Misery

May 2026 Round-Up Challenge

by

Beppina

I had been riding for three days without caring where the trail led. The spring wind swept cold across the high country, rattling the dry grass and carrying dust over the lonely road. Ahead of me, the mountains had faded into a grey haze beneath a darkening sky. I had barely noticed. Since the death of my Alice six months back, my world had become dull, steeped in memories, stripped of colour and warmth.

I should have gone home to the Ponderosa weeks ago. Pa, Jamie and Candy would be worried sick. But every mile toward home, I felt more grief than the last. Home meant Alice. Her laughter in our little house. Her voice in the kitchen. That space beside me in our bed.

Late that afternoon, I came upon a faded wooden signpost leaning beside the trail.

MISERY – 2 MILES

I stared at it for a long moment before giving a humourless smile. “Seems about right.” I turned Cochise toward the town.

XOX

---

Misery looked like a place the world had forgotten. The back of beyond. The buildings sagged under years of wind and neglect. Dried-out wagon ruts scarred the main street. A few men stood outside the saloon, their faces hard and suspicious as I rode in. Nobody smiled or spoke.

I hitched Cochise to the rail and pushed through the swing doors. The silence was overpowering. Ignoring the stares, I leaned on the bar, “Whiskey.” The bartender poured and pushed the bottle closer. I downed it in one swallow, welcoming the burn. I was reaching for a refill when a voice beside me muttered. “You ain’t from around here.” I glanced around. It was a thin, young man with darting eyes and work-roughened hands.

“Just passing through,” I replied.

He leaned in closer. “Then keep passing.”

I frowned. “That supposed to mean something?”

Before the man, a miner, could answer, the saloon doors swung open. A tall man stepped inside wearing a sheriff’s badge and a revolver low on his hip. Tension filled the room. I felt the sheriff’s eyes settle on me.

“Stranger,” he greeted.

“Sheriff.”

For a moment, we sized each other up. Then the sheriff gave a faint nod and walked out onto the street. I watched him disappear through the swing doors. “Friendly town,” I muttered. The miner lowered his head. “You don’t understand,” he whispered. “Nobody leaves Misery.”

XOX

---

The boarding house sat near the edge of town. Widow Hastings, the owner, was a stern-faced woman in her forties with tired blue eyes that softened when she saw me.

“You looking for a room?” she asked.

“Just for the night.”

“That’s what most folks say.”

I followed her inside without asking what she meant. The room was small but clean. I set my saddlebag down and removed the gold wedding ring hanging on a chain above my heart. I stared at it in silence. I could still see the fire taking her and our unborn child. I remember the terrible guilt at leaving her. And I remember the terrible emptiness afterwards. I closed my fist around the ring. “I should’ve stayed home.”

A knock sounded at the door. It was the young miner from the saloon. “My name’s Eli,” he stammered. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

I leaned against the doorway. “What is it?”

Eli glanced down the hall before speaking. “You seem decent. Better than most who ride through here.”

“That still doesn’t explain what you meant.”

Eli swallowed. “The mine owns this town. Sheriff Hanson’s in on it. He makes sure nobody leaves owing money.”

“Owing money?”

“They charge us for food, tools, rooms—everything. A man falls behind, he’s trapped.” Eli’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Some tried running.” I could see the fear in the young man’s eyes. Eli wasn’t lying. He was scared.

“What happened to them?”

Eli hesitated. “Nobody asks.”

I sighed… six months ago, I would’ve stepped into the middle of this without hesitation. Now, now I felt nothing. “I’m sorry for your troubles,” I said, “but I’m not staying.”

The disappointment in Eli’s eyes stung more than I expected. “Yeah,” Eli murmured. “I figured.”

XOX

---

I slept badly that night.

Near dawn, shouting outside woke me. I pulled on my boots and stepped into the street just in time to see two deputies dragging a bloodied man toward the jail. The man could barely walk.

“Please,” the miner begged. “I just want to go home.”

Sheriff Hanson punched him hard in the face. The town watched in silence from windows and doorways. Afraid to get involved. This wasn’t right. I had to do something.

Hanson noticed me standing in the doorway. “Problem, Cartwright?”

Surprised, I asked, “You know who I am?”

“Everybody knows the Cartwrights.” Hanson stepped closer. I could smell the stale cigarettes. “Best keep your nose outta my business.” I looked at the beaten miner, then back at the sheriff. For the first time in months, anger cut through the numbness I felt.

XOX

---

That night, I found Eli behind the stable. “How many men want out?” I asked. Eli blinked in surprise. “You mean to help us?”

I checked my revolver. “Answer the question.”

“Three… maybe four.” Hope flickered across Eli’s face for the first time.

“Get them ready. Midnight.”

XOX

---

The town lay dark beneath a cloud-covered moon as Eli and I led the miners through an alley behind the mine bunkhouse. We moved as one toward the edge of town where the horses waited hidden among the rocks. Then a bottle shattered somewhere behind us. A voice bellowed, “They’re escaping!”

Gunfire exploded through the darkness. I shoved Eli toward the horses. “Go!” They ran.

Sheriff Hanson stepped into the street ahead of me, revolver drawn.

“You should’ve ridden out while you had the chance, Cartwright,” Hanson growled.

My hand flexed over my gun. “You can still walk away, Sheriff.”

Hanson answered with a shot. I fired back…

The sheriff staggered, staring down in shock at the dark stain spreading across his chest before collapsing into the dirt. For a heartbeat, time stood still. Then the deputies scattered. I ran to the horses where Eli waited wide-eyed with fear.

“You all right?” Eli asked.

I nodded. “Get moving before they change their minds.”

“You coming?” Eli called back.

They mounted quickly and rode away into the darkness. I lingered, just a moment longer, looking back at Misery. Without Hanson, the town was already just another dying mining camp clinging to the edge of nowhere.

I looked west. Towards home. For weeks, wallowing in my grief, I’d ridden without direction. Something had reawakened within me in Misery. I could make a difference. I had a purpose, a reason to continue. I had to carry on, for Alice and for my father. I climbed onto Cochise. “ Yeah,” I answered. “I’m coming.”

As the new day broke, sunlight filtered across the distant mountains. I bid farewell to Eli and the others. With a wave, I turned Cochise towards the Ponderosa and home.

The End.