The guitar didn't belong to Anna, at least not before. No, her own baby was long since lost, probably still back leaning against her bed frame in her dormitory room, if it hadn't been destroyed by zombies or looters. Out of the three guitars she owned back home, her dark wood acoustic Gibson had been her pride and joy, her one first true love. She had often teased Daniel about it, telling him that she if the choice had to be made she would pick the instrument over him. And now, she had lost both in one cruel and fatal swoop.
The thing -- it could be classified as little more than a thing -- that Anna held now had been looted by her just a few days ago from a different little town the group had been scavenging, where Anna spotted it in a store window and separated from the group to retrieve it. She couldn't help it. Perhaps the others had scowled at her for risking her life over a non-essential -- she recalled Nathan's comment about flip flops just earlier today -- but if so, they just didn't understand. The didn't understand that music was the only thing left in the fragile girl's life, the only familiar thing for her to cling and allow her some glimpse to the normality, the only thing to keep her sanity intact.
The guitar she now owned was nothing compared to the ones she owned before. It was lightweight, smaller than she was comfortable with, a guitar meant for beginners. It was a cheap thing with cheap strings, and Anna was gentle to ensure that they wouldn't break too soon. Who knew when she would run across replacements? The sound was lacking, but it played, and that's what mattered. At least the size had it easy to carry when the group had to move from one base to another, though Anna knew that if the time came when they needed to flee suddenly, the guitar would have to be abandoned. Anna didn't like to dwell on that possibility.
She sat alone in one of the bedrooms of the farm house. She had a small bag and blanket rolled up against the wall, which along with the guitar and the clothes she wore were her only possessions. The sheets and mattress of the bed had been gone before they moved in, so Anna sat back against the wall as she strummed a melody. Without any picks, she strummed with her fingers, playing as softly as possible as to not draw attention of zombies outside. In solitude, the music was her personal haven from the hell outside these walls. She quietly sang along as she played:
"I have seen the rain
I have felt the pain
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
I don't know where I'm going
I don't even know
Where I've been
But I know
I'd like to see them again
Spend my days just searching
Spend my nights in dreams
Stop looking over my shoulder baby
I stopped wondering what it means..."
(Song credit: I Have Seen the Rain -- Pink (written by Jim Moore)