Ella Matthews - A RDR2 Fanfiction

Chapter Eleven: Sorrow

We ride to Copperhead Landing in relative quiet, save for a few sobs. Sadie doesn't cry but Abigail and I do. I've known Arthur for almost all of my life. He's always been there.

Now I think that I didn't appreciate him enough, the small moments that there were, and the more important things too. The nodded greetings in the mornings. Robbing together. He taught me how to hunt. He would read to me when he was learning to read, and I was small and tired.

Dad, too. He read to me. Taught me how to shoot. How to read and write. Mom taught me to sew and how to take care of myself. They were the best parents I could have wished for. The only thing they could've done better is that they could have lived longer.

But that wasn't their fault.

It wasn't Arthur's fault either.

I guess we don't choose our fate after all.

You can try to, but it's already decided.

You can't change it.

*

Nobody can bring themselves to leave. We stay at Copperhead landing until at least midnight. "No point in leaving now," I murmur. Sadie nods.

"You don't want to be travelling at night in Roanoke Ridge," Sadie agrees. Tilly nods.

Abigail doesn't say a thing.

Jack is worried. He doesn't know about John being dead. We can't figure out how to break it to him.

He's just a kid.

Abigail is trying to be strong but it's hard for her.

It's hard for all of us.

"Abigail! Jack!" somebody calls. It carries with the wind.

It sounds like... John.

He's dead. We're hearing a ghost.

Or just hallucinating.

"John?" Abigail asks, rising from the box she was sat on.

"Abigail!" John cries through the mist.

Then I see him.

He's stumbling through the mist, clutching his shoulder. Where he was shot.

He's wearing Arthur's hat and Arthur's satchel.

"John?!" I murmur in disbelief.

Abigail throws herself into his arms. He winces as he puts his arms around her.

"Oh, John!" she tears start rolling down her face.

"It's alright. I'm here now," he murmurs, stroking her head with his uninjured arm.

"Pa!" Jack calls, rushing towards him.

"Hey, Jack!" John says. "Did you miss me?"

"You terrible man," Abigail says in mock anger.

"I did miss you!" Jack says earnestly. "But where's Uncle Arthur?"

There's silence. The joy is killed.

"He... he's..." John says. "He helped me,"

Abigail gently pushes him onto the box she was sat on mere minutes ago.

"What happened?" I ask, worried, of all the people, about Javier.

I know I'm never going to see him again.

I accepted that. But it still hurts.

"Dutch left me," John says bitterly. "I get back to camp and everyone is aiming guns at each other. Everybody but Arthur and I was on Dutch's side,"