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Shelly slept fairly lightly.
Usually this wasn’t such a problem. It was the sort of habit you picked up from years in the wilderness, being hunted by the law, when a sheriff or wild animal could pop up out of nowhere… there was a benefit in being able to rouse at a moment’s notice and be in control of your faculties.
Of course, most of the time, it didn’t come into handy – but then there were always nights that broke the same-old patterns. (Actually, no, no there weren’t. That was what made the whole thing that much more strange, to be honest.)
She heard the footsteps outside even in her sleep and sat up almost immediately, her hands snatching up her trusty weapon in the darkness as she crept through the house, a hunter on the prowl.
“Shelly?!” someone hissed quietly through the closed door. “Are you awake?”
It was Colt.
Shelly shook her head in disbelief. Of all the –
“You fuckin’…” Shelly muttered assorted curses in Spanish under her breath as she snatched up a blanket from her couch and draped it over herself before opening the door – ‘opening’ it in such a way that it flung angrily back and banged against the wall.
“What the hell?” she demanded. “What the hell are you doing here – Colt, you moron, it’s like midnight or something. I’m trying to sleep – can’t you see – why are you even up ?”
Colt shuffled back and forth nervously on her porch. “Oh, um, hi to you too. That’s a – that’s a fine way to say hello to your old friend.”
Shelly glowered at him beneath lowered brows. “If my ‘old friend’ doesn’t get to the point in exactly negative two seconds, I’m about to knock his teeth out.”
Colt gasped and covered his mouth instinctively. “Not the face,” he murmured, before shaking his head. “It’s, uh – can I come in? It’s important, I promise.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” But he wasn’t – clearly, if he was willing to disturb her, to risk her threats (and the very good chance she would follow through on them) then it must be really important to him after all. “Fine,” she grumbled, stepping back. “Come in. I’m going to go get dressed. But you better make this quick, I swear.”
Shelly almost didn’t know what to do with Colt when she came back downstairs, dressed in the most lazy way possible. He was here, alright, sitting awkwardly in the one chair in her kitchen – her chair – and just sort of … being there. He wasn’t supposed to be there, and yet, here he was.
“So this is where you live,” he said, when she approached him, heaving herself up and sitting on the kitchen table. “It’s nice.”
“Get to the point,” she replied coldly.
“Right. Right.” Colt folded his hands and unfolded them repeatedly. “Shelly, why aren’t you in jail?”
Shelly looked over at him, nonplussed. “W – what?”
“I mean, I mean – well, why aren’t you in jail? Just… just answer me, please.”
She rested her head in her hands, heaving a huge sigh. So it wasn’t anything important, then. “Because I escaped, dumb-ass. With the shovel, through the hole. I don’t intend to spend all night there in that box, you know.”
“Right!” he replied. “You did. You did. You escaped. And, uh… I mean, okay, I’ve been thinking, like… you know how Piper seems kind of weird sometimes, like she sometimes has trouble sleeping and stuff.”
“Obviously, yes,” Shelly said. “I’m there every day to rob her.”
Colt nodded. “You are. And, uh, she tells me about how sometimes she had trouble sleeping, and I want to help her – to solve it, you know, like I solve the problem with you! I arrest you, I throw you in jail. Problem solved. I’m the Sheriff.”
Shelly groaned. “Yes, yes you are. Is this some kind of self-esteem booster for you, or something? Do you need to hear someone else say it?” Sarcasm dripped from her words, buttery thick.
“No, no, no, that’s not it. I know I’m the sheriff. That’s why – that’s why it bothers me. Because… I’m supposed to solve the problems they have. I do with you, arresting you. I help the old folks and the kiddos cross the streets, I give tours sometimes. I do pictures and I do meet-and-greets. But now Piper is like ‘I can’t sleep’ and I’m like… I don’t know what to do about it.” He looked up at her, almost desperate. “But that can’t be – I always know what to do, Shelly. Doesn’t it – doesn’t bother you?”
Shelly shrugged. “Nope.”
Colt groaned. “No, of course it wouldn’t. You’re not supposed to solve their problems, enforce the law. But how can I do that when I can’t do something like this? Shouldn’t I be able to? It feels like I ought to be able to. Isn’t it a part of making sure everything runs smoothly in town?”
