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Piper woke up in a puddle of sweat.
The only sound in the still dead of the night was her breath, panting, and the sound of her own heartbeat that she swore she could actually hear. Her heart was racing, and her hair was standing on end… she groaned and flopped back down on the bed, pressing her hands against her temples and squeezing her eyes shut tightly.
She flipped her pillow over, looking for a cooler and less damp place to rest her head. Everything was quiet and still. It was, by all accounts, a peaceful night. Piper stared up at the ceiling aimlessly.
“It happened again,” she grumbled. “Set me up, honey. The regular.” Piper blearily rubbed her eyes as she sat at the bar counter.
Barley’s expression seemed to twinkle. “Of course. On the house.” He dug beneath the counter and produced a tall glass, pouring in assorted brown liquids that frothed and foamed. Behind him, the old steam-powered clock had only just reached two A.M. and the pale moon gleamed in through the window, it’s light almost overpowering that of the single candle left illuminated in the bar.
It wasn’t like Barley needed the light anyway. He moved as smoothly through the space behind the counter without it as with. The faint orange light was more for her benefit than anything.
“Thank you,” she mumbled as the full glass slid across the counter in her direction, lifting it to her lips. The stench of alcohol was like a physical blow to her sleep-addled brain, and her eyes watered as she drained the whole thing in a single breath, slamming the empty glass down again.
Barley’s eyebrow lifted. “That bad?” he offered.
“You don’t even know,” she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin and folding it daintily up. Piper stared at the neatly folded square momentarily, then her fist suddenly clenched tightly around it. “I’m plum tuckered but can’t get a wink proper these days. I swear it’s every time I go abed.”
Barley hummed softly to himself, rinsing her glass and wiping it until the glass squeaked under his towel. “I see.” There was a moment’s silence. “What is that you’re dreaming about, then?”
Piper shrugged aimlessly, flipping the tail of her nightgown cap over her shoulders. Her expression was glum. “Every time I wake, I’m as confused as a fart in a fan factory. Do you think I should remember?”
The bartender shrugged.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the lonely two for some minutes before Piper sighed.
“I reckon I should be headin’ back after all, then.” She jerked her thumb in the vague direction of the exit. Barley looked up before nodding. “Maybe that booze will help put me out for the rest of the night,” she finished.
“It is a little strong,” he confessed. “I know you like it that way but maybe it’s a little too-”
“No, no.” She waved his worries away. “Lord knows I need it these nights. Thank you, you’re doin’ God’s work.” Piper stood (maybe wobbling a little) before trudging out of the warm safety of the bar and out in the unfriendly night.
When she awoke the next morning, a mild headache rumbled behind Piper’s eyes, but she reckoned that she’d rather be hungover than sleepless any day. At least one of the two things wasn’t so … viscerally disturbing. Her nose wrinkled and she forced herself to rise and attend to her day.
Get dressed.
She was going to wear the pink one today.
Open blinds.
The sky was clear and blue, sunlight streaming down. Piper smiled as she opened the window widely, throwing back the sash – another beautiful day. She sheltered her eyes quickly and turned away before the bright light enflamed her headache further.
Shoo pests.
Piper opened her closet quickly and peered quizzically inside it, but the dark corners were empty. She narrowed her eyes, searching the room before kneeling down and catching the briefest glimpse of movement beneath the bed.
“Ah ha!”
Her hand flew underneath the bed, snatching against fabric, yanking the flailing bundle of cloth and woman clean from under it. (She didn’t want to have to get the broom this time.)
“Shoo!” she said. “Get out from under there you little –“
“I’LL BE BAA-aaa –“
Piper didn’t hear the rest as the white-haired woman, clutching her book to her chest, dropped like a stone into the bushes beneath the window. Piper wiped her hands in satisfaction.
Attend toiletries.
Now that she’d taken care of distractions, she could do her makeup properly.
Open the shop.
Descending the stairs from the second story living space, she entered the little bakery.
It was, by all accounts, a normal morning.
“Having a good day today, Piper?”
Piper rolled her eyes slightly. “Please hurry, Shelly. My arms are getting tired and right now you couldn’t beat a one-legged man in a butt-kicking competition.” She flexed her fingers aimlessly, holding her arms high into the sky.
The bandit huffed, pulling her bandanna up a little higher. “I’m working as fast as I can, okay?” She looked back down, busily scooping puddles of cash from the register into a nondescript burlap sack in her other hand. Her shotgun reclined lazily against the counter near her foot. “Oh! Did you have any blueberry ones left today? I really like those.”
“There’s a couple left, yes. I saved them for you after yesterday. Look just to the right of the cash drawer.”
