Summary:\u00a0 Missing scene from “The Avenger”<\/p>\n
Rating:\u00a0 G\u00a0 (890 words)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Stuff of Nightmares<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I could feel the coarseness of the hemp rope as it settled around my neck and a bleak despair filled me as, beside me, the hangman reached to loop a second rope over my father\u2019s head.<\/p>\n The fire, started by Hawkins\u2019s men, illuminated the street in front of the gallows and lit the faces of the watchers with an almost devilish glow. Triumph was evident in their expressions, the firelight highlighting their gloating smiles. I looked for my brothers, expecting them to be here, but they weren\u2019t. Perhaps it was too much to expect, for them to watch their brother and father die in front of them.<\/p>\n The hangman reached for the lever that would operate the trapdoor and I felt myself tense, knowing this was it. There was no way out now. My life was over.<\/p>\n ****<\/p>\n \u201cAdam,\u201d my youngest brother\u2019s worried voice roused me from restless sleep, \u201cAdam, you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n I opened my eyes, realising that I\u2019d been dreaming. On the bedroll beside me Joe was propped up on his elbow, watching me with concern. The flames from the campfire reflected in his anxious eyes and I shuddered faintly, the details of my dream still all too vivid.<\/p>\n \u201cNightmare?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s question was sympathetic. He, of all my family, was only too aware of the terrors of bad dreams. He\u2019d suffered from them a lot as a youngster.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout that night?\u201d he continued, when I didn\u2019t answer, surprising me with his perceptiveness. \u201cThe hanging?\u201d<\/p>\n Closing my eyes I tried to relax and push back the memories. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing. I\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI get them too you know,\u201d Joe said softly. \u201cOnly in mine, Lassiter doesn\u2019t succeed. Sally keeps to that lie and Hoss and me, we can\u2019t save you. We try, but we\u2019re too late. We\u2019re just too darn late and you and Pa \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n As his voice trailed off in shuddering sigh I opened my eyes again and glanced over at him. He was looking away from me, toward the fire, and his expression was one of horror. I knew what he was imagining; I\u2019d seen the same thing in my dreams many times since that night. Pa and me dangling at the end of the ropes.<\/p>\n \u201cYou never said anything,\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow could I? You and Pa, you were the ones that lived through it, the ones that almost died. I thought if you were able to forget it, to put it in the past, then I sure as heck should be able to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeh well,\u201d I found myself chuckling even though the situation was far from amusing. \u201cSeems I haven\u2019t been quite as good at \u2018putting it in the past\u2019 as you thought.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t blame you for that. You came real close to dying. If it hadn\u2019t been for Lassiter you wouldn\u2019t be here right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure I would. You and Hoss would have had to start that small revolution you were telling Pa about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat would just have meant we\u2019d all have been killed, I reckon, by Hawkins\u2019s men. And the good people of Virginia City sure wouldn\u2019t have lifted a hand to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n “You sound kind of bitter there, little brother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd aren\u2019t you?\u201d Joe turned his head to look me in the eyes. Not just bitter, I saw from his expression, but angry too.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were scared, Joe. Hawkins had them scared half to death.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve known those people most of my life. I thought they were my friends, our friends, yet they just stood by and almost let you hang. How could they do that Adam? How could they?\u201d<\/p>\n I understood Joe\u2019s anger, though I didn\u2019t share it. The man I was angry at was dead, killed along with half his men by Lassiter and my brothers. \u201cHawkins knew how to \u2018persuade\u2019 folk into his way of thinking. Threaten a man\u2019s family, his livelihood, and he\u2019ll likely do what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA bunch of cowards!\u201d Joe spat out.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps, but try not to blame them too much. They were just too frightened to stand up to Hawkins.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe didn\u2019t reply immediately, instead lying back down on his bedroll, head cushioned on his saddle. \u201cThink the nightmares will stop?\u201d he asked eventually.<\/p>\n \u201cSure they will,\u201d I told him confidently. \u201cAfter all in the end it turned out okay. Pa\u2019s fine, I\u2019m fine and Hawkins won\u2019t trouble us again. The memories will fade and so will the bad dreams I reckon. And talking of dreams, you\u2019d best get some sleep, got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe didn\u2019t protest and within minutes the sound of his even breathing let me know that he\u2019d taken my advice and fallen asleep. I shifted a little, trying to get comfortable and closed my eyes. As I drifted off I thought of Lassiter and gave silent thanks that he\u2019d happened along when he did. I wondered vaguely where he was now, if he\u2019d found the men he sought. He was a driven man, Pa had said, and I guess that was true. For Lassiter there had been no last moment reprieve, he\u2019d seen his loved ones die before him. I was a lucky man, the bad dreams might remind me of what had happened but I was alive to have those dreams. What had happened to Lassiter\u2019s family was truly the stuff of nightmares.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inspired by:\u00a0 The Avenger<\/p>\n Directed by:\u00a0 Christian Nyby<\/p>\n Written by:\u00a0 Clair Huffaker<\/p>\n