“I don’t know? How am I supposed to know?” Shelly flung her arms wide. “What do you want me to do – why are you asking me this. I’m a common criminal, a thief. I suggested she go talk to the psychic woman, that’s the only thing I could think of.”
Colt perked up. “Did it – did that help?”
Shelly shook her head. “I have no idea.”
There was a long minute of silence, during which Shelly was debating if it would be faster to open the door to throw Colt out or just pitch him through the window. Then he shook his head and sighed heavily.
“Shelly, I – I have to do something about it. About this. It’s right . I need to make sure everything goes smoothly in town. It’s… it’s just who I am, you know?”
“Okay,” she drawled. “You do that. I’m going to sleep.”
“No, wait-” he hesitated. “I know it’s a, uh, big favor, but… please, you’re my best friend, and I… I mean, we have things to do in the morning, you know? We’d have to go – we’d have to go right now.”
Shelly’s eyebrows shot up. “Right now? In the dark? At night?”
He cringed – but (very slowly) nodded. “Right now.”
“H – go right now?” Shelly repeated. She was having a hard time wrapping her head around the idea. She never went anywhere at night . She only escaped from jail, came home, ate dinner, then went to sleep. Going somewhere right now…
“Please, Shelly, will you come with me? I – I –“ Colt visibly cringed. “I don’t want to go alone.”
“We can’t go right now ,” Shelly said. “It’s nighttime. At night, I escape from jail, come home, eat dinner, and go to sleep until the sun rises.”
Colt nodded. “I – I know. But this… this is bothering me bad, Shelly. And you – I mean, you said it yourself. You’re a criminal, right?”
“Yes.”
“So you come with me. We’ll find something out – whether from Tara or whoever – and set Piper straight. I’ll have made sure everything ran smoothly in turn. And you – you’ll have done something against the rules. That’s what criminals do, right?”
Shelly tilted her head. “I – I guess so?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. So… will you come then? I mean – no one has to know.”
“Who would know?” Shelly echoed, at which he shrugged. She hesitated again – but he was right. It would be breaking the rules, what she was supposed to do. And that was very much an outlaw thing to do. So maybe it was the right thing after all. Almost equally slowly as Colt, she nodded. “Okay. I’ll come.”
“Thank you!” Colt jumped from the chair and squeezed her tightly, motion which seemed to snap her out of whatever had taken hold of her. She immediately snapped and scowled, shoving him mightily away and into the kitchen wall.
“Get off me,” she grumbled. “It’s not that big a deal anyway. Wait here. I’m going to get dressed. But, like, properly.”
The front door creaked when it opened. Everything was quiet outside. And dark – so very, very dark. Shelly could barely see Colt in front of her. Her eyes adjusted, but only very slowly, and she subconsciously held her breath bated as they crept off of her porch until they were standing on the desert sands beyond.
Colt exhaled heavily. “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” he said softly.
“You’re the one leading the way,” Shelly retorted. “Shut up and lead, then.”
“Right, right.” Colt scratched his head uncomfortably. “I want to talk to Tara.”
“She’s going to be asleep,” Shelly said.
Colt nodded. “That’s where you come into play, criminal.”
“Me?”
“You.” He paused. “You’re going to wake her up.”
Shelly gasped.
In retrospect, it seemed obvious that walking places in the dark would be the same as walking there in the light. Shelly wasn’t entirely sure why she’d expected otherwise, but somehow, deep in the back of her brain, she had. It still all felt a bit alien, a bit wrong, to be out here, seeing the wild western wilderness when it was all pitchy blackness and stars above. She looked up at the stars and decided that she liked the looks of them (even if she’d never really taken the time to admire them before).
They seemed so very, very far away, which was… well, it was something that she could quite tell. Nothing else was far away - there was nothing far. But the stars?
The wild west around here was strange in places. The part where it shifted into tall glass metal-and-glass buildings and such was one of these places. Shelly had never liked being around these places – they always felt wrong compared to her familiar haunts – but being in them in now, she was forced to admit that there really was no difference between the wilderness here and at home.
“This is it,” Colt whispered, pointing up at one such building.
Shelly squinted at the large building with a sloped roof that he pointed at. “Okay,” she replied. “Let’s go.”
The door opened quietly, and the two of them crept inside down long winding carpeted halls. It was like no place Shelly had ever seen before, and yet, she was unable to say that it was particularly strange or different from home. Deja vu leaked from the walls around here.
