E/O Challenge: camp
Word Count: 200 – a double drabble
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Summary: This is my take on the 1.20 "Dead Man's Blood" character, Daniel Elkins. Though the character only made the briefest of appearances, I have often wondered what his life was like. I finally got it into words. Hope you enjoy.
A/N: Ah, camping! Enkidu, I can agree, its been a fantastic summer for us Mainers. Many folks from "away" may not realize that in Maine, a 'camp' is the actual name for a home (or second home), preferably someplace on a peaceful lake or deep in a pine-filled forest.
Muddled
It wasn't much. Four walls, a dry floor, a stone fireplace to keep warm. His hunting days were over, Elkins had decided, and he'd complete the remainder of his anonymous life here. He was comfortable at this camp. The deep, pine-filled forest surrounded him, protected him.
The weeks and months stretched into years, and Elkins often found himself at the local pub, clutching his journal like a bible. His eyes grew weak, his brain became muddled. Folks would shake their heads, and at closing the bartender would drive him home.
What was once true became his nightmares; he drank in his attempt to escape them. The life he once knew and the life he now lived mixed like oil and water in his head – moving, shaping, together but not blending, not making sense. Swirling like the drink in his hand.
His mind was only clear when he held the Colt. He would trace the symbolic carving on the grip, mesmerize himself by the spinning barrel. Once he even pressed the cool metal to his burning forehead, the blunt end of the barrel tucked against his temple.
No.
Elkins set the gun down, hand shaking, and reached for another drink.