't know if I can ever forgive you, but I can try. If the Fireflies do exist I'll go with you to find them. I'm the only person we know that is immune. I can make up for Joel's mistake."
"Yeah, I've found them." Abby said as we paddled off into the fog together. "We'll go to them."
As the fog nearly made Abby and Lev disappear from sight, I thought about Dina. I had promised her I would return home and if I didn't, she'd most likely think I was dead. She didn't deserve to suffer thinking I was in a place with fluffy clouds and angels.
So I decided that the first chance I got to send a letter to her I would. I'd tell her my need for vengeance was gone and I'd be sacrificing myself so that her and our child would live in a better world.
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