What it takes to see the light

Jeb leans back against the wall and cocks the hammer on his double-action revolver. The click~click his pistol makes gives him a sense of false security. 

Sweat drips down into his eyes causing his vision to blur. He is upstairs lying on his side in the moonlit hallway between the bathroom and bedroom door. The rustle of leaves can be heard skittering across the roof just beyond the peak. 

“Show yourself.” Jeb yells down to the floor below.

No answer comes as lightning cracks a brilliant tear in the sky, illuminating the entire house. A terracotta pot smashes down spraying soil and debris across the paved entryway making Jeb jump. 

“Charlie? Boone.. is’at chou?” He says a little too loud. Fear making his voice box constrict. His tone comes out an octave higher than it should be. 

The house itself is silent, save for the creaks and groans it makes during the windstorm. The deep snapping sound of a tree breaking cuts through the white noise of the wind. It gives Jeb the feeling that the whole world is falling apart. 

Glass crunches below on the wood floor underneath a boot, making the hair stand up on the back of his neck.

“I’m armed!” Jeb yells out a second time. “Are ye’ friend or foe?”

“I’m comin’ for you Jebediah.” a gravelly voice calls out in no particular hurry. "I'm gonna scatter your bones all across the yard.”

Jeb closes his eyes, suddenly finding it hard to swallow. For as much moisture as there is in the air, his throat sure is dry.

“Ah, crap Donny. It was an accident. You know I didn't mean to shoot yer' boy.”

“I know.” Donny replies with resignation. “But that won't bring him back now, will it?”

“Com'on Donny! We can talk this out. Me an’ Carter was applicable to each other.”

“I don’t think that word means what you think it does, Jebediah. Either way, you’re still gonna die.”

A heavy thud thumps at the bottom of the stairs. The vibration moves through the walls and floor.

“Donny..? Donny what you doin’?” Jeb yells at the first floor.

Twenty seconds later another heavy thud thumps down at the base of the steps. This time it is followed by what sounds like sand being poured out onto the floorboards, accompanied by half lifted footsteps being dragged backward.

“Ahh com’on Donny! You gonna blow me up in my own house?”

“This ain’t your house.”

“I know but I’m livin’ here aren't I.” 

Jeb tries to think of a way out of his current predicament. His eyes look in all directions but he comes up empty. That's when he notices the movement on the wall.

The tree’s billowing form outside the window is casting a skeleton-like shadow that looks like it is involved in some kind of tormented dance.

Lightning arcs across the sky, layering on an ominous tone to the whole situation. To the right at the end of the hallway is the window. But before he can make it there, he’ll be out in the open.

“Don’t do this Donny. Do you think this is what Carter would'a wanted?”

The sliding footsteps below stop for a moment but the sound of the granules continue to fall. After a moment's hesitation, they begin again.

“I really don’t know Jebediah. You took him from me. How am I supposed to ask him that?”

At a loss for words, Jebediah stands up to peek around the corner. Just as he makes it to his feet, a dog’s baying can be heard in the distance. The footsteps downstairs stop again.

“Who’s that?” Donny says loud enough for Jeb to hear.

Thinking quick, Jeb says “I had a feeling you’d be coming for me. So I asked Annamay to send for old man Crawford. That’s him right now comin' with his bloodhounds round the bend.”

"You lie." Donny grunts.

"Only way to find out is to wait until he gets here."

Donny looks out the window and up the pathway to the top of the hill, leaving his backside to face the stairs. 

Knowing that now is the time to make his move, Jebediah takes his chances and sprints across the mezzanine to dive for cover. 

Even with the slight distraction, Donny is too quick on the trigger and sprays buckshot from the end of his shotgun.

Jebediah yells out as he lays panting on his side to check himself for wounds.

"Did I get ya?" Donny says with a glint of hope in his voice.

"Ahh.. a few pellets got me in the side.." Jeb says breathing heavy. 

"Well slow down next time and I'll give it a better go." Donny pumps his shotgun, expelling the spent casing onto the wood floor.

Content that he's not hurt too bad, Jeb stands to take a look out the window. There is a full moon tonight being sifted by an overcast sky. Shadows move across the lawn like the woods themselves have come to life.

Just outside of hands reach and to the right, is the scrawny looking tree that is casting its boney figure into the hallway.

Jebediah pulls up gently on the window, it moves without a sound. Whoever used this place in the summertime sure did good work with the maintenance.

"Dag'nabbit.." Jeb mutters under his breath looking down to the ground. It looks like it is about a thirty foot drop and he ain't none too thrilled about jumping from heights. In the distance, a dog lets out another yap. It's getting closer.

“Donny, are you sure we can’t work somethin’ out? You’re set on this?” Jeb tries one last time.

“Yup. I’m sure.”

After giving his reply, Donny starts scraping on something just out of eyesight from Jebediah. A reddish flash flickers and comes to life making a loud hiss like a den full of angry snakes. It pushes the red light along, making all kinds of distorted and ominous shadows on the wall.

“Goodbye Jebediah. Wherever you go, I want you to remember what you’ve done to me. You stole some of the light from my life. So I'm going to end yours in the dark.”

"Well, you know what they say about things done in the dark Donny. Things done in the dark will be brought to the light." Jebediah calls after him.

Donny makes no reply as his heavy footsteps retreat out the front door and onto the gravel path beyond. 

Jeb takes a tentative step closer to the stairway to have a look. There's not enough time. The bright red flame is burning too fast. It’s about three feet away from two wine barrel-sized kegs that have great red ‘X's on the side.

"Oh balls.." Jeb swears then lunges forward out the side window from the second story. He reaches for the tree and barely manages to clutch on to one of the branches in his downward fall before the barrels ignite.

Flame belches out of the window he just flew from as the front of the country home erupts outwards, sending shrapnel and debris everywhere.

The branch he is holding onto breaks from the added weight. And the concussion of the blast sends Jeb sprawling to land unfavorably on his side. It feels like he has been kicked in the gut by an angry mule as every last bit of air is expelled from his lungs. Quietly he tries to regain his breath so as not to attract the attention of the man who had just tried to kill him.

He lies there on the ground for a moment, unmoving. Not wanting to be given away by the pale firelight strewn out across the yard. Not for the first time in his life, while he stares at the sky, he thinks about all the wrongs that he has done to others. All the misery he’s caused over the past few years to get to where he’s at today.

This isn’t the closest he has been to death but it is the first time he has felt guilty. Real guilt. Undeniably the one to blame for all the wrongs he has done in his life. He doesn't blame Donny for what he tried to do tonight. He doesn’t even know if it was an accident shooting Carter, he was so drunk. But one thing.. one thing is for sure. 

After tonight, he’s gonna be a changed man. No more drinkin'.. well.. except for special occasions. No more gambling.. unless he’s getting low on money and needs to turn a quick profit. No more stealing..? Nah.. If a man can’t hold on to what he’s got, then he doesn't deserve it.

No more shooting friends. The thought hits him like a felled tree from an unknowing lumberjack. As if a brilliant light has shown down from above, Jebediah Jones will no longer shoot any man that he has at one time called a friend. Now this.. this is something he can live by.