Western Heartbreak

The morning after

The next morning.

Alyss slowly opened her eyes. Something was poking into her side. She reached over and grabbed.. a handful of hay? She sat up, and looked around. She was in the barn loft? "What in the world?" she muttered. Then the previous nights events came back to her, and tears filled her eyes. 'Why would they do that to me?'

She heard shouts, and sighed. She would have to face them sooner or later, and she would prefer to do it clean. Showers were probably full, but she would rather wait then get a cold one.

She stood up, and hit her head on the roof of the barn. Rubbing her head and grumbling at the unfairness of it all, she folded her blanket and started climbing down the ladder. There were stable hands running all over the place, and some gave her weird looks, but she ignored them. She took a deep breath and clenched her hands behind her back. She walked over to a stall and patted the horse in it with shaking hands. She could have sworn that the horse gave her a look of sympathy.

She smiled, and continued walking out of the barn. She walked straight to the cabin where everything had happened last night, and grabbed a shirt and jeans from her suitcase. There was no one in the cabin. She grabbed the necessities and walked to the showers. To her surprise, they were abandoned, and when she turned the spout on, she got hot water. She showered, and got dressed quickly. She stopped at the sinks, and looked at herself in the mirror. "I'm sooo not ready for this," she moaned. The emotions she had been repressing came up, and she started to cry.

'Why would they do this to me? Kevin.. I thought Kevin loved me' . The mirror blurred from the tears in her eyes, and she suppressed a sob. She turned on the water again, and splashed her face with the coldest she could stand. The shock jolted her out of her misery, and she gritted her teeth. 'Damn it, I need to face this and get over it. If they're going to do this to be, then I'll show them just why they were with me in the first place.'

She knew that she probably wouldn't be able to hide her misery, but she figured it was worth giving a shot. Stepping out of the bathroom though, she encountered chaos. There were stable hands and visitors everywhere, milling around as if in a group effort to look for something. Grabbing the person closest to her, she asked them, "What is everyone looking for?"

"Someones missing," they replied, then took a look at her.

"Wait.. whats your name?" the guy asked.

"Alyss," She replied, unsure if this was a random hit or if the guy was just weird.

The guy brightened, and grabbed her hand and tugged her to the center of the yard.

"Everyone, I found her!!!"

Soon, Alyss found everyones attention on her. She blushed in confusion.

"I didn't think I was missing," She said dryly. The crowd that had gathered around them chuckled.

"Would anyone mind telling me whats going on?" Alyss asked the crowd. An older man stepped forward, looking like he was in charge, and told her "Missy, your friends here got worried when you didn't return to your cabin last night and asked for everyone's help in looking for you." Kevin and Jody stepped out from the crowd, and looked at her worriedly.

She cocked an eyebrow, and looked at them icily. "Actually, those aren't my friends. And, I wasn't missing, I just spent a night in the barn..."

The man rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, feeling the tension between her and the pair behind him. "Well.. maybe you should let someone know before you do that again." he replied uneasily.

"I'll be sure to do that," She replied pleasantly.

The crowd started dispersing, and she turned to walk the other way. However, someone grabbed her shoulder, and turned her around. She sighed and looked at Kevin and Jody.

"What do you want?" she asked wearily.

"Well.. we wanted to tell you sorry." they said in unison.

She shook her head. "You know, I wouldn't have minded half as much if you had just told me that you had found someone else. I thought you wanted to marry me!" she yelled at Kevin.

"You, Jody, call me your best friend, come to me with everything, and yet you sleep with my boyfriend? I had the chance to publicly humiliate you back there, and I chose not to. Now, I'm staying for the rest of the trip. However, I'm not staying in the cabin, I'm moving out. You lovebirds can stay in your cabin, and sleep together all you want."

She turned on her heel, and walked away. She knew she wouldn't be so disgusted if she hadn't trusted them so blindly. Having the thought cross her mind, and thinking there was nothing to it, was half of her pain. 'I'm swearing off best friends and boyfriends for the next twenty years,' She swore to herself. 'Maybe I'll become a hermit...'

The man in the shadows chuckled as he watched her stomp off. She certainly had guts. The two who had betrayed her wouldn't be getting off easy for what they had done.. their stay at the ranch would be something they would remember for the rest of their lives.