Freak

11.

Blue was nervous, she'd never lied to Arthur before. Not that she was technically lying, she was simply withholding some information, but it felt like she was lying, like she was doing something bad.

It had been about 8 or 9 days since Bill told her he'd teach her how to shoot a gun but Arthur had been around camp more than usual while Blue was recovering from her fever and so Bill didn't feel it was a good time.

That morning, however, Arthur and Charles had left for a hunting trip and weren't due to come back for at least two days. That was why Blue now sat behind Bill on his Brown Jack, awkwardly trying to stay on the horse but not cling too hard to the man in front of her, knowing it'd make them both uncomfortable.

"This'll do..." Bill muttered in front of her as he slowed his horse to a halt. They had been riding for quite a while and Blue had no idea where she was. There was an open field bordering to a dense forest. Old fallen trees littering the edge and Blue found herself wanting to climb them or just walk back and forth, balancing, on the moss-covered branches. She knew, however that now wasn't the time for playing.

Not daring to drop down from the giant horse on her own, she waited until Bill had clumsily climbed down and gently, or as gently as Bill Williamson was capable of, put her feet back to the earth.

She looked at the burly man rummaged though his satchel bringing out four shining glass bottles. He then made his way over to one of the fallen trees, motioning for her to follow, and lined them up.

"Now you ain't gonna shoot today, Imma just show you how it's done, and maybe I'll let you hold it, Okay?" he didn't face her when he spoke but she could tell by his voice that he was as nervous as she. Not being allowed to shoot that day didn't bother her at all, to be completely honest she was somewhat relieved that this wasn't the day.

With a simple 'okay' as a confirmation on the information he'd given her, she let her eyes follow every move he made.

Stepping out into the open field he held out the gun for her to see.

"This is a Schofield Revolver, not that you need to know the name..." he scratched his neck, seemingly wondering what he was doing "anyways... this little thing here" he said, motioning to a piece of metal sticking out of the top "you have to pull it back, an' here's where you put the bullets, and then you shoot by pulling this trigger here, it ain't all that complicated really..." it sounded complicated to Blue...

"An' when you aim keep both eyes' open, some close one but that's just stupid. You following?"

"Uhu!"

"Alright, now I'm strong so I can do it with one hand but because you're just a little girl you're gonna have to use both hands, it's gonna wanna fly backwards but you have to hold it in place. Honestly I'm not sure you'll be able to do it for a few years..."

A few years? Even if Blue had been okay with not shooting today, she felt like a few years was too much.

"I'd like it to be this year..." she confessed, looking at him through her thick lashes.

Bill just grunted and directed her attention towards the bottles. He aimed only for a second before he let the bullet fly, making the bottle furthers to the right explode, glass raining down on the surrounding grass. Blue found herself gaping at the accuracy of which Bill had hit the seemingly tiny bottle from such a distance. Before she even had a chance to tell him how impressed she was he shoot the next one and the next one and the last, all of which went down in the same fashion.

"You're really very good at this Mr. Williamson" her comment seemed to embarrass him because the tips of his ears turned a flaming red.

"You can call me Bill..."