As we got back to the barn I saw a trailer in front of it. I galloped over to the gate and slipped off of Carmel. I led him out of the gate with Kyle close behind.
"Hi! Are you Marie? I'm Hannah. I'm 14. I'm looking to board my horse!" a girl with a very bubbly personality said.
"Yeah. I'm Marie. This is Kyle, our stable hand. These are my two horses Spartan and Carmel. Unload your horse and we will get you settled."
Her dark green eyes sparkled and she turned to get her horse. Her dark brown hair swayed as she unlached the door to reveal a beautiful Warmblood Cob cross.
It was 17hh and a beautiful dark bay color.
"This is Paddy. She is a Warmblood Cob cross." she smiled.
"Alright Hannah. Lets go get her settled," I turned to Kyle. "You can come too. Just tue Spartan to the fence." I finished my knot on the ring by the barn.
He nodded as he finished his knot and jogged to my side. I reached for his hand and walked to an empty stall near Mystic's. We had moved her from the birthing stall back to her own. We put Paddy into her stall and went to get her tack. Kyle and I went to the tack room and got a station ready for Hannah. When we where finished, we helped her put her tack away, showing her where it went.
"So how bout we show you the trails tomorrow morning?" Kyle said.
"Sure. sounds good." She smiled and got back into the truck. Her mom waved and began to pull away. I waved back and walked back over to Carmel and Spartan. I untied Carmel's reigns and pulled off his bridal. Slipping on his halter and lead, I pulled off his saddle and saddle pad. I took it to the stand outside his stall and led him to the wash room.
I got the hose and soap and turned on the water. Kyle came up behind me and scared me, causing me to spray him in the face with the hose.
"Hey!" He laughed, pulling off his shirt.
My breath caught in my throat and I turned back to my bay pinto. I soaked him and turned to get the shampoo. When I turned, Kyle was no where to be seen. I shrugged and picked up the bottle. I turned to Carmel and from behind, I had a bucket of ice cold water dumped on me.
"Oh its on!" I said.
"Yeah! Like donkey Kong!" he yelled back.
"For Narnia!!!!!" I sprayed him in the face before completely soaking him back.
He laughed and came to hug me. He leaned in for a kiss when the barns emergency sprinklers came on. I didn't think anything of it so I kissed him back. Then I smelled the smoke. I pulled back immediately and ran out of the wash room. I saw the blaze by the birthing stalls. I ran to the pregnant mares and opened the stall doors.
"Kyle! get the horses to the emergency pasture!" I screamed. I ran to the tack room and lugged out every last bit, setting it by the front door to the house.
I went back to check for horses when I heard a small whinny. I looked over and saw Merlin. Grabbing his halter and lead, I took him to the pasture.
I began counting each horse. 38, 39... Where's Autumn?!?! Oh Jessie is gonna kill me if she dies.
I ran back into the now engulfed barn and heard frantic neighing. I sprinted to her stall and pulled open the latch. She stood still as I vaulted onto her back. Just as we saw the door, a burning beam fell behind us and Autumn bolted and jumped into the emergency pen...with me on her back. She stopped running when she got to the corner. I turned her around and galloped back to our flaming barn.
As soon as I had stopped and slipped off her back, the firemen and police pulled up with the ambulance. I was checking the horses when I saw that Autumn had the tip of her tail singed but that was all. everyone was safe.
I stood and watched everything I had ever known, all my memories with my dad, all of it, go uo in flames. The firemen did all they could and when the flames where out, they ran into the rubble to see what had caused the fire.
About an hour later, they came back with a metal gas can with something engraved in it. Property of Derek Smith. Only one person I knew had the last name of Smith. Emily.
"Do you know who Derek Smith is?"
"No but his daughter wanted to get back at me for being his girlfriend." I looked at Kyle. "She told me she was gonna hurt my horse if I didn't break up with him. When we got out of school today she had covered his truck with stickey notes and toiler paper. on a stickey note she said 'next time it'll be worse. ~Emily' This is probably what she meant."
"Okay. Do you know where she lives?"
I nodded and gave them her address. She wasn't gonna get away with this.
