Desperado

Within the desert lies a magical world of images,myths,and legends. In the night things take on a different light.On one such night came a man,out of the darkness,who walked into the life of someone thought to be mad. This dusky sunset,he seemed to appear out of the shadows,walking into the light of the lantern.He wore all black,leather trousers,no shirt,and a black leather long coat,with a gun strapped to his thigh. His boots rose to his knees,and he wore a top hat over his long dark hair.Eyes glittered within black smudged circles,and frown lines were painted on his mouth.Add to this a single spur,on his left boot. A large silver spur,held in place by a leather strap.
The home he had arrived at was set at the very edge of town,as if kept separate,at bay,from the others.
An old woman set on the porch,rocking in her chair,while another figure sat at the bottom of the steps. The boy watched him come,alert to any false moves. Approaching the house,he walked with his head down,face thrown into reliefs,light and dark. Making the black on his face even more stark. Moving closer to the steps,he raised his eyes to the boy. Then,a slight frown crossed his features.Here was something odd,he thought.This was this.Yet,there was the look of one.The elderly one paid him no mind,which was a new thing for him.
"Who are you?" asked the younger one,the boyish girl.Such a puzzle,this one.
"Well,I'm not a good man,but I didnt ask to .be a bad one." came the reply,with a sly grin.
He could now see the girl better. Her eyes held a faraway look in them,even as she spoke to him. He knew this look,he'd seen ti before,in the mentally deranged. The old woman looked down at him then.
"You cant fix her.She's much like a broken toy. Left here by parents who couldnt deal with her kind. She's a lots soul.But,that's what you're here for,isnt it."
Her words hit him,riveting his eyes to her.She was seeing him,as he truly was,inside.
"alright,..what do I want,old woman?What do you see,..?"
I know you,..you're death.Come as handsome as can be,yet looking like the dead themselves. You are cold,no color,no heart."
Thinking this over,he replied,
"Like I said,I didint ask to be bad,and I do have a heart. I may be death,but only to those who ask to die.I came into this other world,not given a choice of any other path.I'm a killer,alright. I'm made this way.How could I be another way."
As he spoke,he began to wonder,just slightly,if it all could change.Was he not the Master,of his own fate? Was in not he who decided other's fates?He had come down this road,leaving pain and tears behind him. There times,.yes,..when he had not wanted to pull his gun,not wanted to end another life. His world was of silence,and unhappiness. None smiled at him as he went by,no one spoke words of kindness.They just moved back,wary of his arrival.
Still,he was sent,and must find the one he came for.This time,it was a truly deserving death.Not on the borders of right or wrong.It was a man who dealt death himself.Many had died by his hand.
Suddenly,the old woman laughed.
"Oh,..yes.The Devil to change his ways! I might live so long!"
She chuckled a couple of more times,and stopped. How could she read him,he thought.Was she,.he only read good from her.Puzzled,he asked,dumbly,
"You cant be an Angel,.they dont exist." he said.
She didnt answer,and he got chills up his spine.He reached out and grabbed the girls chin,raising her face to meet his gaze.
Leaning down close,he whispered in her ear.
"Who's she,girl."
Suddenly,she turned to touch his cheek with her lips,a child's sweet kiss.His eyes blazed alarm.With his other hand,he drew his gun,almost in panic.
"Make no mistake.I deal death here tonight,I do not go to make friends."
The girl's eyes seemed to focus on him then,and she reached up to him in a placating way.
It was the old woman who spoke.
" Change,..if you want.As I said,the Devil to change his ways,not in my lifetime.And,yet,there is a want in you,..". Her words trailed off.
"Look here,woman,if either of you plan to try and save me,if you can,you'll have to wait.I got work to do."
Then his eyes closed,and opened once more.They were the eyes of a serpent,cold blooded and distant.
With that said,eh turned back on the road,toward town.Unknown to him,the girl followed him,from a ways back,so that he would not sense or see her.She had told her grandmother that he was hers. The old woman let her go,with a sad heart,watching silently as she went.Her ancient eyes could see what the young one's could not. He was tired of killing,and his shadow had told her that he wouldnt leave this place,..not alive.
