The Storm Before Dawn

Chapter 12

I woke up at about 6:30 the next morning to feed the horses. Now that my head was feeling better, I could feed them again.

When the door to the barn was opened, all the horses, even Dawn nickered at me. I walked over to the grain room and dished out the horses grain into separate pans. Dawn got a lot of food, but not too much to make her sick. Sky, didn't get a lot of food, but she was out on grass most of the day. Flash, got the same amount as Gunner, Onyx and Gold.

Gold... He was leaving today. He was such a good boy, even I only got to ride him for a day. I was really going to miss him.

I finished feeding all of the horses and said good bye to Gold. I gave Gold his favorite apple cookies. He loves the little ones, that smell really good.

About twenty minutes later, Brittany drove up and gave me a hug. We loaded Gold and all of his tack. Brittany got into her truck and drove away.

I walked back into the barn, climbed up to the hay rafters and fell asleep to the sounds of horses.

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"Come on Asha, you know we are going to the beach right?"

"Yeah, I just don't want to leave Dawn and Sky"

"You'll only be gone for three days"

"Yeah mom"

I finish packing my bag and head to the barn to say hi to the horses.

Once, I am in the car mom starts the car then we leave. It is about a two hour drive to the beach. Ok, so normally it takes two hours, but mom kept stopping to use the restroom and look at roadside things. It took us about three and a half hours.

One time, while we were at a rest stop, I thought I saw Zœ's trailer go by.

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Zœ's POV

As soon as Asha drove away, we sprung into action, Zara and her mom, and my grandma and I. We had all been hiding in the loft, so Asha wouldn't know we were here.

I ran upstairs to grab some of Asha's barn jeans. Also, I grabbed some of her older shirts, and her boots. Luckily, all of her stuff was really easy to find because she had it laid out.

Back in the barn, my grandma, Zara, and her mom, had Zara's, and my horse in the trailer. There was also another horse in the trailer, Dawn.

She was looking so much better. They had had her for about four weeks, and she was doing so well. It took us about ten more minutes to get all the tack and such, ready for the beach.

By the time we got all the horses into the trailer and were out of the drive way, Zara, her mom, my grandma, Dawn, Jet, and Pepper, were headed to the beach. We were 21 minutes behind Asha, I hoped her mom would drive really slow, so we could get there before them.

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Asha's POV

When we finally got to our campsite, we got our spot, almost on the beach. We walked over there and it had horse stalls, and there were horses in them! Jet, Pepper, and Dawn were in the stalls! Also, Zara and Zoe were sitting in lawn chairs, in front of their stalls. They jumped up and ran to hug me.

"Happy BIRTHDAY!"

"Thanks guys! I didn't know you were coming!"

My mom then walked over to where we were standing, and handed me a card.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
To my wonderful daughter Asha
on her birthday!

A pice of paper fell out of the card. It was a registration paper for... DAWN!

"Does this mean..."

"Yes she's yours"

"I don't know what to say!"

"You want to go for a ride?"

"Yes! Wait, she has never been ridden before and I still have a brain bleed."

"You know that appointment you had the other day? You can now ride. And with Dawn, I think you'll be fine,'' My mom gave me a glance that said, "I know what you have been up to."

Zara and Zoe hugged me again and we saddled our horses up and went on the beach. Dawn was the smoothest horse I had ever ridden! She had a really nice gait and wasn't afraid of the water. We played on the beach for awhile then we rode back to the campsite and put the horses away. 

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 Two days later we were packing up, Zoe and Zara were helping me with the horses, while my mom picked up the tent. All of us had a great time, and we were sad we were leaving. Dawn was an amazing trail and beach horse! Even though we couldn't ride very long at a time because of her lungs, we rode a lot. My mom also told me that she really didn't have to go to the bathroom that much, she was just wasting time. 

The drive back went really well, Zoe's grandma hauled us back while my mom drove the car back. In the truck the three of us were being crazy like normal. Zoe's grandma had to ask us to be quiet a few times because we were so loud. When that happened, we texted each other on our phones and made funny faces at each other. 

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Later that night with Zoe and Zara, we watch a marathon of my favorite movies, Heartland. We stayed up most of the night laughing and giggling. Then they gave me my birthday cards because today, September 25, is my birthday. Finally, at 3:23 we fell asleep.

When we woke up at 11:00 we went out side and played with horses for most of the day. I was so glad I could ride again, I couldn't jump, but at least I could continue training Gunner and Onyx. THey were a little crazy but they were being good. 

My mom left at lunch time for another rescue, and she said she may be gone for awhile, but should be back before dinner. Zoe had to leave at four but Zara could stay until six. We hung out for awhile and watched some more shows, when I heard a noise down stairs and then the room went dark.

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