Jen In Four Words

Gate

Drenched in sweat, Jen sat up. The sun beat through the roofed carriage and onto Jen's worn body. She felt the wound - still there - then felt for her persona - still there. A crowd was outside the carriage as Jen stepped out and looked. The convoy was at the entrance to the city of La Maldición. Men chatting as they waited in a long, disorganized line.

The city presented large, marble sign that sat beneath a statue of an angel embracing a child. Behind the angel, a demon with a pitchfork stabbed into the back of the angel. The angel wore a calm, cool face while the demon panicked. The child, blissfully unaware of the demon's presence, looking up and smiling at the angel. The city of La Maldición, a subtitle reading "The Cursed", and a smaller tagline scratched into the stone reading, "May God Heal Us."

Jen looked puzzled at the statue. This city looked perfectly normal. There is no fighting, no riots, no killing, no ugliness. Yet, it bore a name that projected hatred to all who knew it.

Jen looked out of the carriage back at David. David stared forward at the line of people, then turned to Jen. "Yeah... the gate is always the hardest part" David produced a set of documents and held them up to Jen. "Everybody has to give a reason for coming. Boys came by a few years ago and trashed the city. Used to be called 'Haven' before then." David pocketed the documents and looked back forward. "Them boys did too much hurtin', cost alotta people their lives for nothin." Jen felt a burning rage inside her. "It is not nothing..." she thought to herself. She hid her face from David "you don't understand why."

The sounds of a commotion came from the front of the line. Jen looked ahead with David at a young man hollering at the gate workers.

"You can't do this to me! This all I got, just lemme go and I'll forget this ever happened!" The man pleaded. The gate workers, armed with long guns and on horseback, aimed at the man. "Please! I need it for work! I-I forgot it was even in there!" The guards ordered the man away, rifles trained on his person. He began walking away, defeated, and into the desolate sands of the desert. The heat was near unbearable, as the man could be seen slumped over and walking towards the sun. Back at the gate, guards were removing multiple boxes from the man's carriage and belongings. Sticks of dynamite and weapons were thrown out of the carriage. A guard could be seen wearing a patch on his back bearing the town's motto. All of the man's belongings were pushed aside into a small tent beside the entrance.

"NEEEEXT!"

And so it went. Men either refused entry, allowed entry, or completely stripped of their belongings for attempted crimes against the city. Yet, the Cowboy Killer was about to get in. And nobody knew it.

As more and men and women were judged by the guards, it was now David's turn.

"Hm. David Held. You ever commit any crime, David?" Asked the guard.

"May God strike me down, never."

"Alrigh'. Baptized?"

"By the chaplain of my hometown."

"And who are ya' with?"

David looked inside and beckoned to Jen. Jen's heart sank. She left the Cowboy Killer inside the carriage along with her revolver, stuffed inside a pillow case.

The guard looked up at Jen as she emerged from the carriage. Immediately squinting his eyes, he asked, "Your wife?"

"No, a troubled soul." David somberly replied.

The guard was told the fictitious story of Jen being a widow of the notorious Cowboy Killer.

"May He bring you peace, ma'am." The guard said, sympathetic but cold. "And are you in violation of anything I asked him?"

She looked up at him and shook her head. The guard stared deadlocked into her soul. Her façade was fading right before his eyes. There was something wrong with this woman, he could tell.

"I asked you a question. Answer me."

She shook her head again. The guard became aggressive and raised his voice, causing others to turn towards the altercation. Before the eyes of hundreds, Jen is being judged. Without thinking, Jen pointed to her lips, and started to tear up under the pressure. Not a squeak escaped her mouth as tears flowed down her face. The staring contest came to a close as the guard turned to David. "She's dumb?"

David looked down at Jen, thought for a moment, then looked back at the guard, "She has not spoken in the days that I've known her." The guard looked at the shaken Jen. "Get up." He then lay a hand over her head, dispensing the town's motto onto her, "May God Heal You." Jen mouthed an airy 'Thank You' before the guard's voice boomed to the next victim of judgement.

Jen entered.