Disclaimer: We do not own any of these characters accept any that we make up on our own, all of the original ones belong to the original author. Oh, and this is a joint-effort story but we published it on one of our FanFic accounts… The other two authors involved in this story are RainbowTeeth8, and axlreece13. Thanks, and please review if you like it… and if you don't like it, review too! If you read it at all, please review! :D

Prologue

I eventually ran out of things for him to fix. The roof, the door, the windows; they were all perfect, and I hated it. I wished that there was just one more thing that needed fixing, just so I could see him again. I was looking for any excuse to see him. But the schoolhouse was perfect, not a crack, crease, or creak.

I walked along the desks, looking down at the floorboards to hopefully find one that was broken, or harbored a squeak. But they were all perfectly fine. It made my heart ache so. I hadn't seen him in a very long time. So long that it felt like I'd barely even known him at all. Truly, in all honesty, I did not. I knew his first name, and that he didn't have much to his name. and I also knew that he always seemed to have a smile on his face when we were together.

But once in the past week I'd seen him out rowing in his self-constructed little boat.

That must be it. There was nothing else to fix, everything was perfect. Accept me. I should be perfect, everything else was. But there was an emptiness. A hallow emptiness in my chest which felt like was lodged with a fishing hook from a careless child. One that had cast too far back and had reeled in myself instead of the big fish that he intended. And that fish hook tugged at my heart. Like I just needed one more circumvented moment with him. There was a happy feeling when he was around. Like everyone – everything was right in the world. Now I felt the opposite.

I could almost hear his voice again. that rich, melded voice of metal, and strength but also softness. I can fix that. and he could. he fixed many things so I could keep him around, and the thing was, I think he figured out my little sneaky contrivance. But I wanted him around as much as a fisherman loves to fish, as much as a baker loves to bake. It was a dirty little desire. But I craved for that desire. I craved for the forbidden fruit that was oh-so-wrong, but why did it feel oh-so-right?

I just couldn't bring myself to understand what was going on in my own head, as a matter of fact. It was so overbearing that I was getting a headache. Why did things have to be so complicated! It was always that way for me. Build myself up and get in a good position, only to be knocked down again by something so much stronger that I could never, ever have. Like a poor beggar drawn to the candy-shop windows, staring in at the glorious candies and overflowing barrels of sweets, with no money in their pockets at all. That was exactly how I felt right now.

The rain now came down in sheets. I could feel the vigorous rain splashing against the newly refurbished roof, and the wind whistled eerily as I sat at my desk. It was a little chilly in here, but there was nothing I could do about it but sit there and think. It was raining too hard to go home now. So I let my thoughts wander to Sam. Where he was now. Was he in the rain? Was he cold? Colder than me? Had he moved onto some other town? But he was probably just glad to be rid of me all together, in truth. He was probably off rowing his boat on other parts of the lake nowadays, calling out to the curious new customers. Having his freedom, eating his peaches in peace.

These thoughts made me feel extremely sad, and I realized that I had been absentmindedly reading. A book was open on my desk, but I hadn't really been paying attention to it. I was thinking too hard about Sam, so much that smoke was most likely coming out of my ears.

I started to cry. The helpless cry that sounded so helpless and I'd had it since I was little. I'd always hated it because it seemed so weak and childish.

I felt a soft hand on mine as my tears dripped onto the ink words on the page, sullying them like tiny tributaries. I looked up.

"I can fix that." he whispered.

I stared up at him, nearly in shock, but he pulled on my hand lightly, and I willingly stood up. My tears ceased, and I leaned up my head to reach my lips onto his, and closed my eyes as we connected.

"SAM!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my voice breaking as hot tears streamed down my face. I let the sobs come freely, they were going to kill him. I could see his boat on the horizon, dark and barely visible, but I willed him in my heart to row as hard and fast as he possibly could. I knew that it probably was never a possibility to ever see him again, but I was too relished to think about that now. A motor boat was following close behind, and in the dim light, I could almost catch the ripple of Sam's muscles as he rowed, heaving with all his might. This was all my fault!

"SAM!" I screamed again, hurting my throat, but I could care less. I waded past my knees into the water, splashing as much as a few landing ducks. I desperately reach for him, the man I loved, the glowing flames of the schoolhouse close behind me. I screamed again, but a shot rang out. It was almost too far away to see. Did his body go slack? NO! I couldn't even see!

It wasn't lady-like, but there wasn't time for manners, I splashed out of the water, spraying it in all directions. My shoes sunk in the mud as I took flight to the woods, dragging my wet body. Thorns and branches lashed my face harshly, but I didn't care – I ran. I had to find him. He can't be dead. I had to try. I loved him.

Cold sweat pricked my neck as I stumbled, falling onto my knees. Pain coursed through my body, but I got up again, ripping the hem of my skirt on a dead branch on the ground. I had to do something! Nearing the town again, a harsh hand grabbed my wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?" he smiled with his ugly bucked teeth, showing that gold-capped tooth probably worth more than my own house.

