text: Amidst the cold night Laurel travels with only the stars in the sky as company. She can't wait to reach the next city. All around is just barren land with a few struggling vegetation. Due to unforeseen circumstances Laurel travels by horse but only two types of persons would do so. Primitives, i.e. those who can't adhere to modern society or someone who's confident in their ability. Laurel breathes a sigh of relief as she sees the next town, Old’s Ville. Now she can have a drink, a shower and a good night’s sleep. The town has the glint of the wild west, all the buildings looked just like they came out of the era but the only horses here were metal and smelt of fuel. As Laurel strolled in, all eyes were on her. Who would have thought they’d see an actual horse being rode in this day and age. There was only one place she could head to, the local museum had the only stable in town. The curator stood wide eyed at the sight of Laurel. Approaching her, one could see the drool on the curator’s face. “Wh-wh-what c-c-can I-I help you w-w-with?” Unamused Laurel, replied “I need a place for Sheba here”. “Oh, this lovely beaut name of Sheba.” “Can I leave him here or not?” “S-sorry sorry, where’s my manners? Yes, yes you can, we keep the stable maintained for such an occasion as this.” Apprehensive, she inquired further, “You sure? If anything happens to him there’ll be hell to pay”. “I assure you Ms. Staellar. We will take the utmost care of him, I guarantee.” “You know me?” “Who doesn’t know you Ms. Staellar. You and him are known all across the planet.” Seeing as the curator knew who she was or at least knew of her, she dismounted and handed him the reins. “Point me to the best hotel in town.” “There’s only one, that would be Shack-It-Up.” “.... What’s this place known for?” “The shooting tournaments.If you have reservation about the hotel, haha the name isn’t what you think.” “... How so?” “If you really wanted to get laid, then there’s no better place than madam Chick’s cathouse.” “... Then why the name?” “The guy who bought it, renamed it, cause he thought he could compete with madam Chick but all anyone does is sleep in the rooms.” Laurel heads to the hotel to book a room. While the outside looked western like everything else the inside's decor was high tech. Truly a nice design, yet at the same time it had no taste. Nothing inside had an ounce of western flare. Laurel is approached by the receptionist bot and books her room. There are no human employees as far as she can see. She takes her room card and heads back out. Directly across the street she sees what looks like a saloon. Still wanting a drink and something to eat she heads on in, in hopes of finding other humans. Entering the saloon she finds a western style establishment that was also modern and to her delight there were other humans there as well. While they watched her, it was with downcast eyes. Everyone kept their heads down and didn’t venture to look her way for too long. Laurel heads to the bar and orders a drink. Seeing the reaction of the people near her she sets an order for some noodles and heads to a table in the back. The people's reaction was all too common for her. As the server bot brings her drink, she can only think of drowning herself in its sweet embrace. The bot informs her that her order will be done in five minutes. Stopping the bot, she places another order for the same drink but puts in an order as well for a stronger drink to be brought with the noodles. As she sits waiting, someone else comes into the bar. He is rugged in appearance but everyone in the bar greets him with a smile. He sits at the bar and relaxes a bit. The bartender serves him a drink without even asking. Taking the glass he salutes the bartender and takes a sip. Resting the glass down he looks in Laurel’s direction. Getting up out his seat the bartender stops him and whispers something, he takes another look at Laurel and waves the bartender off. “Hi.” “HI.” “Is this seat empty?” “... Who wants to know?” “Sorry, sorry, I’m Jackson Paul”, he extends a hand to Laurel’s surprise. She ignores this and motions for him to have a seat but even as he sits he keeps his hand extended. Taking another sip of her drink she shakes his hand and mutters, “Laurel Staellar”. “Must be hard being you.” Laurel gives no answer, she sits and carefully checks him out. He smiles at her as her food and drink arrives. Finishing her drink she ready’s her fork while he watches on. She eats as he continues to watch on smiling. Boldly he takes a sip of her drink much to the shock of the whole bar. “Wooo, that’s strong.” The bar is silent as Laurel stops eating. He smiles at her as everyone waits with bated breaths. Laurel looks at the glass then at him, now his smile faints to worry. Her facial expression was a true poker face, he couldn’t tell what she was going to do. Now he started to regret not listening to the bartender. Laurel is a bounty hunter with a great track record but is very loose with her weapons. Readjusting herself in her seat Jackson begins to sweat as he wonder’s how far he could get before she kills him. Resting her fork down, she stretches her hand across the table as Jackson closes his eyes in anticipation of what's to come. “You’re right, it's strong.” “....” In awe Jackson and the whole bar breathes a sigh of relief and surprise. Jackson begins to get up as Laurel stops once more. “Sit”, was the only word she said as Jackson stared into her eyes and eased back down to his seat. The atmosphere in the bar was again on edge. “Do you want some?” “.... Ex-excuse me.” Sharply she responds, “Food, do you want any?” “N-n-no.” Finishing her plate and drink she pays the bar while keeping Jackson in tow behind her. He dared not ask anything as they went to the hotel and she took him to her room. Standing like a statue he finally got the courage to talk. Sheepishly he asked, “W-what do you want from me?”