Ninety-seven degrees of harsh soggy heat bleed down to the barn rooftop. The red paint that formerly encompassed the barn in its entirety had faded and turned a hasty brown. Next to the deteriorating barn an insipid field over-stuffed with near-dead wheat stock sat motionless. The sun hid behind the barn casting a shadow onto the drought-stricken lake. It hadn’t rained in nearly a month—the irrigation to keep the wheat breathing began to eliminate the now damaged body of water. There use to be worry the lake and its abundance would flood the barn—now the mucky water resting only a foot above the bottom threatened its own vulnerable life would soon come to an end. The fence harnessing in the corrupted barn had reminisce of white paint. Nearly every post was either struggling to stand or was no longer in existence. 

An old beat-to-nothing black and dirtied truck carved its way up the driveway. Blood soaked jeans stepped out as worn brown leather boots crushed the rocks beneath it. A shaking hand clutched a rusted hatch and heaved open the barn door. Inside strokes of sunlight climbed their way up the haystacks. The bitch won’t run away again with that fucker. She’s gone. I’m done. An explosion freckled redness across the dirt floor. The echo rang out the barn door and fell to permanent silence after traveling only a hundred feet.  

The temperature cooled and the mosquitoes explored the surface of the lake. Dusk became dark and dark became light. Soon the flies came. Two bullets ended two lives.