Sins of the Past

The past sins were a never ending nightmare. They were ghosts that had a habit of haunting you, reminding you of them for as long as you live. Every salvation or redemption you make your sins will forever be marked on your shoulders, weighing you down with no hopes of getting to lift it and stand back up.

In the village of Hope's Reach was a church that was frequently visited by half of the townsfolk. The other half of the village, mostly the men, would spend their time talking about its sixty-year-old reverend being a former bounty hunter that for some reason left it behind in favor of serving God in His house to rid of his sins.

But the real reason Reverend Bogue, as he was called, put his bounty hunting past behind him was that he was very stricken about his last bounty hunting. He was hunting a lone robber in a saloon when a firefight ensued, and Bogue accidentally shot and killed a woman working there as a waitress revealed to be two months pregnant. He was so haunted by the tragic incident that he decided to leave it all behind by becoming a servant of the Lord.

The town then received a gang of unwanted visitors. Cutthroat bandits. Their leader immediately killed the Sheriff partly to get rid of his interference, and partly just for the fun of it. The bandits then proceeded to terrorize the town mostly for their own benefit, making it their home and playground.

And one night, one of the bandits was heavily drunk, strolling alone in the dark streets with an empty bottle on hand. With his drunken instincts, he suddenly barged into a home and raped a wife of the town's mine-digger, even beating up the husband senseless in drunken fury when he tried to intervene. It just so happens that Reverend Bogue was on his way home from the church that he heard the ignored cries of the woman that he rushed to help.

He saw the bandit still raping the woman. The reverend pulled him away and beat him senseless in an almost uncontrollable rage. It was thanks to the husband and wife that Reverend Bogue was snapped back to his senses and revels at what he had done to the bandit.

The next day, he prayed to the Lord, asking for forgiveness for what he had done and guidance on what to do next. Word had spread of what Reverend Bogue did to the Bandit, eventually reaching to the leader. "Is this my next obstacle, Lord? To eradicate these savage beasts?" he said.

"Then it shall be done, my Lord. For I will unleash my wrath to those unworthy of Your gifts."

Deep inside the church was a box hidden away by the reverend. He opened it, and took out its contents, which was a gun belt that held two revolvers, his coat, and his hat. He equipped them to prepare for his oncoming challenge against the bandits.

The vengeful leader of the bandits, accompanied by his small army of followers, were gathered right outside the church. His finger itching for the trigger. "Reverend!" he yelled. "Come out of there! Why don't you face someone with a gun on his hand?"

Reverend apparently accepted his taunts and walked out of the church, surprising the bandits that he wasn't just a reverend. But he knew he had no chance of facing them head on, so he bolted to a nearby saloon. Six bandits gave chase to him. But he was strangely nowhere to be found when they came in. This gave Reverend Bogue the advantage of a surprise attack, fanning the revolver, unloading on six bandits inside the saloon. He moved on to a next location.

More bandits chased him, but the leader chose to stand by and watch. The reverend snuck and crawled into enclosed areas all over the town, giving the bandits a sneak attack, shooting them down immediately once they were distracted. There were fifteen. Now the leader was the only one left.

The leader was shaking as the reverend walked by, still clean and unharmed. They had a standoff just outside the church, with many of the townsfolk watching through their windows and peeking out their doors.

The bell ringer on top of the church was also watching the standoff. But he felt like that he should give a signal to when the gunslingers would draw their guns. So he rang the bell. And the reverend drew first and shot the leader six times. He dropped to his knees. Bleeding and dying. The preacher walked up to him, drew his other gun, and shot the bandit leader on the forehead in point blank range.

The preacher looked up at the church. He holstered his guns, removed his hat, bowed his head, and did a cross and prayed for forgiveness. The townsfolk all walked out of their homes not in the feeling of a celebration, but they were relieved all the same. Thankful at what Reverend Bogue had done that they could not; avenge their sheriff and remove their problem of bandits.

But even after saving the town from the bandits, the preacher could not help but feel guilty for what he had done. He had took more lives so he could save many. He had decided to move away from the town to avoid harming more people and be in more peace with himself, moving further away in order to escape what he was.

Reverend Bogue packed his things and immediately left Hope's Reach behind in an attempt to run from his sins.

He traveled too far away from the people, avoiding them so he could no longer harm them. Or so he thought. His travels reached him to an open field in the middle of nowhere near a clear, clean river. It was here that he decided to retire. He had built the wooden house for months, enduring the hot summer and the harsh rains just so he could complete his house.

He finished his house. Then he proceeded to build a small altar inside the house where he would pray. And he did so for the next ten months. And a peaceful one at that.

But the day came, and a shouting got the sleeping preacher to awaken in his peaceful sleep. "Preacher, I know you're in there!" cried out the voice of a man, sounding like he had an intent to harass Reverend Bogue.

He knew that the man calling him had only one purpose here. But he got up anyway and picked up a small bible on the altar. He walked out of his shed and greeted four outlaw gunslingers standing outside in anticipation.

"What do you want, child?" prompted Reverend Bogue.

"I heard what you did to my brother." one of them said. Possibly the leader.

The reverend wanted to convince the vengeful outlaw by telling him the error of his brother's ways, including him. But he saw the hate and pure anger in his eyes, something he was certainly familiar with. So he simply said "Revenge is a fool's errand, child."

"Keep your preaches to yourself." said the vengeful outlaw coldly. Then he drew his revolver and unloaded it on the preacher, his men did the same, riddling Reverend Bogue with a hail of bullets. He fell limp and quickly died.

The outlaws then smuggled the house and proceeded to burn the house down while they left his body where it lied. Where it slowly got caught by the flames and got burned alongside his house.