Another day in the life of Arthur Morgan

Dear diary,

our last gig was a total failure and now we must hide like rats. Our current hideout locates in Beaver Hollow and I gotta say, I can’t stand the place. That’s why I try to spend as little time as possible there and focus my mind on something else. I decided to take a day off from the camp life and handle some business. It turned out to be a quite memorable day.

Morning

I woke up early in the morning, dead tired as usual. In no time at all, I knew I had to get out of the camp, to spend some time in nature and clear my mind. I put on my legendary bear hat because I knew that the Pinkerton agents could be around lurking. I can’t just walk around with no mask or covering clothing on so by using this ridiculous hat, the law will take me as another madman traveling around the country. And I must admit, I kinda like it. Micah, however, doesn’t like it and he was very unambiguous when telling me that. His words mean nothing to me, so I completely ignored him.

Karen was still drunk; she’s been awake all night with a bottle in hand. Her breath reeked and I had to get as far as possible from that smell. I took my beautiful Arabian and rode away, galloping through the woods. I felt the wind howling through my body, fresh air was everything I needed. I was headed for Annesburg.

Afternoon

My original intention was to ride through Annesburg to Saint Denis, but when I saw the train at the station, I decided to buy the tickets and for once, give my horse some rest. The train was close to empty and when I first took my place, it hit. The luster of jewelry, hanging in that woman’s neck was too much. When the train arrived at Saint Denis, I knew my chance had come. Quickdraw of the gun from the holster and a polite but straight question. I thought I was fast and unnoticeable, but I was wrong. The police of Saint Denis has eyes everywhere.

My horse was traveling in the cattle wagon, so I quickly called her. The police saw me leaving the town but could do nothing. My Arabian was just too quick against their old nags. Good thing they spend all their budget on those blue uniforms.

My next stop was at Rhodes. I like visiting there and had to deal some business. I sold the necklace I stole to a shopkeeper and had my guns cleaned at the gunsmith. I met an old civil war veteran who had lost his leg. I swear that I had never seen the poor guy, but he still recognized me. Must’ve met him some time but couldn’t put my finger on it. I also saw that guy who’s always on the lookout for some Englishman called Gavin. His shouting can be heard all the way from the Heartlands. God, it can be annoying sometimes. I truly hope he finds his friend.

I still wanted to wash up, so I rented a bathtub at the Rhodes Parlour House. I can’t remember the last time I had a good bath. Hiding in the forest with dirty rats like Micah doesn’t necessarily make you feel clean. When I left Rhodes, the sun had already started to set. The view was beautiful.

Evening

I met a lone camper in the Heartlands. He preached to me something about life and honestly, I had no idea what he said. There’s too much going on in my own life and someone else’s sob stories hardly make a difference to me. Besides, the moon shone brighter than ever, and it reminded me of the good old days. Therefore, I left the camper to enjoy the campfire and continued my journey towards…unknown. However, because the weather was calm, I got an idea to go fishing. Just maybe the fish will bite so I can return to the camp with some actual food this time.

I ran into this guy who gave me a strange look, just the same look Micah and Dutch give me nowadays. I might’ve said something offensive to him and he drew his own conclusions, thinking I was about to rob him. He pulled out his gun and started shooting at me. I did what I had to. Not my proudest moment but getting killed by some random cracked idiot is not on the top of my priority list, at least not just yet. Still got things to do.

Night & next morning

As I arrived at the beach, it was already past midnight. I felt cold but still decided to try a couple of times to catch at least something. It was not a success. I was disappointed, but hey, that’s life. Missing a good catch didn’t really bother me since I had had a wonderful day away from the camp. In nature, I have a chance to cleanse my mind and just watch the world evolve, even though it means that dinosaurs like me and the whole Van der Linde gang will eventually get swept away. Maybe that’s how it’s meant to be.

I rode back to the camp against the night. It was already past 3 AM. Micah was the only one awake. I sat for a moment with him on the campfire and stared straight into his soul. Seeing that face day after day makes me want to retire from all of this. Wish that was possible but there’s no going back and sooner or later all this will end on its own. How and when that happens, I got no idea. I’m just trying to survive and take one day at a time. I should probably make trips like this more often; they seem to clear my head.

I went to bed and slept until noon. As I got up, Uncle was at the campfire. He asked me how I’d been holding up. I didn’t really have an answer, so I just mumbled something about helping the others. “You’re a good man Arthur Morgan, a good man”, he said.

Thanks Uncle, but am I though?

This diary entry was based on the action-adventure game Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) by Rockstar Games.

Photos are screenshots taken by the author.

 

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