She thought she would have shot him by now, or charged him, or yelled at him at least. But standing there now, locking eyes with her father's shocked stare, Helen was frozen.
His companion, the rough looking man she had seen talking with Dutch, was looking between the two in confusion. "Hosea!" Helen visibly flinched at his name, and Dutch walked over to her side. "Why don't you and Arthur come meet our newest recruit?"
She shrugged Dutch's hand off her shoulder and stalked forward towards him. At first, his companion, Arthur, went to stop her, but her father held his hand out.
Helen didn't get too close to him, however, she gladly kept her distance. "It...i-it's nice to m- " Helen felt her blood boil at the sound of his voice, and she angrily cut him off.
"Helen. Matthews." Hosea flinched when she spat out her name, and her entire body was rigid. "This life? That you thought would oh so easily kill me, which made you leave us? It has been the ONLY thing keepin' me alive!" she shrieked.
She didn't care that the entire camp was watching the exchange. Helen's body trembled in rage, and she struggled to contain herself as she raised an accusing finger at her father.
"You chose to ABANDON your responsibilities and your family! You are a COWARD!" With that, Helen shoved past her father and swung into Daisy's saddle before racing away.
~~~~
"Welcome back! I was worried you had gone and left!" Helen glanced at Dutch when he greeted her, but she didn't reply as she hitched Daisy and Lotus.
She had gone riding for the rest of the afternoon to clear her head. She had returned with two rabbits that she dropped off with the camp cook, Pearson, and now she sat at the scout campfire.
From there, she was able to glare in her father's direction, who was talking with two other outlaws. Who would have thought I'd join my very own father's going of outlaws?
Approaching footsteps forced her to turn away, and Hosea's companion from earlier stood in front of her. "Uh...Helen, was it?" he began awkwardly. She eyed him closely, noticing his nervous posture. "Yah...Arthur?" she muttered.
He nodded, smiling a little awkwardly before gesturing to the overturned box. "Can I sit?" he asked politely. Helen merely huffed but nodded anyway, and Arthur sat down next to her. "I, uh...wanted to tell you that...well...." he stuttered out. Dear god.
"Well, I know he ain't done right by you, and there ain't no forgivin' that. I didn't have much of a family neither, till I met all these morons, so what I'm tryin' to say is...don't think o' leavin' without givin' us a chance. Dutch has a plan for us, you'll see."
Helen was watching Arthur with a confused gaze the entire time he spoke. Once he finished, though, she finally said her piece. "What the hell possessed you to come over here and tell me all of that?"
Her bluntness made Arthur laugh, his gaze dropping for a moment to the ground. "Cause I know what it's like to have your daddy do you wrong - I wanted to run, too."
She opened her mouth to stubbornly protest, but the way Arthur was watching her with a knowing look made her stay silent. He really thinks he can just come over here and try to sympathize with me? Looks like "morons" is the right word to describe these people after all.
YOU ARE READING
Family in Shambles
FanfictionShe had been going it alone for three years, since her mother had passed away. She had been learning to survive and doing what she NEEDED to do to survive, no matter the consequences. She knew how to lie low and hide from the law, and she became a v...
