Beautiful Revenge

Cahpter 13 A lead of justice

After so many years gone, it was time. Time to go back to the town Melissa once had called home. Georgetown. The place she used to go to school in, used to shop grocers, used to have such a wonderful life.

Riding through town and seeing everything once again, made her feel unsure of what to do. The men she was looking for had probably left long ago. Maybe they weren't even in America anymore? Maybe they have gone somewhere else? But Georgetown was her best lead. It was hard, coming back to that town, but she had no other choice.

Melissa rode past the Sherriff's office, reminding her of what she had done and of Sam, who she missed more than anything. The general store was to the right the doctors to the left and a gun store further down the road. Further down to the right was the stables, horses could be seen walking in the pasture while eating grass. People was roaming the streets already, even though it was bright and early morning. Melissa was afraid that someone would recognize her. So afraid that she had ditched all her dresses and shirts she had. Instead, she was wearing a pair of black chaps, with dark blue jeans underneath. A white blouse with a black coat on her. And of course, her black hat and brown boots. She had even cut her hair a little. The long light and dark brown locks of her hair only now reached a bit over her chest. She looked different for sure, and was almost certain that no one would recognize her, still, she was afraid. Riding through town again brought back so many memories. What did the people here think happened to her? Did they know what happened to the Summers family? After all, Lilly and Matthew Summers had been shot dead and their daughter, had just disappeared straight out in the forest where no one ever saw her again. It was more than three years ago, and Melissa had grown a lot since then. She was just a lost kid before. Now, she felt more grownup, yet still lost. She was nineteen and had left this town by the age of fourteen. Felt like ages ago to her.

Melissa was determined to find the men who had killed her parents, she should have gone after them straight away but what could she have done? She thought that she would never be able to kill someone, yet, here she is, with blood on her hands and with darkness in her heart and mind. The best place to start looking was of course the saloon, where all the gossip was. Someone knew everything of everyone. The saloon was always the place you went for information, people weren't exactly afraid of spreading rumors of people and gossip, Melissa knew that for a fact right now.

She hitched Belle outside the big rusty building with the text Saloon, on it and headed inside. Straight forward were the bar and of course Mr. Jeffery Dixon, the bartender. Melissa never knew him, but she knew that he always had some sort of information on everybody in town. You could say he was the leader of gossip, but what else could you expect. He runs a saloon, people all over town and from different states come here to drink, and with the drink, they also talk, a lot.

Melissa opened the swinging doors and tilted her hat slightly down over her face, afraid that someone would recognize her. To the right were a table full of men, smoking and playing poker. On the top floor some women could be seen, looking down at her when she walked in. All of them dressed in short dresses and messy hair. To the left some other men could be seen, one older one, sitting lonely at a table with an empty whisky bottle. Probably drunk. Two men was standing tilted against the bar further down, a bit younger than everyone else, yet, older than Melissa. Everyone looked at her as she took her first step towards the bar. There were only men in this bar, if you didn't count with the working girls on the top floor. Melissa felt their eyes carve into her back as she tried to keep her cool while walking towards the bar. Her feet almost bend, they were weak and Melissa wasn't as brave as she thought.

But she had to do this, she had to act confident and cool, even when she weren't. When she finally reached the bar, she stood beside the two younger men. They looked at her as she flipped a coin up on the disk. While tilting against the bar and nodding towards the whisky bottle.