Cowboys & Nightmares

Chapter Six

The day passed much quicker than I thought, but supper at the mess hall saw me barely able to keep my eyes open. I stifled yawns while chewing food, and was nodding off listening to the hands talk about the new yearlings. When we were dismissed, I fairly stumbled out the door.

"Hey, easy there, Tiger," Joe laughed as he caught my shoulders. "You feeling okay?"

I nodded, my tired head making everything slightly blurry. "Yeah. Where's Dune?"

"Not sure. He's probably talking to Boss. He goes and sees him once or twice a week." He scanned my face, his blue eyes flashing in the twilight. "You gonna be okay going to the bunkhouse?"

I hadn't seen Ronnie after that morning. "Yeah, I'll be fine." I held up a wavering thumb, and he laughed. With a last goodbye, he gently shoved me in the direction of my bunkhouse.

Just as I rounded the corner of a building and the bunkhouse came in view, a hand shot out from the shadows and grabbed me. A dusty, older ranch hand stumbled into my path, the stench of liquor pouring off of his clothes. "Hey there, Doll Face. Got any plans tonight?"

His clammy grip on my wrist was like a bucket of ice water. My hackles raised, and everything came into sharp focus. I was on the far side of the barn, which meant no one could see me. Dune would be the only one walking this way, but who knew when he would return from the Big House? I could always scream, maybe Dune and Joe would hear- but maybe Ronnie would, too.

Soon I was moving. I slapped his face, kneed him in the groin, and pushed him away from me within two seconds' time. He groaned as he hit the ground, cradling his crotch and rocking back and forth. I didn't stick around to watch the idiotic scene; I was off like a shot, and before he even realized what had happened, I was locking the bunkhouse door behind me.

I let out a sigh of relief as I knelt down to start a fire in the fireplace. It wasn't long before a small flame was eating the kindling, so I stretched out on the couch. My back hurt, as did my legs, but it was a satisfying feeling when I looked back on what I had accomplished that day. I closed my eyes, deciding to wait for Dune to come back before I turned in for the night.

*

I'm falling. Everything hurts, like I've been twisted into a corkscrew, but there's nothing for me to touch. I just keep falling, the pain constant. When I hit the ground, it stays. It's probably from work.

I'm surrounded by them all. Some have dark brown hair, some lighter brown; there are brown eyes, blue eyes, even a pair of gray ones. But then he steps through the circle, his bleach blonde hair and icy blue eyes stark contrasts to everyone else around him. "Well, well, well," Seth comments, jerking me off the ground. "What do you think, boys?"

"I say we have at Doll Face." Light brown hair, blue eyes. The rock star.

"Yeah, she seems a little tense." Dark brown hair, brown eyes. The health nut.

"Wild ones are always fun." Gray eyes. The basketball player.

And countless other comments as they begin to hold me down, all eight of them until I can't move. He stands overtop of me, and he begins to unbuckle his belt. "Hold on, Rylie," he smirks. "You're in for a wonderful ride."

I gasped, pulling myself out of the dream with a pounding heartbeat. The tears started before I hit the floor, and I was curled into a ball the moment I touched the hardwood. Sobs racked my body, and I felt like I couldn't breathe for a long time. Everything seemed too sharp, too harsh, and the only escape was through my crying.