The September 2001 Challenge: offered by NotTasha

Write a story from a villain's POV. It can be a cannon villain and even a cannon scene -- or make it all up.

Life Just Isn't Fair

Damnit!

Damnit! Why did I have to be so fucking stupid! He told me I would be fine, and, like the stupid idiot I am, I believed him. Don't worry, he said. They're weak, vulnerable, you'll be able to sneak in and out before they would even realise that someone had snuck in and robbed the bank.

Really, sounds like a great opportunity, I had thought to myself.

Idiot! I slammed my left palm against my forehead.

I had arrived in the town of Four Corners to rob the bank, and before I could blink, I had been arrested and thrown into this damn cell. It was as though they were waiting for me. Me . . . Yes I was a wanted man, but I, Jack Southern, at least deserved the chance to commit a crime before being arrested. Didn't I? I should have been able to prove that I was an intelligent criminal capable of committing a violent crime. I mean I didn't even get the chance to draw my gun. How stupid did I look? Very!

They had snuck up on me. That's what they had done, snuck up behind me and placed the barrel of a gun against the back of my head. Cowards, too scared to face me. Well, the thought makes me feel better, and braver.

I looked up when one of the so-called peacekeepers kicked the door open and entered into the jailhouse. It was the young one. He was carrying a tray of food that I had no intention to eat. They were going to hang me, so why eat. The dark haired boy moved towards my cell wearing that stupid grin on his face.

"There's seven of them," the man had spoken in a whisper, "a green horn if you ever saw one, wouldn't even know what to do if he saw the bank being robbed."

Green, the man had said. I tried on numerous occasions to catch a glance behind his ears and so far, I've seen nothing that told me he was green. He was young and still needed to learn a lot. But he certainly knew what he had to do when a wanted man arrived in town. Even knew my name he did.

"Brought you some breakfast, thought you might be hungry." the sheriff put the tray down and pushed it through a gap in the bars.

I gave him my best sneer. He's laughing at me. What the hell is he laughing at? My sneer usually scares people. So why isn't he scared? It's because I'm behind bars. If I were on the other side of them, he would be pissing in his pants.

He walked away from me and out of the jailhouse. I can still hear his chuckles. Yeah, if I weren't behind this wall of bars, he'd be crying for his mama.

I settled back down on my cot. I was hoping to get some more sleep. Footsteps, loud ones, told me I wasn't going to get any.

In he walked . . . the man that spoke more about the ladies than he did spending time with them.

"Then there's the one that spends all his time with the ladies, you'd be lucky to even see him, and if you do, you can shoot him down before he gets his trousers above his knees."

I should never have listened to that guy.

"You're not going to talk about your latest conquest are you?" I asked him.

The man settled down into the chair behind the desk and played with his moustache. He smiled widely and I groaned at the thought. This man must drive the others crazy with his stories. That's what they were, stories. Nothing that he says could be true. If it were, he would have fathered fifty children by now.

"Well, last night there was this . . . "

"I don't want to hear it!" I yelled at him.

"I thought you liked them." the man looked disappointed.

"You know, I was told that you spend all your time in a woman's bed and that I could shoot you before you even got your trousers above your knees." I hoped that telling him what someone had thought of him would shut him up. It didn't.

"Really . . . now who told you that?"

I regretfully spent the next fifteen minutes telling him about the man who told me how easy it would be to rob the bank in Four Corners.

Three hours and forty-five minutes later the ladies man left me alone. But I knew it wouldn't be for long. One of the others would be along any minute now to take over his watch.

It was the preacher man who came next.

"The preacher uses a lot of his time to fix the church. You know, he's been working on that thing for eight months and he still hasn't finished. He'd probably start to arrest you and walk away without finishing the job."

He usually spent his time trying to convince me to forgive myself and accept my fate. He also called me son, quite a bit. It was a very irritating habit. I shut him up before he could even start by asking him how come it was taking him so long to finish the repairs on the church. He didn't talk much after that . . . but I did. I nagged him for four hours, asking him why he couldn't finish anything he started. The large man was pretty angry by the time he left. He was muttering something about killing some guy . . . hope it wasn't me.

At least the next man who walked in was different. Only in the fact that he didn't talk. I could suffer in peace and solitude. It was like the man wasn't even there. I glanced up at him and started to laugh, I couldn't help myself.

"The tracker, a wanted man who doesn't want to cause any trouble. He also can't see a thing because of all the hair that falls into his face. He'll probably hide in his wagon until you're gone."

I kept picturing him running around and falling over himself because he couldn't see through the hair that was covering his face. I wondered if he had as much hair on the rest of his body and actually asked him if he had. I don't think I've seen anyone so angry before. Except maybe the preacher that had left earlier.

"There's a black man who is the town's healer, he doesn't believe in hurting people. So you should be able to kill him easily because he won't shoot you."

I've never seen a black man before. I know it's hard to believe. I couldn't stop staring at him. The dark skin, the pale palms, it didn't go together. I didn't say much to him and he didn't say much to me. He seemed more amused about the fact that I couldn't stop staring at him. It was also hard to believe why someone so large could be incapable of hurting anyone. What about the people that would have kept him as a slave when he was younger. Strange man.

Now here was a hard case if I ever saw one.

"The one that will only dress in black. He sits in the corner of the saloon all day and most of the night. Spends all his time being drunk. He'll be no threat to you what-so-ever."

Now I'm reminded as to why the kid laughed at my sneer. This one could cause a man to drop dead with just a simple look. And he certainly wasn't drunk. Over the last four days, I've yet to see him drunk. I would question him over it but I'm afraid of him. Yes, I've said it. There is actually a man on this Earth that I am afraid of. I wouldn't look at him, I wouldn't talk to him, and I certainly wouldn't do anything to piss him off. I sat on the corner of the bunk, with my hands in my lap and my eyes staring at the floor.

I was always grateful when this man left.

Now came the last one. The Gambler.

"The gambler is a man that you could pay off. Offer him enough money and he'll escort you out of town."

The one that had caused all of this to happen. I'd been shocked when I saw his face smiling at me. This was the man who had told me all the lies about his friends. Damn him. He's the reason that I'm going to hang.

I glare at him as he enters the room. He simply smiles back at me, a gold tooth staring back at me. Yeah well, I'll get him. I tell that preacher and ladies man what he told me about them. Maybe some of it was true, if not, they might get angry enough to kill him.

Damn him and damn all of them. But most of all, damn me for being so stupid. Life just isn't fair.

The End.