. Laurel glances at him as she begins to undress. Jackson couldn’t help but admire her fair skin with those knockers he, like many others, dreamt of sucking. “You want to live?” “Y-Yes!” “Good. Then fuck my brains out.” His jaw falls to the floor at this command. He gulped but hesitated. “I can see you salivating from here. You have two options, either fuck me or die, your choice.” The next morning Laurel can be seen with a smile on her face as she goes to the museum to collect Sheba. Saddling up she heads out of town to her original destination. As soon as she was out of sight people rushed to the hotel to find out if Jackson was alive. Laurel had many nicknames but the one most relevant here is the Bloody Wife . She was considered the black widow of the bedroom. Even the owner was there as well to see. Standing outside the room his hands shake as he tries to scan his master card to open the door. The crowd stands behind him holding their breath at the sight they knew was coming. Opening the door the owner steps inside and looks around. To his surprise all seems well, there’s only Jackson lying on the bed. Everyone outside peer in and sigh but someone outside comments that Jackson looks peaceful. The owner's eyes widened and slowly focused back on Jackson as he stepped closer. Before he could check the cleaning bot comes in and tosses Jackson’s body to the floor as it removes the sheets from the bed. Jackson jumps up and gives the crowd a shock with many of the ladies delightfully surprised. Realizing he’s naked he rushes to the bathroom, taking his clothes with him. The owner clears his throat and commands the crowd to disperse as he leaves as well. Jackson puts on his clothes and heads to the exit but he sees the crowd outside and obviously realizes what they want. He had no intention of going through them so he asks the receptionist bot for another exit but he is told there isn’t any. He then asks to speak with the owner. “Jackson?” “Mr. Saint-Claire, I need another way out of here.” “Why?” “I want to live, that’s why.” “... Ms. Staellar has already left.” “You think I don’t know that. Listen to me, I want to live. You don’t know what that woman is capable of okay.” “... I-I understand, follow me.” Mr. Saint-Claire takes him to one of the many hidden exits of the hotel. As he watched Jackson leave he can’t help but smile as he thinks about how he could use this fortunate encounter to his advantage. *** A few months pass and Jackson who had left town that day and now resides in the city of what would be New London. At the Spring Time bar he sits having a drink and watching Metro Ball. Toasting to his promotion with his colleagues the game is interrupted. He takes a sip of his drink as the newscaster says, “Breaking news, the owner of Shack-It-Up Mr. Saint-Claire is dead”, slowly Jackson lowers his glass as the newscaster pauses. “This just in, from those on the scene, it seems the Bloody Wife Ms. Staellar blew his brains out in the middle of the street in broad daylight”, the newscaster continued. Jackson spits out his drink as those in the bar glance at him. “Dude, did you see a ghost?” “What?!” “Everybody knows about the Bloody Wife . Why are you surprised?” “Jackson? Weren’t you from around there?” “What! He’s from Old’s Ville?” “Yea-yeah I used to live there.” “Hmm but you didn’t react to the owner’s death. You only reacted to hearing it was the Bloody Wife who did it. ” Jackson dares not talk and instead diverts the attention from himself with just enough information about what happened in the bar that night without mentioning himself. Wrongly the people assume that it was Mr. Saint-Claire who approached the Bloody Wife . Shaking their head they comment saying, “That’s why she’s the Bloody Wife .”. Sitting back down Jackson gets another drink and tries to continue being merry with his colleagues but in the back of his mind he thought it was time to leave the city. Although he had no reason to believe she would be headed his way as the news report said she went in the opposite direction he had an uneasy feeling nonetheless. *** “Lala, why’d you have to kill him?” “Why? The bastard was using my name to promote his hotel.” “You could have just beaten him up.” “... That was the original plan but he tried to blackmail me. Blackmail me!!” “...” “He thought cause I fucked a guy in one of the rooms he could-” “Wait, you said you fucked a guy there right?” “Yeah, why?” “Did you kill him?” “Haa! Look it’s not like I kill every guy I fuck okay. And no, he was breathing when I left.” Inquisitively she said, “No wonder.” “What do you mean?” “Really... your nickname?” Looking