Tales of Gloomsdale #5: The Gallop from Beyond

Chapter Six

I thought seeing a glimpse of Midnight again would satisfy my curiosity, but instead, it only made me even more desperate. Over the next few days, all I could think about was how Midnight's ghost lived in that trail. The more I thought about it, the sadder I felt. It was probably terrible for the poor horse to roam the place where he had gotten himself and his owner killed. I even vaguely wondered if Abigail's ghost lived there as well, but I hadn't caught any sign of her. And I was sure Midnight would spend all his time with his beloved owner instead of observing me if she was there too.

I tried to forget about it as I cleaned out the stalls or groomed the horses, telling myself Midnight wouldn't want to be bothered. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized he probably would. He had been staring at me with such curiosity and longing. I was probably the first person who'd visited him in a long time, and it didn't hurt that I looked so much like Abigail.

I was curious about her as well. I tried to ask Mom about her. "Mom, can you tell me about Abigail?" I asked, staring at the picture. I wished there were more of them, but Mom said this was the only one.

"I'm not sure, Rachel," Mom admitted, looking annoyed for some reason. "I didn't know much about her. She died before I was even born."

"But she liked horseback riding, like me, right?" I asked. "And she loved her horse, Midnight."

Mom looked at me in surprise. "How do you know his name?"

"Uh... lucky guess?" I suggested. She gave me a look. "Alright, I asked the stable hand. He heard about her as well. Can you blame me for being curious?"

"A little too curious," Mom scoffed, turning away. "Can't you ever stay out of places that aren't your business, Rachel?"

I stared at her in surprise. I wasn't sure why she was acting so mad. As far as I could remember, I hadn't done anything wrong recently.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I asked. "I was just asking. Actually, I learned about his name before, from my friends. They heard about..." I trailed off, realizing what I had been about to reveal. "I mean, they heard about Abigail as well. I guess they must've heard about the accident. It must've been a pretty big deal when it happened."

Mom gave me a look and I glanced down, thinking I'd said too much. "Uh, sorry. I won't bother you if you don't want to answer," I assured. "I was planning on going out, anyway. I won't be gone for long."

"To that trail again?" Mom demanded.

"Well... yeah," I admitted. "I'm just going to find the things I left behind." I couldn't bring myself to take the horse figurines, even after Midnight had returned them to me. They had looked so fragile, so surreal, that I left them. I thought about asking Kyle about them, since he knew about the horses at the circus.

"Don't even think about it," Mom scolded.

"What? Why not?" I exclaimed. "You were fine with it last time. You even let me bring Kyle along." I realized he had been acting weird lately as well. Whenever I tried to talk to him, he looked guilty. "It's not like I'll be on horseback or anything."

"You better not be," Mom snapped. "It's much too dangerous. I should've known, after the first time that horse threw you off."

"That was an accident," I groaned. "Please don't bring it up. You promised you wouldn't."

"It couldn't have been if it happened for the second time," Mom quipped.

I froze, staring at her in shock. "How do you know about that?"

"That isn't important," Mom snapped. I groaned, realizing I should've denied it instead of basically admitting I had. "What's important is that you didn't tell me. And I let you go off on the trail again, where you returned hurt as well."