Turning Things Around

•••Prologue••• Vivian

        "Faster, faster, Duke!" yelled the girl as she was riding her black and white horse around. 

        It was early in the morning, just after breakfast. The girl, riding her horse as she did everyday. It was sunny, with only a couple of clouds. The girl had red hair and green eyes. She was wearing a leather jacket, with a white shirt under it. Her backpack was medium sized, fitting everything she would need for horseback riding. 

        "Vivian, Vivian! Come! It is time to come in!" yelled her mother.

        Her mother was standing at the door, looking out at the field. She had brown hair, which was originally red, too. She had colored it. Her mother was wearing a blue dress. 

        "Not yet, I haven't finished my rounds!" Vivian yelled back from her perch on the horse. 

        "Fine, five more minutes!" Vivian's mother yelled back. 

        Vivian continued riding her horse, hoping for no more interruptions. They neared the stables, and Vivian realized that Duke must be hungry. 

        "Woah, woah, Duke. We are going to stop here to get a snack." Vivian said to Duke. Duke snorted and came to a stop. They arrived at the stables. Vivian lowered herself off of the horse and reached into her brown backpack. She pulled out a large carrot. 

        Vivian then fed it to Duke, who grabbed it out of her hand and started chewing on it. Vivian reached up to pet the horse's nose. She gave the horse a big hug and turned to eat her apple. She pulled it out of her backpack quickly and turned around so that Duke wouldn't try to eat that, too. She finished quickly so that she would have more time to ride her best horse, Duke. 

        Vivian was a prize winning girl, usually first when in a horseback riding competition. Duke was known as one of the fastest horses. Duke meant a lot to Vivian. If something ever happened to him, Vivian would never forgive herself. 

        She jumped back onto Duke as he finished his carrot. She leaned forward so the horse would go faster. Vivian was going to do one more lap around the field and then head back to the stables, so that she could go to her mother. Vivian had some things set up for the horse to jump over and just a plain patch in the field just to run in. 

        She rounded the corners of the field, the wind blowing in her face. It was a wonderful feeling. It was warm, kind of cold, but just perfect. This was one of her favorite parts of horseback riding. 

        She heard something in the distance, but didn't pay attention to it. She thought it was a bird calling to its mate. She continued around the field, on her path. Duke jumped at the right time, over the equipment, and soon they were moving around the corner. She heard the noise again, though it was a little clearer. "Live Ean!" 'Who is Ean?' she thought to herself. Vivian had Duke slowly come to a stop. She looked around, listening for the voice again. 

        She got off of her horse and went to the bench that marked the halfway point around the field. 

        She lead Duke over to the bench and tied the lead onto the pole next to it.

        The bench was green, with animals engraved into it. Some of them were, butterflies, dragonflies, peacocks, kittens, and a fox. The fox was one of her favorite animals, red and white. Its eyes glowing in the darkness. She had sometimes seen foxes roaming in the field, but she never saw the same one more than once. They were always moving.  

        She sat down where she usually did when she needed a break to drink from her water bottle. Her water bottle was green with black stripes. But this time, she looked around. Vivian looked out at the trees, and found her twin sister looking out from their treehouse. She was waving her hands and when she noticed that Vivian saw her, she motioned for her to come over there. 

        Vivian and her sister looked almost exactly the same, except for their hair. Her hair was almost white. They had the same green eyes, and their faces were very much alike. 

        Vivian untied the lead and mounted her horse again.  She headed toward the stables. When she got there, she fed Duke another carrot from her backpack. Vivian opened the gate to the stable and put Duke in the pen next to Lucy, a white horse. Lucy was Vivian's sister's horse. Vivian fed Lucy a carrot since her sister was busy drawing in the treehouse. Lucy ate it gracefully. Vivian always had a thing with animals, especially horses. She left them both with a quick, soft pat on the nose. 

        Vivian ran for the treehouse. She would have made it there faster with Duke, but he needed rest for the tournament. It was going to be in two weeks! They needed as much practice as they could get. But with Duke tired all of the time, how would she practice?

        She made it there in five minutes, forgetting about her mother saying to come in the house within five minutes. It had already been about fifteen. She climbed up the ladder to see what her sister wanted. Vivian's sister helped her into the treehouse. 

        The treehouse was filled with her drawings, some of Lucy, Duke, Vivian, their mother, herself, and many other objects. There were colored pencils, markers, crayons, sharpies, and more. 

        Vivian looked at her and said, "Why did you want me to come here, Gwen?" 

        She looked back at Vivian eagerly. "I was watching you from out the treehouse window and decided to draw you. I am pretty sure this is my best drawing of you and Duke that I have ever done. Do you like it?" Gwen flipped over her sketchbook and Vivian saw her on Duke's back with her red hair flying back behind her. 

        Vivian looked at her, astonished. "Did you draw this from memory?"

        Gwen moved her hands behind her back. "Umm, not exactly."

        Vivian looked around the treehouse once more and saw Gwen's camera perched at the window. "Can I see the picture?" Vivian said slowly. Gwen walked over to the camera in a quick manner. She opened the photos after turning it on. She turned the camera around so that Vivian could see.

        Vivian compared the photo to Gwen's drawing. It was really good! "Gwen, you could be an artist. Try out for an art contest!" 

        Gwen turned red. "I like sharing it with people who I know. Keeping it to myself. Showing it to random people, is..." She shivered. 

        Their mother yelled again, "Tell Vivian to come in, Gwendolyn! She was supposed to come in twenty-five minutes ago!" 

        Gwen looked over at Vivian, an amused look on her face. "You heard her, Vivian. Go on! Before you get into even more trouble!" 

        Vivian smiled at her sister mischievously as she went down the ladder.