Ghosts of the Past [ RDR2 - Arthur Morgan ]

Chapter 21 - Arthur's Tired

WORD COUNT - 1993

PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT

When the sun rose to burn down on Clements point, Rosemary stirred from her sleep. Sore and aching too slowly, it became clear that Rosemary had fallen asleep on the hard wooden back chair. Her medical journal lay askew at her feet and her shoulders and back aching from the stiff positioning. She had fallen asleep awaiting Arthur's return. Which simply never came.

Blinking into the early morning sun, Rosemary took a look around the camp. Everyone was just beginning to rise. Women wandered around in their night dresses, men in their union suits. But Arthur's bed was still made. It was certainly untouched.

Rising from the chair, Rosemary spent a good while wandering around camp, just looking. Encase Arthur had made it back and just fallen asleep against a tree - not a completely uncommon situation. But there was no doubt. He was missing. As early morning became mid, and people began their regular movements of the day, Rosemary found Dutch, smoking a cigar by his tent.

"Arthur's still not back." She stated quite plainly.

Pausing in his act of lighting his cigar, Dutch Van Der Linde glanced up curiously to Rosemary, and considered his reply gently "Don't go worrying about Mr Morgan, sweetheart. He's got a tendency of disappearing for days on end."

"You was meeting with Colm O'Driscoll!" Rose declared like that should have been their first thought "You don't think that coulda been a trap? And that's why Arthur ain't back yet?"

"I don't double Arthur's abilities." Dutch dismissed her worries with a scoff "He's got plenty of sense to know when he's in danger. He'll show up." A billow of smoke came from his lips as he spoke, waving the cloud away absently with his hand

"And if he doesn't?" Rosemary insisted "How long 'fore we start thinking something might have happened? And how late will that be for us to be able to find him?"

"You are a rather worrisome thing aren't you?" Dutch stated in a matter-of-fact way. "What, you wanna go and track down Arthur? Look for him all over the place?" Dutch paused before letting out a sigh. "Arthur can handle himself, he don't need a woman fussing over him."

Trying her damndest not to get irritated at Dutch's uncaring attitude to someone he had known for at least 20 years, Rosemary nodded stiffly, before turning heel and walking back towards her wagon.

The next full day without Arthur's return was spent busying herself. Wash the clothes. Patch the gang's minor injuries. Tend the horses. Fill the water pails.

It was monotonous. Without Arthur's sharp tongue to break through the repetitive day, she found herself becoming more and more disillusioned with camp life. At least when Rose worked in Strawberry she had changes in scenery to break up the onward trudge of life.

What made it worse, was there was seemingly nothing to distract her from Arthur's still, very notable, absence. By day two, Rosemary sought out the only man at camp she could think of to ask for help.

"I don't know, Miss Levenson." Charles smith mumbled from his seat at a table where he was caring for his guns "'Fore you joined us, Arthur could spend weeks away from the gang on a whim. A few days?" Charles said with an air of You're worrying over nothing.

"Yes." Rose gritted out "But after meeting up with O'Driscolls? To not even stop in?"

Caught between two places, Charles sighed deeply "I'll... I'll have a look. I'm going out to hunt just now. I'll have a look."

"Thankyou." Rosemary sighs, "That's all I ask, just... go see if there looks like there was a struggle on top of that hill."

Charles nodded firmly, getting to his feet "I'm glad. That Arthur has someone that cares about him so. He deserves that much."