Miss Morgan

Twenty-One

June 1895
-Mac-

Marston left the gang a week ago and what a mess he left behind. Abigail's yelling at all of us to go find him because she needs help with the boy. We're pretty much ignoring her at this point. Ivy's a wreck and takes every guard shift she can get so she can sit at the edge of camp away from everyone else. Arthur's just pissed off and snaps at everyone but I'm not sure if it's because John left or if he's still mad that Mary left.

Ivy hasn't spoken since Marston left. She won't talk to anyone, I haven't seen her eat or sleep. She just sits on that big boulder on the edge of camp sitting and watching.

I think everyone's walking on eggshells around her. No one wants to cross that line. But I say, fuck that. That girl has been through more hell than most people I know. This gang is supposed to be a family. We've basically forced John to leave and Ivy's falling apart but no one's picking up the pieces, not even her own god damn brother.

I look up from the campfire as I finish off a bottle of bourbon and I see Ivy perched on that boulder keeping watch. She takes off her hat and I notice her giving herself a little slap across her own face. She's trying to stay awake because she hasn't been eating or sleeping. I look at the faces of the gang around me.

"Seriously people? It's Ivy... the hell's wrong with you?" I growl as I stand up and stomp my way over to her.

I pull her rifle from her lap. "I'll take over watch. Go eat somethin', get some rest. You need a break."

She shakes her head.

"I weren't askin'." I grumble.

She keeps staring at me like I've grown another head. Stubborn ass. I check my pocket and find some jerky and give it to her. "Eat. Go get some sleep."

She shakes her head and leans back on her hands showing me she's not going anywhere.

"Alright then, you can sit there and mope, take a nap where you sit, I really don't care but I'm taking this watch." I look out over the valley and she keeps sitting in silence.

"You can't keep this silent shit up forever." I grumble at her. "You're gonna have to talk eventually."

It takes about half an hour for her to start dozing off and nearly falls into me at one point so she seems to relent a little, lowering herself to the grass and resting her head on her arms crossed over her knees. It doesn't look comfortable but I tried telling her to go to her tent.

I hear her breathing deepen and I know she's asleep. I just shake my head. The rest of the gang is busting their asses trying to recover from that last move we had to make. I should be out gambling and robbing, or even hunting because we're short on food.

But I need to take care of Ivy. Memories from her attack at the saloon a few months back still haunt me. I'm not a good man. I've done messed up things, but what those fuckers did to her was... well, there's no good words for it. And losing John the way she has.

Those two were still kids when I met them. I watched them grow together and fall in love. If there's such thing as soul mates, it's those two. I still believe that, even after everything I've seen since Abigail joined us.

I don't blame Ivy for going silent, I don't like it but I don't blame her. Even Dutch hasn't said a word to her since Marston left.

Suddenly, Ivy starts whimpering in her sleep, pulling me from my thoughts. My heart hurts a little at the sound, but then her whimpering quickly escalates into a blood curdling scream.

I jump off the rock and shake her awake. "Ivy!" I yell at her and she lifts her head and looks around. Tears streak down her dirty cheeks and dark circles cling to her eyes.