They checked several rooms before they found the correct one – but when they did, there was no mistaking. Curiously, it seemed that Tara was not even asleep (or maybe she was, it was hard to tell). She sat cross-legged on the floor, her eyes shut (including the third one). Shelly’s brow furrowed in confusion, but Colt didn’t seem as taken with the puzzle.
“Wake her up,” he urged. “It’s a – it’s a bad thing to do. Do it.”
“Alright, alright,” Shelly whispered back tersely. “I – I am.” It made her more nervous than it should have, doing this one clearly bad and clearly criminal thing – but that was what she was. Criminal. And so…
Shelly reached out and clapped her hands down on Tara’s shoulders, shaking her. “Wake up, three-eyes, we-”
“MMMMMMMMMMMMM!”
Tara practically jumped, and the shout was loud enough that Shelly could make out the shock even through the muffling of her bandages.
She was shaking the woman by the shoulders, trying to rouse her still, when from behind her there was a… smoky sound? Like puffs of wind of some kind, and all of the sudden Colt screamed , an ear-splitting screech that at once threatened to shatter Shelly’s eardrums.
“It’s touching me!” he yelped. “Oh, oh – Shelly, help – make it stop – let go –“
Shelly’s eyes widened when she glanced over her shoulders – three shadowy figures stood around Colt, somehow at once too dark to see and perfectly visible, each with a single glowing eye. Colt looked ready to faint, and Shelly had no idea if they were going to hurt him or not, but she didn’t intend to take that chance.
Tara was taller than Shelly had expected, but she was not nearly so muscled – and so when Shelly’s grip tightened, slipping from her shoulders to shirt collar, the grip that had been on her wrists crumbled like paper. Shelly lifted her almost effortlessly by the collar, slamming her back against the wall, drawing back her free hand and balling it menacingly.
“Call them off,” she growled. “Or I swear to god I’m going to put out your other eye.” She hesitated suddenly, glancing between the glowing third eye on the woman’s forehead and the one in the more normal place. “… both of them. Don’t test me – I know you can do it, they didn’t appear until you woke up.”
“MMMMMMMM!” Tara gestured frantically, waving her palms through the air. “MMMM!”
“… hey, can you keep it down in here?” All eyes in the room were suddenly drawn to a new presence – a teenager of some kind, standing disgruntledly in the doorway. He rubbed his eyes and stared at the scene before him. His eyebrows rose slightly. “Just be quiet, whatever you’re doing. Some of us are trying to sleep here.”
The door shut behind him.
Tara took this opportunity to snap her fingers and with a sudden gust of wind, the three shadowy figures vanished, leaving Colt alone – Shelly was relieved to see that he seemed unhurt, if a little rumpled.
“Mmmmmmmm…mmmmm,” Tara pleaded.
Shelly eyed her cautiously. “Fine. But I’m keeping an eye on you, alright? You better not try anything funny.”
When the woman nodded, Shelly abruptly let go of her, letting her crumple to the floor, away from the wall, where she lay for a few moments, seeming to catch her breath. Shelly put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t be such a wuss,” she snapped. “I didn’t even hit you, and you’re acting like I put your teeth out.” Then she turned to Colt. “Well, she’s up. What were you planning to ask?”
Colt stepped forwards, still straightening his shirt slightly. “Uh… hi there, Tara,” he said, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Sorry for the … commotion.”
“I’m not sorry.” Shelly crossed her arms. “I’d break her in half like a twig. Right over my knee. It wouldn’t even be hard, I bet.”
Tara cringed, looking over at Colt, who shook his head and laughed nervously. “Don’t – don’t worry,” he hastily assured her. She’s joking –“
“No, I’m not.” Shelly motioned with her hands. “Like a twig .”
“ You’re not making this any easier ,” Colt hissed. “Anyway, like I was saying… I’m just here to ask you if you ever saw Piper recently. You know, uh, she’s like this tall and blonde…”
Tara seemed to have collected herself enough to stand up properly. Though she still gave Shelly a wide berth, she nodded slowly. “MmmmmmmMMMmmm.”
“Oh.” Colt frowned. “I – I see.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Hey, you do psychic stuff sometimes. Maybe you can point us in the right direction with that, too? I wanna know what you told Piper, mainly. We’re trying to find a way to help her out.”