annoyed, Laura asks, “Which one?” “Come on, Bloody Wife.” “What about it?” “You have got to be dense, you know. People consider you to be a black widow.” Puzzled, “So?” Highly annoyed, she replied “.... A black widow kills their mate, you bitch.” “What’s that got to do with me?” Slapping her head, she asks “What the condition of all the other dudes you fucked?” “They're dead, why-” It finally struck Laura, Jackson was the only guy you slept with that was still alive to tell the tale. Now she was sure it was even better that she had killed the hotel owner. She glances at Sarah who stood there with her arms folded and lets out a slight chuckle. Sarah just sighs. They head to the doctor’s office for Sarah’s check up. They were at Upper Avenue, this was where Laura was headed before stopping off at Old’s Ville. As they enter the elevator to go up to the doctor’s office a guy joins them. Since Laura who was close to the corner had turned to the side to take a private call the guy hadn’t noticed her. As he continues to hit on Sarah, Laura is getting annoyed since he didn’t bother to talk softly. Turning around the guy was just about to ask Sarah for her number as he saw who was in the corner all this time. He freezes and doesn’t utter another word as the elevator reaches their floor Sarah tugs Laurel for them to leave and the guy stands in the elevator still frozen as it closes. Sarah logs in at the desk and they both take a seat as they wait for the doctor to call her. Dr. Waterly comes out after a few minutes. Chuckling he says, “I see we have two patients.” “Doctor, you love to make jokes don’t you.” “Hmm, what are you talking about Sarah?” “I’m the only pregnant one here doc.” “... That can’t be, the scanners report that there are two pregnant women.” At a loss for words Sarah and Laurel look at each other. “Doc, you sure that thing’s working?” Stiffing up he replies, “Yes, Ms. Staellar.” “I can’t be pregnant doc. I was told I was barren.” “... If you don’t mind, can I check you with this machine right here? It should give me a more accurate reading.” To their surprise, it gave the same reading as the room sensors. The ultrasound clearly showed them a baby growing in Laurel’s belly. It had to have been at least three to four months since she got pregnant. Laurel hadn’t noticed due to her workout schedule and the jobs she regularly undertook. It was common for her to miss her period for months at a time. The doctor opted to give them some space as Laurel was in shock. “Lala, this wonderful news isn’t it?” “How... How is this wonderful? Do you realize how this will affect my job?” “Come on, it's not a big deal.” Laurel stands in frustration, “For you this isn’t a big deal. You think I want a kid?!” Seriously annoyed Sarah responses, “What wrong with having a child?! Being a mother is one of the joys of being a woman.” “I ain’t got time to raise no kid, especially since that dad ain’t even around.” Realizing what she just said Laurel turns to Sarah whose face is filled with disgust as tears run down her face. Laurel tries to apologize but Sarah has no interest in hearing it. Behind tears, Sarah bites her lip and mockingly says, “At least your child has a father”. She leaves Laurel in the waiting room and goes in to see the doctor. After her checkup she storms past Laurel. “Ms. Staellar, do you want me to give you a check up?” “Doctor just kills this thing inside me.” “You sure you want to do that. You may never get another child.” “...” “I understand that you’re upset and that you and Ms. Dowie are having a fight but I want you to know. Even though she was upset with you, she expressed that I take good care of you... and the baby.” Laurel is confused, and asks the doctor to let her think about it. She goes back home and tries to call Sarah but gets no answer. As if to clear her head she takes a look at open jobs. Finding nothing interesting she drowns herself in drink. Two days later she hears a knock at her door. It’s Sarah, she’s surprised at how ragged Laurel looks. “Can I come in?” Sluggishly Laurel replies, “... Yeah”. Surprised again at the mess in Laurel’s apartment Sarah gets to cleaning. After cleaning up Laurel's mess, Sarah sits down and they talk. Although it took fifteen minutes before either of them said anything. In the end they make up and Laurel decides to keep her baby. They figure between the two of them what could go wrong with raising their kids *** At the bar Jackson and co are watching the rest of Metro Ball after the sudden news. Their team narrowly wins. Jackson buys a round of drinks to celebrate but also to help them forget about the news. He had enough issues in his life. "Hey Jackson" "Hmm, Carla what's up?" "Let's have a kid." Jackson spits out his drink. The others stared at each other then laughed. Carla found it a bit puzzling and didn't understand why they were laughing. "Carla, we aren't an item. So why do you think you can say something like that so casually." "Come on, all you got to do is fuck me." Jackson is in disbelief. While the others nod in agreement to Carla's logic. "Carla read my lips. I don't want a kid. Not with you or anybody." "Why not? I'm hot aren't I?" "That personality of yours isn't", Jackson shakes his head, wondering why he only seemed to attract the crazy girls.