Dancing in the Oaks

Christmas

Christmas morning I woke up to some pieces of paper taped on the door which lead in a trail outside. I first put on some warm winter clothes instead of my thin pajamas. I combed through my hair very quickly, brushed my teeth, then followed the paper trail. It led across the field to Nick's patio, then to a box with a black cowboy hat and a plaid shirt. I immediately smiled when I realized that it was obviously Nick. The trail continued but I put on the plaid shirt before proceeding. The hat sat perfectly on my head. When I walked more east there was not any snow. Nick was running his horse through the field. I jumped on Stryd and decided to catch up to Nick.

The wind was cold, but it felt good against my melted and fried brain. The hat held my hair out of my face but still allowed it to blow in the wind. For a moment I forgot about everything. Nick was still quite a ways ahead of me. He wore his plaid shirt with a leather jacket. I did too. As I began to catch up I couldn't help but smile. Once I caught up I slowed my horse to be in sync with his. Both of our horses galloped in a perfect succession with each other. They were perfectly in sync. When I began to rent the guest house I brought my horse over here too. I was worried that my family would do something to her. I would just tie her to the post right outside of the guest house. There was already a small shelter next to it. We both smiled at each other. "Good morning Nicholas. Merry Christmas." i moved my stray hair out of my face and set it behind my ear.

"Hey. That hat looks so good against your eyes and hair." His eyes shone bright in the sun.

"Thanks. I love it so much. This is the most amazing Christmas ever. Trust me."

"Come on!" His horse increased in speed.

I followed behind. We found the cows grazing on the eastern side of the property. These were the beef cows that we were gonna have to harvest here soon. "Hey Nick! Wanna know something'?" I yelled.

"Yeah sure." He said in a questionable tone.

"Uhm..."

"Go ahead." He encouraged me.

"This takes me back to right after we met. I wish everything was just normal again like it was then, for those twelve hours."

"Don't we all, don't we all. Hey that's a pretty darn good mare that you have there. You trained her very well."

"I broke her. You know that? She was so scared of people. The previous owner didn't want her anymore. I took her on. I bought her so she's mine." I petted her mane as it flowed in the gentile wind. She really is a brilliant horse. Stryd is so smart.

"Wow and you ride her bareback. Those are some great skills."

"Right. Thanks." I laughed.

"So explain to me more: why the change?"

I thought for a moment, "I'm tired of being the victim. I'm tired of being the person who gets bullied or put down. It's time for me to start living my own life, not one that someone else wants. I am done. I've surrendered and everything. I'm done. I'm doing a complete 360."

"Well I love it. I'm excited. I'm so proud of you, you know that?" His eyes stared at me while I talked.

"I'm just so broken and I'm tired of feeling broken. I just feel so bad because I'm so sad and I can't control it, but now I'm feeling better. I don't care what happens at the trial. I want them to serve their time, but other than that I don't care. I cannot let them hurt you though."

"It's good. I can stand ground. They wind up doing anything. Trust me on this alright." I lifted my sleeve up on my shirt and looked at my scars. I saw Nick's scar on his arm. "When will these scars just leave?" I asked very quietly.