.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘 collapse on itself, Stella would worry about stuff like school, boys, friends, status, the future, and her appearance- stuff that now sounded absurd.

Now, after the fall as Stella came to call the end of the world, surviving and protecting her family were the only things that occupied her mind.

At first, Stella thought that she and her family were the only survivors in the world- or what was left of it. But as people began to join their group, Stella began to think that there was hope for a new world. Building societies and communities.
But after the news about her father, her whole world fell apart, and the little hope that she had felt, how tiny it was, disappeared.

☆

Stella stared at the boy as he stepped out of the forest, with his arms in the air. He looked like he was around Stella's age. His clothes were dirty and his blue shirt was stained with blood. His face wore the same stains as his clothes, except the sun that illuminated his face revealed tracks from tears. Big bags under his brown eyes revealed that he- like everyone else in the apocalypse- had spent many nights without any sleep. His brown, short hair was messy and sweaty. The boy was wearing fingerless- gloves and the only weapon he seemed to be carrying was a small knife, which rested in his brown, leather holster.

In the corner of her eye, Stella saw Dale lower his aim from the boy and let out a loud, relieved sigh, like he had expected to see a 10-foot-tall monster.

But Shane's gun was still steadily aimed at the unknown boy in front of him.
"Step back!" He yelled at the obviously scared boy. "What do you want?!"

"Shane!" Stella's mother took a sharp step towards the man and gave him a quick look- telling him to calm down. "He's just a boy." She lowered her voice to a soft whisper. "I'm sorry sweetheart, come here. Let me get you cleaned up."

She talked to him like he was a child, something that would get Stella furious. She hated when people treated her like a child.

"Lori!" Shane protested. "We don't know him. Hand over your weapons, son." Shane reached out his hand for the boy- who still hadn't said a word, to place his knife and a gun that he pulled out from under his stained shirt.

"Stella," her mother placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder and met her gaze. "Take Carl into the tent and go to sleep."

"But.. I.." Stella wanted to stay and see what was happening to the boy but knew that there was nothing she could say to change her mother's stubborn mind. The girl sighed before grabbing her younger brother's hand and started leading him to the tent.
Before leaving she glanced back at the boy, meeting his brown eyes.

Stella crawled into her sleeping bag and stared up at the blue tent's ceiling. She tried to close her eyes but she knew that it would be impossible for her to get any sleep. Her curiosity overwhelmed her, making theories and questions about the boy echo in her head.
After about two hours of making hopeless attempts to sleep, the girl gave up and snuck out of the tent to not wake up her sleeping brother and mother.

The moon and a dim light from one of the tents were the only things lighting up the camp. The girl's bare feet met the grass-covered quarry ground as she stepped outside. The girl took a deep breath and felt as the night's smells filled her lungs. Dale was sitting on the RV, that was parked a few yards away, scouting for any dead. A light but warm, night, summer breeze blew on her bare arms as she began to walk to the logs where she had been sitting only a few hours ago. But as she got closer she noticed the back of a person sitting on one of the logs, staring into the put-out fire. Although Stella only had seen the boy once, she immediately knew that it was him.

Stella hesitated for a moment before walking over to the log next to him and sitting down.

"Hi." Her voice came out more shrill than she had expected.
The boy's head flew up and his gaze met Stella's.
"Hi." Stella heard the boy's voice for the first time.
The boy's words were followed by a long silence. Stella looked out to the dark, still forest and listened to the sound of a bird twittering in the distance and the wind blowing in the trees.
A a few moments of sitting quiet Stella asked.
"What's your name?"

"Levi, Levi Jacobs," the boy answered. "What's yours?"

"Stella Grimes. Where are you from?"

"Charleston. You?" Levi looked up at Stella.

"Atlanta."
Stella's words were followed by another thick silence. The girl looked over to Dale, who still hadn't noticed her. Not that she wasn't allowed to leave her tent, but because she was speaking to the unknown boy.

"So, what's gonna happen now? I mean, you planning on staying?" Stella, once again, broke the silence and looked up at the brown-haired boy.

"I mean, I think. The man, Shane was it? He and Lori decided that they were gonna let me stay." A smile appeared on the boy's face and Stella could tell that the boy was happy about the decision. "Lori, that your mom?"

Stella nodded in response.

"She's nice. I like her, and the old man."

Stella was filled with curiosity. She wanted to know about Levi's past. How he has survived on his own and for how long. A lot of people that joined their camp were survivors who had spent a long time out there, but she had never met a person her age who had survived by themselves. But she wasn't sure if the subject was sensitive.

"How long have you been out there, alone." Stella almost whispered the last word, like she was embarrassed to say it-which she was. She didn't want to hurt him by reminding him of his past and his probably dead family.

"My family died at the start, when everything went to hell. Been alone since."
Stella heard the pain in his voice, even though he tried to hide it.

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault." He tried to laugh it off, but Stella could see that the question had brought back many horrible memories. Even though the boy avoided eye contact, Stella could see the pain in his eyes. 

"My dad's dead. Died at the start." Stella looked down at her hands, as a way to avoid eye contact.

The two sat in silence once again. But not an awkward one. A beautiful silence between two teenagers endeavoring to survive the end of the world, sharing their losses and emotions.

Stella took a deep breath and felt as all the night's smells took over her senses. She felt a sense of peace, for the first time in a long time she felt peace- sharing her pain with the boy.

The silence continued for a few minutes before a long conversation about old life, family, dreams, and favorite things broke out. A conversation that would last the whole night.
Before Stella knew it, the sun began to rise from behind the mountains.
But she wasn't tired. She was happy, a feeling that she hadn't felt in a long while. And the girl who had doubted the meaning of her life suddenly felt hope- thanks to a stranger.

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟏𝟑𝟑𝟕 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝐬𝐭
𝟑:𝟒𝟐 𝐏𝐌
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍

I lowkey hate some parts of this chapter bc it makes me cringe lol but it's also sooo beautiful!!
I🚢 Stella and Levi so much
Also got a new prp love it

And I want to finish FOUND LIGHT but bro that story makes me cringe. Like the writing is 💀

Anyways vote if you ship Levi and Stella 💕

Love y'all!!!