Chapter 2 - Character Story

I woke up at what I thought was morning and was pleased to see that I had managed to sleep through most of the day. It was late afternoon, and the sun was shining directly in my face through the window of my messy, old room. I thought it would be best for me to sleep this late because "he" was coming, and I was probably in for a long, sleepless night. I slowly sat up and groaned at the annoyance of that blasted sunlight shining in my eyes. I did manage to get up out of bed and shove the curtains closed.
Just as I was slipping on my boots and was reaching for my hat, there came a knock at my door, and I opened it up to see who was there. It was one of the nice young ladies that took care of the inn (which was the place I called home). She looked at me strangely like most of the people do. They thought my gray skin and black eyes looked odd. I had to speak loudly for her to snap out of it and listen to me.
"Can I help you, miss?" I asked, and she jumped.
"Um, a man's here to see you, sir," she said in a timid and shy voice. (That’s the way they all talk to me.)
"Already? Well, thank you very much. Tell him I'll be down in a moment."
"Yes, sir."
I closed the door and walked into the bathroom, looking in the mirror at my imperfect reflection. It was the same old me that I had been the day before. I still had my gray skin, my eyes were still black, and I still had that bloody kiss mark on my cheek. (That was the reason they look at me strangely.) I wished so much that it would go away. My hair really didn't need brushing, so I just ran my fingers through it and put my hat back on. Then I was on my way down to meet with "him".
"Gonan! It's about time you came down here." He greeted me loudly as I emerged from the stairway.
“I heard you have a job for me,” I said getting right down to business.
“Yeah, I think yer goanna like this un. We think he’s one of Demon’s men but yer goanna be more excited about who yer savin’.”
Demon was kind of like my arch enemy. His men were always giving me trouble, and most of the guys I was after were in league with him. I was hoping that, one day, I would be able to get Demon himself. His men were giving me an awful lot of trouble, and I was getting tired of it. They always seemed to be committing the crimes that set me off the most.
“Just tell me what I’m up against,” I said with a friendly smile.
“I’m not sure what his name is, but he targets ladies most often,” he said, waiting for my reaction.
My expression suddenly became serious. “Don’t worry about it; he’s as good as dead.”
“That right there is just the kind of enthusiasim we’re lookin’ for. I know how ya hate guys who pick on girls.”
“How much?”
“We’ll decide that when I see the condition ya bring ‘im back in.”
“It’s a deal. I’ll have him to you by tomorrow at the latest. I can’t promise that he’ll be in one piece, though.”
“Good, I’ll see ya tomorrow then.”
There was a group of people sitting at a table behind us that were playing cards. One of them, a girl with her hat hanging off of her neck, leaned back and shoved my arm.
"Y'need any help with 'im, boss?" she asked loudly.
"Nia, I need you and Rene to stay here and keep Pixie safe, okay?" I said, keeping my serious tone.
"Awww, why do we hafta miss out on the fun?"
"Because I need someone to protect Pixie. Besides, I've already got a plan, and it doesn't require more than one person."
"What's the plan, boss?" asked another girl with long hair who was sitting across from Nia."
"Well, one of those wealthy men from up north is coming into town tonight, and I believe that if this man is one of Demon's, he'll be there to rob them," I said with confidence.
"So, yer goanna stuff 'im there?" Nia asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I'm just hoping that the coach will get here tonight. I'm getting my payment tomorrow."
"You'd be in quite a fix if you showed up to collect yer payment, and ya didn't have yer guy."
"That's why I'm getting him tonight."
We all leaned in close to the center of the table. This was usually the part where I told them what was really going on, but I had a better idea. Since we didn't have any identification for this man, I thought it would be better that we make sure no enemies heard our real plan.
"So, what's the real plan, boss?" Nia asked quietly.
"I'm not telling you quite yet. We'll have a meeting in the back room in approximately five minutes. Don't be late," I said with a commanding tone.
"Wait a minute, if you say approximately, don't that mean we can come in around five minutes?" Rene asked in confusion.
"No, it means that you can show up before five minutes, but if you're even a second late, there will be trouble."
"Okay, I was just makin' sure. See yall later then."
* * * *
Five minutes later Rene came scurrying into the back room with only a second to spare. Everyone was seated in a dark room that only had one or two hanging lamps to light it. We had two men guarding the entrance, and two looking around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping on our conversation. That was the better setting I was looking for. I was ready to tell them my real plan.