Shelly’s tone lit up noticeably as she picked up a brown-paper package tied neatly with string. “Oh, for me? Thank you! God, they smell fuckin’ terrific.”
“Watch your language,” Piper sniffed. “But yes, honey. I wasn’t expecting all the children – well, there were just a lot of them yesterday. I was running all over hell's half acre.”
“Yeah, I saw,” Shelly returned. She glanced up from the register, eyeing the children and families standing around, watching the robbery go down. “Well, it looks more normal today. I hope you’re not getting too overworked. You’re looking rough some of these days.” She knelt down and picked up the cash safe, hefting it up and planting it on the counter with a mighty thud. The little audience gasped, as Shelly turned towards them and announced her intention to crack it then and there.
“I know, yeah.” Piper replied. “I reckon I’ve been havin’ trouble sleepin’ lately. Keep wakin’ up – dreams, y’know?”
Shelly shrugged. “I don’t really dream,” she returned, pressing her ear to the safe and turning the knob with her fingers gently. Her eyes found Piper’s. “I hope you’re okay, though. You do look tired, even with all that makeup.”
“I know,” Piper returned glumly. “It’s even worse without.” She suddenly glanced out at the audience, her voice quavering. “You cruel fiend! I’ll have the law on you, I swear it!” The children cheered and Piper shook her head, looking back at Shelly. “It’s the darndest thing, actually. I just wake up and I don’t really remember it, it’s just… nothing. Water, maybe.”
“Water?”
“Maybe. I don’t actually know, I just… that’s the feelin’ y’know?”
“Not really.” The safe opened, revealing a pile of cash inside. Shelly smiled at the children. “Who cares about that sheriff? I think I’ll get away!” There were only boos for her, but she seemed unconcerned.
“Well, that’s about what I can tell you,” Piper said. “I think I’m becoming an alcoholic from all the nighttime bar trips, but it’s the only way I can catch a wink anymore.”
“Huh.” Shelly shrugged. “Have you seen Sandy – think he might be able to help you? Or the third-eye woman?” She saw Piper’s look and protested. “Hey, I’m just suggesting things. But I guess I should be going anyway.” She had finished emptying the safe into her sack and now threw it over her shoulder. “Oh, by the way, that girl is your bathroom closet. I saw her in there when I was using it earlier.”
Piper nodded. “Thanks, honey. I’ll deal with her later. Have a fine day.”
Shelly lifted her hat slightly. “See you same time tomorrow.” She began her other speech as she was leaving the store, taking her shotgun with her, but Piper was just glad she was able to put her arms down. It was so stressful, being robbed like that. It was time to get the law on her, send her to cooler once and for all.
Piper smiled at the audience. “Who thinks I ought to call the Sheriff?”
The children cheered while adults smiled politely. A flash of light briefly illuminated her.
“Then I reckon that’s what I’ll do, little darlin’s.”
“You don’t look well today,” Colt said slowly, tilting his head. “I mean, you never do, compared to me. But today it’s extra bad. Are you okay?”
Piper groaned. “Is it that obvious? Everyone I see has been asking me that, I swear.”
Colt scratched the back of his neck. “I mean, I just know how you normally look is all. Or used to look…” he hesitated. “Tell me what’s wrong, I’ll fix it. That’s like, my job, you know?”
“It’s nothing, not really.” She shrugged. “I’m having the nightmares again, and I can’t get any sleep.”
“Oh.” He looked off to the side. “I see.”
“Colt, you don’t have to be so weird about this. You can’t do anything about it, it’s fine, honey. I don’t mind.”
“Yeah, I guess, but –” he smiled awkwardly. “It’s my job, you know? I arrest people. It’s what I do. I just wish… man, this is so difficult. I guess I’m too good-looking to ever have to deal with dreams myself.”
“I know,” she replied. “You’ve said that before. I guess I can only aspire to your level of handsome.”
“I’m sorry.” Colt seemed genuinely heartbroken. “I wish I could help that too.” He smiled again. “But I’ll figure something out – just you wait and see. I’m the Sheriff, I solve problems. It’s what I do.” He stopped to slightly adjust his hair in the reflection of Piper’s glass baked goods displays. “Besides being so stunning, of course.”
Piper nodded. “Of course.”
Why was it water? That was the part she understood the least, probably. Of all the things she could remember from whatever it was that woke her up every night, why that? And it wasn’t even like she remembered it properly. It was just… some sort of lingering impression. Was it just her brain trying to tell her she had to go use the bathroom? That seemed… wrong, and didn’t line up at all with the way she felt nights now.
