𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 ⋆ 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘹 𝘰𝘤 ⋆ 𝘳𝘥𝘳2

Chapter XX: The Painful Truth

  I hold my hands out in front of the warm fire I set up just minutes before. I lean my back against the giant rock behind me to rest, I just want for today to be over.

  I look up at the night sky to stare up at the stars. Today was a long day, too long. Why would Arthur do this? I never thought he was that type of man... I guess I was wrong. Everything I thought I felt, had been completely broken. I would be fine if I never saw him or his gang ever again. What was I even thinking? That's not who I am, I've never been the type to just up and rob someone. Those people made me think I am someone I'm not.

  I do have to say, I actually miss some of them; Mary-Beth, Javier, Charles and John especially. They always treated me as an equal, no matter how I was perceived before Dutch's speech.

  My stomach growls loudly as I begin to miss Mr. Pearson's stew, no matter how dreadful it tasted. I look back down at the fire as it pops and crackles, my heart slowly becomes heavy.

I hear footsteps slowly coming up from behind me. I slowly turn my head with my hand on my gun, I exhale a deep breath before pulling my gun from my holster and point it at who I know see as Rhett.

"Woah!" Rhett exclaims and puts his hands up, I lower my gun. "What're you doin' here?" I ask him, he puts his hands down. "I wanted to talk to you. " Rhett replies. I roll my eyes as I place my gun back into it's holster. "You can't come creepin' up on me like that, Rhett. " I lecture as I stare back at the fire.

"How'd you even find me anyways?" I ask, he rests down by the fire with me. "Took a wild guess. " Rhett replies. Maybe coming to my family's graves wasn't a good idea.

It goes to silence between us and the only sounds that is heard is the fire cracking, crickets chirping and cicada's low pitched cries. I bring my knees to my chest then rest my chin on the top of my knees.

"You okay?" Rhett asks looking over at me, I glance his way with my chin still on my knees. Rhett's face is lit up from the fire, giving his skin an orange glow. "No. " I reply honestly, he shows off a sympathetic smile.

"Where were you?" Rhett asks. Should I tell him? That's probably not the best idea... who knows? He might tell the law trying to protect me... but it would just make things worse.

"I needed to get away. " I half-lie. Rhett just continues to stare at me. Does he want me to talk more?

"It doesn't have to be like this, you know. " Rhett says, I raise my eyebrow and glance his way once more. "Whatta mean?" I ask, he shrugs. Please don't come back to this.

"I mean... your life. It doesn't have to be like this. Maybe-"

"Don't. " I warn. I know Rhett, and I know what he's about to say. Rhett keeps eye contact with me. "Delilah, you already know how I feel about you. "

"Yeah, don't remind me. " I tell him. It falls to silence again as we stare at each other. Rhett stands to his feet as he begins to pace back and forth.

"Why couldn't we work it out, huh? Why didn't you wanna be with me?" Rhett asks with annoyance in his tone. I roll my eyes. "You really wanna go there?" I ask him.

"Yes! I've been dying to go there! I had no explanation to why... why did you leave? Were you scared to marry me?" Rhett asks loudly, I stand up from the dirt.

"Why would I be scared?" I ask him, he shrugs. "I have no idea! But I'm trying to put the pieces together here on my own!"

"It's been four years Rhett, when are you gonna just get over it?" I shout back at him, he steps up closer to me. "Because I'm never gonna stop loving you!" Rhett shouts. I just stand there, speechless.

  "And that's my fault, I get that! But I just wanna know why!" Rhett continues, I shake my head in anger. "I love you, Rhett. It's just not in the way you want me to. " I say calmly. He scoffs.

  "We never would have worked Rhett, and you know that." I try to explain to him, he looks at me as if I had just said something stupid. "Whatta even mean?" He asks dumbfounded.

"Us! We never made sense. We both wanted different things outta life. You want to get married to the love of your life, I never even thought about marriage until you brought it up. You want to have a family, a huge family, I don't even want one child... let alone multiple. You want to grow old with someone and sit out on the front porch with them and reminisce about the good old days when you were young and beautiful and life was hard but as long as you had each other everything was fine, I don't see myself living past thirty... I wish I saw my life different, I wish I wanted those things because maybe I would find a thing to want to live for... but I don't and I won't. You have the opportunity to have that life with the woman and child you left at home, stop wasting your life tryin' to run after me when my arms are not even open for you. " I shout at him, he just stands there... emotionless.

Rhett nods slowly. "You have a nice night, Delilah. " Rhett says in a quiet tone before walking back towards Alamo. I watch him as he trots off down the road to get away from me. I push my hair out of my face with my hand slowly.

What the hell is wrong with me? I sit back down where I once was and bring my knees to my chest once more. I'm back to where I started... I'm all alone.