"Now can ya tell us what the plan is, boss?" Nia asked for the third time.
"Yeah, and I think you guys are going to like this," I said, getting excited like the rest.
"Alright, spill it. We already know there aint no wealthy man who's cumin' into town tonight. We'd a heard about that before now."
"Yes, it's true, I made that all up. Actually, you and Rene are the ones who are going to be in the coach, and you'll be protecting Pixie from there."
"Huh? Why does Pixie have ta tag along with us?" Rene asked, just as confused as she was before.
I sighed. "She’s just so set on helping me out that I couldn't say no."
"That's right, and even if I have ta be bait I'll do my part to help Gonan out," Pixie said, walking over and hugging my arm.
Pixie was my girlfriend. She could be a pain at times, but I was just so happy to have a doll like her as my own, that I seemed to forget about that. Besides, all she wanted to do was help me out. I just couldn't turn her away when she looked at me and used "that" face. I guess you could say it was my weakness. Well, I guess it was only my weakness for her. I'm sure that no bad guy could go in, rob a bank, give me puppy dog eyes, and get away with it.
"Alright, lemme get this straight. You want us to get all prettied up so we can go with ya in a big ol stage coach and go catch a bad guy that we don't even know the name of?" Rene asked with the confusion that was starting to become commonplace for her.
"Well, not exactly. I'm going to be driving that "big ol" stage coach," I said with a smile.
"Oh, okay, so we get all prettied up, then you drive us in the big ol stage coach, and we just assume that yer man heard us?"
"No, if you girls get all "prettied up", then he'll think we are wealthy people who came from up north."
"But how'll we know it's him?"
"He's one of Demon's men; he'll be wearing the symbol on his jacket."
"Suppose he don't wear a jacket?"
"Rene, this isn't important, but all of Demon's men have a tattoo on their hand, so we would be able to catch him that way. Either way, it doesn't really matter. You're not ever going to see him. You'll be watching the window and waiting for my signal. When I give it you, you’ll pull out your guns and be ready for ambush."
"That's just in case he should bring some guys with 'im?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Oh, I get it now."
"So, I'll expect to see you all here in a couple of hours. A couple of hours is two if you can't count. Oh, and you have to be prompt. Do you get it, Rene?"
"Yes sir, I won't be late again. You'd probably take my head off with that pistol a yers if I did that."
"That's right, then let's move out, and I'll see you then."
* * * *
We all arrived, on time, in the back room two hours later. Rene, Nia, and Pixie were looking more beautiful than they ever had been (except for Pixie, who was always at her prettiest), and they were prepared to catch the guy. A stage coach, which was also “prettied up”, was waiting for us outside. I thought that a wealthy man might have a more flamboyant looking coach than a man who wasn't so wealthy. As soon as everyone was all settled, we were off to catch our bad guy.
We had to take the back way out of town so nobody would see us. Then we would turn around and go back in to town by the normal rode where, hopefully, our man would be waiting for us. I sat there, quietly driving the coach, while the girls sat inside. I could hear them chattering away like they always did. Pixie was watching me, but she didn’t know I could see her. I could tell that she thought I was lonely, but I really wasn’t. I didn’t mind being alone at a time when I was doing my job.
There was a group of about five people waiting for us at the entrance to the town. One of them came up to the coach, and I stopped. He had his hands in his pocket where I couldn’t see what they were doing. I put one of my hands behind my back and looked down at him. Immediately I gave the girls my signal, but I couldn’t look back to see if they were paying attention.
“Aint you that wealthy man they said was cumin into town on business er somethin’ like that?” the man asked.
“I might be, what would you gain by knowing that?” I asked loudly.
“Oh, you got one a them proper accents, so you must be him.”
"If you say so."
"Well then, if you really are that wealthy man, you better..."
I pulled out my pistol and pointed it straight at the man. "Freeze and put your hands where I can see them."
He looked at me in shock but did what I said. I didn't move for the longest time. My mind was telling me to pull the trigger but my hand wouldn't do it. Even though I knew the things he had done I still couldn't kill him. I very badly wanted to kill that man, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I didn't know what was wrong with me. In the end I handcuffed him and took him in the next day. I guess I just figured that it takes one to kill one or something like that. I was never a fan of morals, but that is another story entirely.

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