Why

Chapter 6

"So how do you like Winchester?" Luke asks me as he takes another scoop of hay with his pitchfork and dumps it into a horse's stall. The stables are actually pretty big considering there are only four horses currently occupying it leaving 16 more stalls vacant.

"I haven't really been into town." I respond to his question. "I've only seen the house and now the stables." I itch my arm around my cast when hay starts to float underneath it causing me irritation. "How is the town?" I ask. Luke stops scooping up hay and leans the pitchfork against the barn wall.

"It's an old town. Like really old." He grabs a brush and walks over to a pretty black horse before he begins to brush its shiny coat. "It's pretty big too. The only problem is the families run the town."

I scrunch my eyebrows. "What do you mean?" I ask.

"Oh you know. The families that were rich and high society in the late 1800's when this town was first built, are still ranked high up." I let this sink in and compare it to living back home. I lived in the suburbs of a much larger town built less than thirty years ago. Our history wasn't even close to being as old as the 1800's. The closest thing we had to ranking our families was by who donated the most money by charity could brag about their wealth.

Luke throws the brush on the ground and joins me on the ground where I'm sitting. His dazzling blue eyes stare me down as if he's taking in my face. "So why were you crying?" He asks and I cringe. After an hour of small talk about my old life and his friends and Winchester, he's finally bringing up the real questions.

"Before I came here, something happened." I don't meet his eyes so he doesn't press on with questions. "My brother and I have to move here now but he's hurt. Really hurt, but he can't see that he hurts me so much more."

"Why what's wrong." Luke asks quietly. "Does he like hit you?" My eyes widen.

"No! Nothing like that. He just won't talk or move. It's like his body is here, but his mind checked out." Luke's eyes trail to the bandage on my forehead. I self-consciously shrink back from his gaze.

"Is that from whatever happened to you and your brother?" My breathing becomes quick as memories of the crash invade my vision.

"I don't want to talk about it." Luke backs away with his hands up in a surrender.

"Alright fair enough. I wouldn't want to tell everything to a boy I just met either." He flashes me a bright smile and I shrink again. My breathing slowly returns to normal the father he gets away from me. "Hey you want to see which horse is yours?" Excitement enters in me as I stand up from the ground and dust off my pants.

"Yes." I say eagerly. He laughs and leads me over to the stall on the far end of the stable. I take a peek inside to see a beautiful horse with glossy golden white fur. It neighs at the sight of us and shakes its head up and down.

"She's new so she's a little hyper." Luke explains while making his way over to it.

"It's beautiful." I comment in awe.

"It's a her. Her names Gypsy."

"Gypsy." I try the name out and decide I like it. It works for her.

"So what do you say. Want to go for a ride?" Luke asks.

"Now?" I ask a little surprised. Luke nods.

"Yeah, now." I don't bother to ask if we're allowed to ride them because my grandmother did say it was mine. "I have to break her and that Blaze in." He nods over to the extremely dark black horse that must be Blaze. "That's your brother's horse." I look away quickly so he won't see the hurt in my eyes. Jacob won't be riding any horses for quite some time.