Walking through quite town,toward the tavern,he went up the stairs and opened the doors to the hall. Entering ,he noticed music playing,people drinking and playing cards.Nothing new.As he entered the room,he stopped and just stood there,waiting for the man who knew was coming,to rise. The man,John Gage,saw him,and stood up to meet him.
"So,..Matthias,you've come for me,then."
Matthias nodded,and turned back out the way he had come in. Down the stairs and onto the street he walked.In the middle of the street,he found his position.As he did,he saw out of the corner of his eye,something wrong.Turning,he saw,there in hte shadows to his right,..the girl crouching in the alleyway.His face filled with fury as he saw her.
"Leave,now!',her yelled' you can stop nothing by being here!".
He stormed over to her and jerked her to her feet.Then,he saw that she wasnt really a child at all.A young woman stood before him,though still clothed in boys threads.All the fullness in her heart was in her eyes,and he read it.
She looked into those cold angry eyes,and a tear rolled down her cheek. She was crying now,
"I'll be there for you.I forgive you for all that you have done,and for what you will do tonight.Take my love with you as you go back into this street.She then put her small arms round his neck,pulled him close and pressed her lips full onto his.
For one second he let her linger,then removed her arms,and he leaned away from her,almost in fear.He knew the Devil,yes he did.What he didnt know was anything even remotely close to what she offered now.She had told him to take her love with him,to do what he had to do.
Perhaps there were Angels,after all,he thought.
"Which of us dies here tonight,Killer."
Gage had stopped in the middle of the street and was there waiting for him to act.Killer took off his hat and handed it to her.
"Hold onto this for me,will ya?"
The tails of his coat hung just below his knees,and without his hat,he was even more frightening to look at,as he sneered at his opponent.A moment went by,then another one.Silence filled the night,think and cloying.
Another breath,and there were two shots ringing out.John Gage fell,and the girl ran to Killer.His shoulders slumped just a bit,but he put his arm round her and let her lead him back to the cabin.Slowly then went,until they reached the porch where her grandmother stood,waiting.
"Well,..you're dead now,son.It's over."she told him gently.
He took a hand from his belly,looked at it,smiled lopsidedly,and held it out to her,palm up.It was covered with dark rich blood.His streength left him,and he sank down to the wooden stair below him,as the girl helped him sit.

"You were through anyways,son.Did you not say you hadnt asked for this job> Your words,..and you even thought about the end before you went to do this.Remember? Well,I didnt have to save you,your little friend here duid that for me."
Easing back onto the stairs,laying down,he began to drift away,like the sea.Soft and easy.The girl held onto him,as he ws fading quickly.
"What;s your name,little one?
He at least wanted to know her name before he left this world he'd been sent to.She had asked for the forgiveness of his sins.
She looked down at him,with clear and knowing eyes,tears fell onto his face.She had wanted to save his life,..but this wasnt what she had meant.Not his death.
"Please,dont go,I'll be myself again.I've waited for you so long now.I'm not crazy,I knew you would come. In my dreams you've always been,as I grew up.Dont go now."
Her tears burned him as they fell. He reached up with the last of his strength,and he pulled her close. Whispering,he told her not to cry.
"I'll return,I swear it.I'll be with you soon enough.He kissed her cheek then,as the last of his life ebbed away,then he slowly stood. So,..this was what it was like.To die. He had seen death more than a thousand times,yet always they died badly. Was this what the others felt?
Those he hadnt gone after?Who had just passed out of themselves?
The old woman watched him as he rose and smiled.
"You'll do fine,just fine."
Then,she went back to her sewing.The girl looked up at her and asked her if he was still there. The elder one nodded.
"I didnt tell him my name.'she said.
Looking around she said,
"If you can he ar me,my name is Angelina,..Angelina."
This She cried out into the night.
He faltered in his departing. Angelina.So,he thought,..there are angels,...after all.
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