It was this sort of thing that bothered her all the through the day, selling baked goodies to child after child, smiling all the while. It was a good sales day, and she heard that Shelly had been caught after some sort of stand-off and sentenced to jail.
That was good. Piper would make sure to set aside more blueberry muffins for her tomorrow.
“MMMMmmmmMMmmmmm…”
Piper shifted uncomfortably on the thin mat, which did not provide much protection from the hard floor. She gathered her skirts around her tightly, dreading how much dust must be getting on them right now. But she’d been motioned to sit and it was only polite…
“Do you see anything?” she asked, cautiously.
The woman in front of her shook her head. One eye closed, the other bandaged, but the third one, glowing from the center of her forehead, was wide open, and Piper felt as if it was staring into her soul.
Tara had spread a number of cards before her. Now she gestured at them. “Mmmmmm.”
Piper nodded. “Pick one. Okay. Umm.” She selected one of the thin posterboard sheets at random, turning it over. “Oh, it’s upside-down. Uh.” She turned it right-side up quickly. “The… Magician. What does that mean? Is that you?”
Tara shook her head, taking the card from her and seeming to study it intently. “Mmmmmm.”
“Right.” Piper cleared her throat awkwardly. “I, uh – oh.”
Tara’s third eye opened wider than before, glowing brighter – staring directly into Piper’s eyes, and it was almost as if Piper could hear it inside her brain, somehow. But it didn’t say anything – or at least not anything she could comprehend.
She looked at Tara for explanation, but she shrugged too.
Piper sighed. “It’s okay, I guess. I mean, I don’t know what I expected anyway.”
“MmmmMMMMmmmm.”
The room felt damper than before.
Pitching Colette out onto the front lawn was the last chore before Piper closed up shop completely. Everything was set in line for tomorrow morning. She would rise with the sun, and would stock her little store with all manner of fresh baked goods, ready for another day of brisk business. The sun was setting rapidly, painting the sky with pinks and reds as it slid beneath the horizon.
Piper sighed as she closed her blinds and placed the bar in front of the door. On second thought, she removed it again. It would probably make it easier tonight anyway. She shook her head, hoping Barley was planning to stay open again for her. He probably would, stores nearer the city area usually opened earlier and closed later than hers did. (Consequence of everything she did being fresh baked, really. People in the city, they… made them other ways. She didn’t know, exactly. Probably in the same way they operated those horseless carriages.)
But night settled fast in little towns like hers that edged the wilderness.
Her bedroom candle hissed as she blew it out, pulling the covers tightly up to her chin. Maybe tonight would be a night better.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!” Colt’s call was loud and crisp in the silence of the night.
“I’m escaping, you idiot,” Shelly retorted, dragging herself out of the hole, then to her knees, before standing up and dusting herself off. She tossed the shovel back down into the dank tunnel leading back into the jail cell.
Colt hesitated. He looked up, shading his eyes briefly against the moon. “Oh. Okay.”
“And now I’m going to go get some rest,” she continued. “Did you have to hit me so hard today?” She rubbed her shoulder ruefully.
He winced. “Sorry, one of those little kiddos got under my feet and I was kinda falling.”
“Yeah, I figured something was up. No way you could get so much force out of those flabby muscles.”
“Right.” Colt looked uncomfortable, and it gave his companion pause as they trudged along through the boundless desert. “Say, Shelly, do you think I take care of things?”
“You arrest people,” she said.
Colt nodded. “I do.” Then after a moment: “Piper was weird today. She… was talking to me about something, but I don’t really understand it. There was no one to arrest.”
“Yeah, I noticed. Something’s up with her, I think. I worry about her sometimes.”
“Go easy on her tomorrow, maybe?”
Shelly looked thoughtful. “She has been more tired than usual. Maybe I’ll tie her to a chair instead of making her stand.”
“That’s nice.”
They’d stopped walking, having reach the shore of the little oasis where travelers through the western wilderness watered their horses and cattle. There was also a sign reading ‘Wheelchair Accessible Restrooms’. Shelly picked up a rock from the ground and skipped it idly out across the lake.
“Say, where do you think they go?” Colt suddenly asked.
“Hmm?”
“The rocks, I mean. When you skip them like that.”
Shelly paused, staring after it, the place where it had been before. Now there was just water. She tilted her head. “There’s water there,” she said.
Colt seemed to think about this. “There is,” he assented.
Shelly nodded. “You go around it.”
“Well, yes.”
Shelly’s brow knitted in confusion. “What were you asking about, then?”
“I … I must be getting tired.” Colt shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Shelly.”
“Yeah, see ya.”