Redemption

Chapter Two - Blake

Stanley had been watching Blake for at least a couple of hours. He was a strange figure and Stanley just couldn't get his head around the fact why this man wasn't imprisoned in a padded cell. After a long time of watching Blake, he finally thought it would be best to do something else, rather than stalking. Stanley walked away from the window and slid down the barrister, to the saloon's main area.

It was empty. Stanley examined the room, expecting to find at least somebody, but the place was deserted.However, he was used to being secluded from people, due to losing his family, at the young age of 9, to a fire. The only people to survive the fire were Stanley and his dad Knox. Knox didn't stay around for long though, he only stayed with Stanley until he was 11 years old, which was the age his dad thought was appropriate for Stanley to care for himself.

On Stanley's 11th birthday, his father brought him no cake, no balloons, nothing. Stanley awoke to expect a great party like last year's, but instead he woke to his father lying on the living room floor with a puddle of blood surrounding his head. Stanley was devastated. He didn't think that his own father would just leave him like that. From then on, he was forced to into adulthood and had to do everything which a normal, loving family would. Now and then, he would shed a few tears just thinking about it, but Stanley stayed strong, always hoping for the best.

Stanley walked around the saloon, pushing open all the doors' in sight and checking the rooms - nothing. However, it was when he was checking the last room, he heard some voices coming from outside.

"Sheriff, Sheriff, help him please!" screamed a woman, hysterically.

Stanley ran over to the window and looked out at the crowd of people, surrounding something which he couldn't see. He walked out of the saloon and joined the crowd, to see what the drama was about, but then he was it. No wonder the woman was screaming. Two children were laying on the floor, one had a knife protruding from his chest and the other had a few gunshot holes inside her.

"I'm doing the best I can, ma'am. Please just back off a little, would ya'?" said the Sheriff, calmly.

The woman seemed to be the children's mother. "Back off? Are you telling me to back off from my two murdered children?" she screamed, pushing him, making him stumble a little.

"What do you expect me to do?! They're already dead, you stupid woman!" shouted the Sheriff, obviously losing his patience. "It's not as if i'm going to magically make them come back, is it?!"

The woman went silent. She then realised that he was right, they were gone. Gone from her forever. She started to cry and the Sheriff pulled her close, trying to comfort her in this dramatic moment. "All I wanted was to just see their little happy faces again," she sobbed, "Is that too much to ask?"

"I understand, ma'am. Come with me, I'll get the other guys to clean it up."

As soon as he finished his sentence, two skinny men walked out of the Jail, holding two shovels. This was the newest, most advanced idea they had discovered yet. If you didn't want to make a fuss and touch them, you just got and the shovel, scooped them up and throw them into a ditch - which is exactly what they did.

The crowd then dispersed and everyone went there different ways, however, there were a few sentences Stanley heard as they departed:

"What a overreaction," said one man.

"I reckon it was that 'Blake' guy. You know the evil one who always craves death of another. He was lucky to get two this time," said a strange-looking woman.

Stanley followed the crowd back into the saloon, he knew the gossip wouldn't die down soon. He then walked over to the bar and placed himself down onto the end stool. He looked down the line of people who were also quite quick to make it to their normal seats, at least 6 people were alongside him. Stanley looked over at the bartender and beckoned him over to him. The bartender responded with a middle finger, then got back to cleaning the glasses.