Tara nodded, stepping over to a low drawer nearby and drawing out a stack of cards, flipping rapidly through it, before selecting one and handing it to Colt. He examined it closely by the light of the one candle that was in the room.
“The… Magician,” he mused. “You gave it to me upside down, though.”
She nodded. “MmmmmMMMMM.”
“Oh.” Colt turned to Shelly. “What do you think?”
“Mmm,” Shelly grunted. “I think that’s the card she gave Piper. Ain’t it, three-eyes?”
Tara nodded hesitantly, causing Colt’s face to light up. “Oh, that’s good! That’s great.” He looked down at it again. “See, here’s what’s going: Piper is acting strange. She can’t sleep, and she’s been dreaming lately, apparently.
Tara’s gaze suddenly snapped to Colt’s face (so abruptly that Shelly uncrossed her arms and took a step forward). “MMMmmmmMMMMmmmm?”
Colt paused. “Is that weird? I mean, neither Shelly nor I ever really dream – do you?”
Tara shook her head, but seemed disturbed by something. She motioned up to her third eye, which was now darting rapidly around the room. “MMMMmmmm.” She paused for a moment before shaking her head emphatically. “Mmm.” Then there was confusion in her eye. (Eyes? Did the third one count? Shelly wasn’t sure.) “MmmmmmMMMMmmmm…”
“If it helps,” Shelly cut in, “She told me once that she felt like the dreams were about, like, water, or something. If that means somethin’ to you after all.”
Tara’s head tilted. She gestured to Colt for the card, and, when she got it, quickly shuffled it into her deck proper, before spreading the cards face-down on the floor as her hands slid over all of them.
“Oh, cool, she’s doing some kind of magic,” Colt murmured.
“She better be doing useful magic,” Shelly groused. “Or else we’re about to see how magic this boot of mine is up her rear end.”
Tara flinched, but drew a card from her spread and stood up, offering the new one to them. Colt took it, turning it over. “Oh,” he said. “It’s ‘Wheel of Fortune’. Hmm. Is that a hint or a clue or something?” He turned to Shelly, flashing the card at her. “What do you think of it?”
Shelly eyed the card skeptically. “Wheel of Fortune? Hmm.” Her boot tapped the floor several times. “I only know of one proper gambling wheel like that… there’s one in the gift shop that folks can spin for discounts and stuff.” She frowned. “We can’t spin it, though.”
Colt nodded. “We can’t,” he confirmed. “Obviously. But… maybe we’re supposed to go to it regardless? What’s in the gift shop?”
Shelly shrugged. The gift shop was an area of the wild west she didn’t go often - there, the sands and cacti gave away to hard stone and glass and there were always so many people there during the day. “I don’t know, but I reckon we could find out if we wanted.”
“True.” Colt looked thoughtful. “I mean, the gift shop’ll still be closed now, but-”
“-we can break in?” Shelly proposed. Even just saying the words made her feel… some kind of way. It was like she was remembering that, yeah, she was a lawless criminal… well, Colt had convinced her to leave her home at night and now she was finding it easier and easier to conceptualize being out here. Doing things. Crimes, even. It was wrong, but that was good. She did wrong, and evil.
“Ooooh,” Colt nodded. “Break in. More crimes.”
“More crimes,” Shelly confirmed.
Colt nodded sharply. His expression was distinctly uncomfortable - and his voice hesitated even as he did. It was almost as if he was trying to convince himself more so than her now. “If it really will help us get to the bottom of this… get things back to the way that they’re supposed to be… well, that’s what I do, right? It’s what I do.”
Shelly nodded. “Yeah. And I - well, I’m Shotgun Shelly. I do what I’m not supposed to do. It’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Tara was still staring at them both incredulously. Shelly put her hands on her hips and announced their intended departure - Colt tried to apologize, but she grabbed his collar and dragged him out after her. It was still pitch-dark outside and the stars… the stars were so far away. Shelly wasn’t sure she fathomed it right.
“Do you really think we’re doing the right thing?” Colt asked.
“You’re helping people, I’m breaking the law,” Shelly replied. “Seems to make sense to me.”
“Right.” Colt agreed somewhat reluctantly. He looked up at the sky. “Oh, wow, Shelly, the stars… they’re so… wow. Out there? Far away.”
Shelly nodded again. “Yeah.”
Their conversation fell silent as their footsteps turned towards the gift shop.