Perfect World. (On Hold)

5: The Fish.

Name: Jamie

Location: Hot Springs, Black Hills

Time: Sunday, 0600

The gentle chirping of birds awoke me pleasantly, but that was wiped from my mind as I glanced around myself, remembering my troubles. I got up stiffly, having slept of the cold, hard ground. I tried to fix my hair as best I could without a mirror, popped a piece of gum into my mouth to cover the morning breath, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

I headed out of the bush and down a hiker's trail, pretending to be on an early morning jog. I entered the town of Hot Springs, a small, rundown community. It was a bit of a tourist attraction because of their hot spring and a wild horse reserve nearby, making unfamiliar faces not too noticable... At least I hoped so.

As I walked through the streets, I prayed, begging God to show me some sign of who to go to. I watched out for a symbol, kind eyes, anything... Mean eyes watched me as I passed, and I had an creepy feeling that they could see right through my cover, that they know who I was and at and moment they would nab me and turn me over to the police.

Suddenly a flash of silver caught my eye. I stopped. I was beside a bar, staring at the bottle in a young man's hand. It had a tiny silver fish on the logo. I entered, walking up to the bartender, who was luckily talking to this man. I eyed the bottle. The fish looked like a sticker, not part of the label. "Excuse me, but could you tell me where I can find the quickest way out of town? An airport perhaps?"

The bartender stopped talking, looking me over with disgust. Something about the look on his face made me wish for my pistol, which I'd hidden under my sweater. "Quickest, eh?" He growled, a spark of curiousity in his eyes. I smiled politely, but added an edge of sadness.

"Yes sir, I'm here visiting a friend you see and I got a call last night that my father was in an accident, I need to get home as quickly as I can. He's in bad shape..." I let my voice fade away, slowly averting my eyes as if gazing off into the distance. Then I swallowed and blinked a couple times, pretending to shove my focus back for his answer.

His curiousity had faded entirely and he waved his hand at me dismissivly. "Bah, get a map."

I let my mouth drop open slightly and blinked rapidly, pretending to be shocked and hurt. "But sir, I can't read those things, they get me totally confused!" I added a measure of desperation into my tone, leaning forwards and grabbing his arm as he was turning away.

He spun and whacked my hand away. "Too bad!" Now I truely was desperate. "B-but he's dying! I need to see him!" My voice cracked and tears filled my eyes, but none of this mattered to the man, and he busied himself with other customers.

I hung my head, wiping my tears and turned to leave. How would I ever get out of this place? All my friends were dead...