Chasing the Ghost

The smoke from the burning barn tasted like copper and burnt pine.

Jed hauled back on his horse’s reins, his heart hammering in his chest like a bird. This wasn’t a scare tactic. This was slaughter. Through the orange glare of the flames, he saw the miller’s youngest son collapse in the dirt, a dark stain spreading across his nightshirt.

“What did you do” Jed shouted, swinging his horse round to face Vance, the Mayors brother. Vance was not just Mayor Edward’s brother he was also a ruthless mercenary.

“We was supposed to just burn the crops, force them out the house to sign the deed” he shouted again.

“They shot first, kid” Vance spat, holstering his smoking pistol without a shred of remorse. “My brother wants this land cleared by sunrise. Dead or alive, it make no difference to him. Now ride!”.

Jed looked back at the weeping mother who was kneeling over her son. A sickening wave of guilt washed through his body, he was the one responsible for this. He was the one to agree to this job to get money from the the Mayor. The money would help his sister Emmy, set up her own life and get her own home where she can raise her own children.

But he didn’t sign up to murder children. Sick to his stomach, Jed spurred his horse and tore away from the blazing inferno, his mind made up he was going to make this right.

Two miles away, inside the darkened livery stables of Virginia City, the air smelled of damp hay and leather.

Emmy shifted her weight on the rough wooden floorboards of the hayloft, her knees aching from ghe position she was in. She had followed her brother Jed in secret tonight, terrified by the company he’d been keeping. When she saw him ride back to the stables alone, covered in soot and trembling, her chest tightened.

What did her brother do to act this way and why was he covered in soot.

Through the gaps of the floorboards, she watched her brother pace back and fourth on the dirt floor below. He pulled out a heavy, beautifully engraved civil war colt revolver from his holster- their father’s gun- and stared at it with hollow eyes.

The heavy wooden doors to the stables creaked open slowly.

Mayor Edward stepped inside. Emmy frowned, what business did Edward want with her brother especially in the middle of the night. Emmy was still awed at the Mayor, even at midnight the man looked immaculate. His black woolen coat was tailored to perfection, his silve-topped cane was beautifully engraved. And his smile, he wore the same charming smile you would see on a campaign poster.

“You’re late, Jed,” Edward said, his voice smooth and low. “Vance tells me the Miller property is secure. Finally the silver mine is officially ours.”

“You lied to me,” Jed Choked out, his voice cracking with rage. He stepped Into the light of a single latern. “A boy died tonight, Edward. A child”.

Edward sighed disapproving sound. “Progress requires sacrifice, my boy. You were paid well for your silence”.

“I don’t want your blood money!” Jed threw a heavy leather pouched of coins at the mayor’s polished boots. The silver pieces scattered into the dirt. “I’m going to the Federal Marshall’s in the morning. I will tell them everything you did. The Arson, the exortion, the murders. Every single bit of it “.

Edward looked down at the scattered coins, laughing a menacing sound. His smile fading into something dark and menacing. “I am truly disappointed in you Jed, you had a bright future ahead of ya”.

The mayor stepped closer to Jed, like he was going to place his hand on his shoulder. Emmy watched from above frozen in her spot, a sudden panic feeling washing over her.

With a quick twitch of his wrist, Edward’s tiny double-barreled derringer pistol slid from the sleeve of his coat and into his parm.

Bang!

The gunshot was deafening in the enclosed stable.

Jed gasped, his eyes widening in shock. He stumbled backwards, his hand clutching his chest as a dark crimson stain spread across his shirt. He hit the dirt floor, with a heavy thud, his breathing turning into a ragged, wet wheeze.

Above them, emmy clamped both hands over her mouth, biting her own knuckles so hard she tasted blood just to stop her from screaming. Heavy tears falling down her face like hot lava.

Edward calmy stepped over Jed’s twitching form on the floor. He looked down at his leather boots, tutting “You got blood on my new boots.” Wiping it clean on a nearby bale of hay. He pocketed his derringer, turned on his heel, and walked out the stables, whistling a soft, jaunt tune.

Emmy scrambled down from the ladder, falling to her knees beside her brother. “Jed”, she sobbed, pulling him close. “Jed, please.”

Jed’s gaze drifted up to her, his strength rapidily fading. With a final effort, his hand brushed against the dirt floor, toward the engraved colt revolver that had fallen from his grip.

“I’m sorry Emmy.”

A moment later, he went still, leaving Emmy alone in the silence of the stable.

The next day, the afternoon sun beat down on the crowded town square of Virginia City. A grand wooden stage had been erected outside the town hall, draped in banners. Hundreds of townspeople cheered as Mayor Edward stepped up to the podium, his arm waving in a benevolent wave.

“We stand on the precipice of a new era”, Edward’s voice boomed over the crowd.”An era of law, order, and prosperity for every hard working citizen of this great town!”

Near the back of the crowd, stood a lone figure dressed in a heavy woolen coat and a low-brimmed stetson hat covering a dark shadow over their face.

Emmy squeezed her eyes shut for a minute, picturing her brother’s final monents before he took his last breath. Her eye’s finally opening, ready to avenge her brother as the law wasn’t going to help her.

Stepping through the cheering crowd, she stood in front of the stage. Watching the mayor, his smile beaming from the crowd.

She reached inside her heavy coat pocket, grasping the heavy colt. She pulled it free and raised it, aiming for the mayor’s head who took everything from her.

The roar of the gun cut through Mayor’s speech like a thunderclap.

The crowd erupted in chaos as the mayor stumbled backward and hit the podium floor. Emmy didn’t wait to see the aftermath. She sprinted down to the dark alleyway, where she left her horse. Grasping her horse’s reins she threw herself on top of the saddle and tore out of Virginia City. The desert wind whipping against her face. She knew the life she was knew was over and now faced the life as fugitive.