The Argo Goes West

95, To the west, To the east, part 2

"Chaaaaarrge!"

A brave shout from the opposite building. It must be Teddy. Real name unknown. He claimed to be Teddy, the Spanish-American War hero Theodore Roosevelt, but he just assumed it.

He wasn't the only insane person. There were many people like him here. For example, the self-proclaimed Queen Victoria spoke with a straight face. Then there was the young woman who was cradling the pillow, thinking it was her baby, and the grinning old woman. A girl who hit the old lady's head with the sandals she wore. Even when the old woman was hit, she didn't get hurt or angry. She didn't even know she had been hit, and she was still grinning.

Cassandra Jackson was sane now. But she knew that one day she too would be hit by the poison and go insane.

Cassandra Jackson had a special ability that no other human had. It was to see the future. When she was a child, she saw a future where the young man next door went off to war and died, or a friend's father was kicked by a horse and badly injured. They all hit the mark. Unfortunately for Cassandra, the future she could see was not bright, but sad. She was dreaded and shunned by those around her. As she grew up, she learned the art of not telling the future, and stopped talking about the future. But she saw a tragic future that always came true.

She didn't make friends because she didn't want people she knew to be unhappy. She never married. Some people liked her, but Cassandra stubbornly refused to court her.

Cassandra intended to live her life alone. Until a few weeks ago.

That day, a garrison scouting out of town brought an unidentified woman back to town. She was an astonishing beauty. She lay by the river with a golden crown on her head and a dark magenta silk sheer dress. When people asked her name, she didn't answer. She seemed to have lost her memory. Hector, Cassandra's brother, gave her the name Helen.

When Cassandra saw Helen, she felt a shock as if she had been struck by a thunderbolt. Cassandra saw a future where the town was set ablaze and Hector and the townspeople died. Cassandra pointed at Helen and shouted,

"Exile the woman immediately! The woman will bring death to the town!"

Hector knew of Cassandra's precognitive abilities. But he couldn't drive the fragile woman out of the dangerous city out of humanitarian grounds.

"I can't do that, Cassandra. We must protect this poor woman."

No matter how many times Cassandra complained, Hector's answer never changed. Cassandra had no choice but to use force. Cassandra picked up a hunting rifle hanging on the wall and shot Helen.

The bullet missed and luckily Helen was not injured. Cassandra was apprehended by everyone and was locked up in a madhouse instead of a prison.

"Chaaaaarrge!"

Perhaps Teddy was now resisting being put in a straitjacket. Eventually he would have been gagged and unable to scream.

Cassandra often had the same dream recently.

An image of a horse emerging from the fog. An artificial, large horse that is not a real horse. Cassandra still didn't know what that meant.