"Get off of me!" I screamed over the chaos, trying to yank away from him, but Trout twisted my wrist. "You've destroyed my schoolhouse! How could you, you rotten, dirty, swinish imp of a man! Have you no pride, no honor, no respect!" I hit him with the other hand that wasn't imprisoned in his, trying to whack some sense into his head, because there obviously was no room for a brain, it was so full of hot air.

"Whoa, now girl! Settle down!" he laughed heartily, an evil glint in his eye. He twisted my wrist again, but I kicked him in the shin. He doubled over for a moment, grinning.

"That's for what you've done! Do you realize the extent of what you have done, Trout Walker?" I screamed, then remembered Sam. I pushed him aside, tears streaming down my face again, running into the west woods. Screaming for him, I weaved through the trees, desperately searching for him. There was yelling in the distance, like a team of hunters, they must be coming after me.

Pain suddenly stung my side like a throb, a heartbeat. Clutching my side, I realized that blood was pouring from a shot wound. My breathing became heavy and I started to gasp, hyperventilating. Terror rushed through my head.

"Sheriff!" someone far off sounding yelled as my vision flushed and blurred. "I got her, I found her!"

"God damn it, Harrison! You shot the damn girl?" another voice yelled back. I knew that Harrison was Trout's younger and even more stupid brother. There was stomping through the brush, and a body loomed over me. I realized that I had collapsed on the ground.

"Well, well, if it ain't the old innocent school teacher, Miss Katherine. You wanna give us a kiss too?" the sheriff puckered his lips and howled with laughter.

"You shot me." I said in a tiny voice, all I could manage. My throat felt closed shut. He laughed more and pointed to Harrison, who was polishing the barrel of his gun so he could look at his reflection in it. "Where's Sam?" it popped out of my mouth.

"Dead, for all I care. Taken care of." Harrison grunted.

"What did you do to him? I went up to kneel, but my side seared with pain. "You're going to be very sorry."

They laughed again. "He ain't comin' back, sweetheart. Sammy-Boy the Onion Man is dead." He turned to the wobbly sheriff. "Should we just leave her here?"

"We'll have to come back with something to collect the body," my body he pointed at me like I was nothing. And then I heard them leave. How could they just leave me here alone, to curl into a muddy ball and sob?

I shivered, wondering if Sam really was lying in the bottom of his boat dead.

"Sam," I whispered. "My heart is breaking."

The single thing that answered back was the clomp of horses hooves, and my beautifully schoolhouse, burning to the ground. But everything sounded as if I had cotton stuffed in my ears. How could they shoot me?

"Sam," I managed again. "Fix it."

There was a rustle in the brush, but I was foolish to look up hopefully. A small rabbit hopped out and I let my head flop down in defeat. I felt like I was going to die. They would come to collect my body. The schoolhouse was burning anyway. What else did I have? I could die right along with Sam. I couldn't live without him.

Another sudden movement in the brush, but I didn't look up this time. I might even have been here for hours. A puddle of blood formed at my side. It was hard to move. It was getting harder and harder to see straight. I closed my eyes.

Come to me, Sam. Fix me.

Wagon wheels made me stir again, opening my eyes for the first time in a while. The horse, that looks so much larger than it really is stamps its foot harshly on the ground, opening his mouth to whinny and snort loudly. His face was contorted, like I was Alice in Wonderland, seeing through the rabbit hole, it's nose and forehead looking extremely out of proportion.

"She's still alive!" one of the men aboard the rolling ship shouted as I closed my eyes again. his voice didn't sound normal – it sounded quite demonic, satanic, serpentine. It was a dark, shadowy voice, and it switched back to normal slowly. "What should we do with her?"

"Bah, she's just the God damned schoolteacher!" the one I recognized as Trout's voice spoke. He had some foolish crush on me, and had never understood why I rejected him. He'd probably started this all. Everyone had expected us to get married, but his hands didn't work. They hurt, they forced, they strangled. He couldn't fix something to save his life. And his imprudent motor boat was the talk of the town, that old rusty thing that he thought was so grand.

"Get away from me." I shielded myself from him, remembering earlier how he'd grabbed my wrist. He was probably holding a grudge against me for kicking him. The posse laughed, passing around a bottle, throwing it over their horses backs.

"That dad-gum onion picker's gone, Miss Katherine, even if he is alive, he ain't comin' for you." One of them laughed, kicking his horse in the sides with his harsh spiked spurs, yelling "Yaa! YAA!" the horse reared its wet head and bolted, followed by a few others, but the carriage stayed.

"If you killed him," I said through clenched teeth, "So help me, I will hire a team of outlaws to hunt you down to the very ends of the earth." The old man in the straw hat driving the plain wooden carriage shook his head, steering the horse around.

"Nature will take care of that on its own." He laughed to the younger man stationed next to him. He was obviously an old drunk, at least at the moment. Plenty of the men were drunk now. He shook his head with his back turned. "Kissin' a black man… I just don't know 'bout women these days."

Well? What did you think? First of all, if you read the whole thing, thanks a lot! If you enjoyed, review! If you hated, review! Just review, please! Oh, and also… again, I did not write this on my own… Thanks a lot for reading!