Mí amor: A Javier Escuella story

Remembering the past

They were everywhere. They found us. Gunshots. Blood. Death. Everyone else was dead, I was the only one left. The bounty hunters didn't stick around for long and soon I was left to wander around our desecrated camp. To stare into the lifeless eyes of my fallen comrades. The only people that had cared about me for a very long time were dead. I had nothing left. As I swept my eyes around the battlefield, everything faded out into nothingness.

I bolted upright, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. The memories flashed through my mind and tears started streaming down my face. I was shaking, trying to keep my sobs quiet because I didn't want to wake up the camp with my cries. The sun was just starting to come up so I did my best to calm myself down and I made my way to a secluded part of the river we were staying by to bathe. After I had washed up, I went back to my tent and put on my signature dark red trench coat and cowboy hat. Taking care of the horses was my responsibility, but I didn't mind. In fact I loved animals and would rather choose them over humans. Unfortunately, working with humans was part of my job.

The horses were always happy to see me. It was probably because I was the one who fed them, but I'd like to think otherwise. After they were all fed and watered, I set about grooming some of the ones that were dirty. I grabbed a brush and walked over to Boaz. He was a beautiful grey overo coloured stallion. I quickly set to work on his coat, my aim was to make his white patches gleam. While I was grooming him he kept nuzzling my shoulder and snorting contently. "He likes you." I heard a voice behind me say. It scared me out of my skin and made me visibly jump. I turned around to see my good friend, Javier, leaning over laughing with tears in his eyes. "Yes, ha ha very funny," I said, not amused in the slightest. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself," he said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at him and smiled. We always joked around, weather at camp or on a job. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go into town with me? Dutch has asked me to get some supplies." He asked. I looked back at him, still grooming Boaz and said; "sure, why not. I could do with a change of scenery."

We finished grooming the horses in silence and ate breakfast. We decided to take the wagon because there was a lot of supplies we needed to buy. We took the road out of camp and made our way to town. "So," started Javier. " I noticed you were awake really early this morning. You don't usually get up until 9. What's the occasion?" I sighed and looked ahead. "I don't really want to talk about it..." I said quietly. Javier looked at me with concern in his eyes. "Is it the nightmares again?" He asked.
"They're coming more and more often. I don't know why." I replied.
"Maybe you should talk to someone about it."
"Like who? You?"
"Why not? I'm a better therapist then I let on."
"Hmmm..." I hummed suspiciously.

We eventually ended up in town and stopped the wagon outside the general store. "Do you think you could handle getting the supplies on your own? I need to get a new gun. I've been meaning to get one for some time and this is a really good opportunity." I asked. "Yeah sure, just make sure you get back here before 11. That means you have 15 minutes by the way!" He shouted after me. "Don't worry. Won't take long!" I shouted back. I walked up the steps to the gun store and pushed the door open. "Hello ma'am, how can I help you today?" The store owner asked. "Hello, I'm looking for a new revolver and I wanted to see what you had in stock." I replied.
"Certainly ma'am, you can look through out catalogue and choose a gun." I looked through the catalogue and chose a gun. The owner gave it to me and I looked it over. It was a simple cattleman revolver with dark blue metal and silver designs. "Looks good, I'll take it." I handed over the money and walked out with a brand new gun. As I walked out, the owner called out to me; "please come back soon!"