Iron Quill - Six - The Need

[SurreyLee]

Six – The Need

Ingredients used;

Theme – Six

Character – The Beggar

Line – Did you ever truly love me

Location – A Dusty Street

Words - 1296

……………………………..

One.

The shot rang loudly in the largely deserted dusty street. Only two people were in the street and one of them held a freshly smoking pistol aimed towards the sky, which was slowly releasing the last of the day’s warmth, as night came once again to Malifaux.

She had never fired a gun until moments before, yet she stood with mixed emotions. The power of the shot had finally obtained the attention of the streets only other occupant who was now slowly turning to see who’d rent the air so violently. As soon as he turned he regretted it.

Two.

Another projectile fired from the gun kicked dirt up around his shoes. Either she was lucky or he was and he didn’t want that decision to be decided on a coin flip.

“Stop Charlotte, put the gun down and we can talk about this, it’s not what you think”. Wrong words.

Three.

A bullet grazed him in the thigh; a few inches to the right and either his femoral artery would be bleeding out, he’d never walk again or he’d never have cause to enter the Honeypot casino again. Still, the bullet grazed him with enough force to cause him, momentarily to, drop to one knee. A situation he recovered quickly enough.

“Charlotte, please stop. I never intended to hurt you I promise you”.

The lady didn’t lower her pistol and rage was stoked behind her teary eyes as she asked him “did you ever truly love me”?

“Yes, yes of course the man stammered. Perhaps a little too quickly”. He was getting slightly nervous now. Beads of sweat were coursing down the small of his back. It didn’t help either that it had been almost two days since he’d last visited the Honeypot. He wasn’t sure whether it was the quality of the alcohol or the fragrance of the girls there but he just needed to get back.

“You haven’t been home in 4 nights and you expect me to believe you”? The tears started to fall now, the emotion cracking. She’d been strong up until this point but she’s given everything for this man before her, running away to Malifaux without the blessing of her father and taking the only family heirloom worth enough to cover their journey through the breach.

“It’s not what you think. I’m trying to set us up with a contract so you’ll never have to work and the gentlemen are residing in a bar, so I have to go there to conduct business”.

“For four nights….you’re lying to me”, she screamed.

Four.

The bullet sailed over his head this time. The tears in her eyes were making her erratic. Only two more and he could take the gun and resume his evening’s activities.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love her, he was sure that there was a part of him that did, intensely, it was just his business at the Honeypot was proving to be an indescribable amount of fun. Nothing there was too much trouble. He found he didn’t even need to sleep when he was there, almost as though his body was wired differently and it just wasn’t the same when he was away.

Mr. Lynch, the bar’s owner had personally welcomed him into the VIP area the first evening, on his account of being there for business and he had to say, the man could not have been more accommodating. He’d even waived away the apologies the next morning when it appeared he had somehow ended up in the room of one of the bars performing girls. No payment, no being thrown out of the establishment by the looming bouncer. No, if he was going to work and create a life in Malifaux for him and Charlotte, then he appeared to have found the best place to base himself almost from the get-go.

She stepped closer to her beau. Only days before they were blissfully happy talking about plans for their life together, possibly buying one of the large townhouses in the safer guild district to raise what they were hoping were lots of children, now she barely recognized him. His hair was slightly disheveled and he didn’t look as though he had slept in days. Well, certainly not in her bed. She couldn’t be sure, but she also detected a light behind his eyes. Barely detectable. No, that couldn’t be right.

“Leave this business. It’s doing something to you. Something I can’t understand. You’ve always been faithful to me and all I want is you, not the money, the house or the life, just you. Please come home to me”

“No”.

Five.

She stood shaking now. She hadn’t meant to fire the last shot but his utterance was the last thing she ever expected to hear come from his lips. The gun hung limply from her outstretched hands as she dropped, seemingly defeated to her knees.

Feeling as though the anger had gone from her he stepped closer. Anger at being shot, angry at being questioned started to course through him now. A rage he didn’t think could be warranted against her but she was stopping him doing the only think he wanted to do. Needed to do.

“Look, you want to know the truth, I’m not sure I do love you. I want to be rich, powerful and most of all I don’t want a bitter nag telling me what I can and can’t do. You don’t know me at all.  Everything I need, right now, is just down the road waiting for me and frankly you’re getting in the way of it”.

He took a few steps towards her. If he could take the gun from her, this would all be over and he could get on with his evening. Get on with his life.

Another step.

She raised the gun again. This time however her eyes looked dead. The tears had stopped almost as quickly as they’d begun.

Another step.

“Give me the gun Charlotte. You’re not going to shoot me. You love me.”

Another step.

She looked at him. Maybe he was right. She didn’t know this man, this thing in front of her.

Only a couple of steps away now he looked at her, pityingly, know that this woman couldn’t offer him an ounce of joy in this world anymore.

She saw the look in her eyes. It tipped her over the edge.

Six.

He watched, almost in slow motion as she lifted the gun even higher, reversing it back on itself being put into her mouth and the trigger being pulled. Blood splattered his crumpled suit as she toppled. The light in her eyes didn’t fade straight away however he’d already started to turn to leave before she moved no more. The pain in his leg had oddly vanished.

……………………

“Welcome, Mr. Carmichael, I was hoping we’d see you again”.

Jakob Lynch greeted the man as though he was his oldest friend welcoming him into the back of the club, an area reserved only for VIP’s.

“You look as though you’ve been into a little bit of bother Mr. Carmichael, nothing I trust that will bring the Guild sniffing around here causing me trouble. We wouldn’t want our business being bothered would we”?

“No, nothing to worry about Mr. Lynch”.

“Jakob, please call me Jakob”.

“Okay. Sorry. Jakob. Nothing to worry about at all. Um, without wishing to sound presumptuous, but I could really do with a drink”.

“Mr. Carmichael, from the look of you I think you need a little more than a drink. In fact, I think I’ve got just the thing for you”.

[SurreyLee]

This is my first go at the Iron Quill and in fact my first stab at writing something fictional in 20 years. The quality of the stories on here has inspired me to become a creator and i'd welcome any and all critique.