Free Rein||Broken Home/Pin

Chapter 18

Amber POV:
Pin and I returned to the barn after a while. We had spent some time at my place, talking about old memories that we had here together before I left.

We arrived at the barn and did what we had to do before saying goodbye to each other for the night. I went back home and checked to see if Amy was there. Still nothing. If she's not back by morning, then I'm calling the police. This isn't like her.

I write her a note saying that I'm fine and that I'm just going for a sleepover with some friends, just in case she gets back. She may have broken her phone, as she has dropped and broken it on many occasions. It's probably nothing to worry about anyways.

I trudge upstairs and get changed into comfortable clothes before grabbing a backpack and start packing up some extra clothes, a sleeping bag, a pillow, a hairbrush, a flashlight, and a few extra hair ties. I walk back downstairs and slide my phone into my pocket before looking into the kitchen. I open the cupboards and pull out a bag of chips. Can't have a sleepover without some snacks.

Once everything is set and ready to go, I grab my house key and leave, locking the door behind me. I know that Amy has her house key. She always keeps it in her pocket.

My phone goes off in my pocket and I check it. Becky has to close up the cafe. I text her saying that I'll meet her at the stables. I finally reach the stables and go straight to the barn, immediately seeing Raven in his paddock.

"You're safe big boy. No ones going to hurt you" I smile, rubbing his face. He looks at me more curiously. "What's wrong?" I ask.

"Hey" a voice startled me. Zoe was already here and was sitting up in the hay watching Raven. I walk over and drop my bag and empty it, unrolling my black sleeping bag and sitting on it since the hay is itchy.

"How long have you been here?" I ask. She shrugs. "Not long. Maybe a few minutes" she says. I nod. "Sooooooo" she begins. I look at her. "Where did you and Pin go off to today?" She asks. I give her a confused look. "Becky and Jade told me" she says.

I sigh. "Of course they did" I huff. "If you must know, we went to my aunts house to make more of the food that his pony really seems to like" I explain. She looks at me with a surprised expression. "You're the one who's been helping him?" She asks. "Uhhh, yeah" I say.

"Pin said that he's putting on weight. He's feeling better. You're saving him" she smiles. I shrug. "Anything for a friend" I say. She was about to say something but Becky and Jade appeared.

"Sorry we're late" Jade apologizes. "Becky had to close up" she says. I nod. I already knew. "It's, alright, you're here now and that's all that matters, plus, I have a surprise" Zoe begins, opening her bag. "I did some research" she smirks, pulling out multiple bags of crisps.

"You brought crisps. Zoe you're my actual hero" Becky gasps. I open my bag and pull out a bag of chips. "Now I fell like I haven't achieved a high enough goal" I fake a sad look. Jade wraps her arms around me. "I love chips" she smiles.

"I declare this sleepover" Becky begins, holding a bag of crisps. "Open" she tears the bag open and we all cheer, and everyone throws their crisps in the air, but not me. I start eating.

~Small Time Lapse~

I'm pressed against bale of hay as Becky tells a 'scary' ghost pony story. Zoe and Jade were eating while I was braiding and unbraiding my hair over and over, somewhat paying attention to the story.

"His name" Becky begins, the flashlight illuminating her face. "His name" she repeats, her tone getting darker and more serious. "Is pebbles" she finishes, causing me to give her a confused look and tie off my french braided hair.

"Pebbles?" Zoe asks in an 'are you kidding me?' tone. "What?" Becky asks, confused by their tone. I start to laugh, as does Jade and Zoe. "Pebbles can be scary" she defends. "Like at the beach. If their all wet and slippery. They're a safety hazard" she adds, causing me to snicker quietly and Jade and Zoe to laugh. Man I love Becky.

We chat for a little while when Zoe's phone goes off. Becky picks it up and she gasps and falls backward. "O. M. G" she says dramatically. "What?" Zoe asks, concerned. "Hot Marcus added you" she exclaims. "He's so into you" I press, smirking. "You've got like a million messages" Jade says.

We start a conversation that ends up with 'Zoe' liking a bunch of Marcus' photos. "Whoops" Jade says. "Just tell him it's an American thing to like a bunch of someone's photos" I suggest. Makes sense to me. Becky gives me a look. "That's actually a really smart idea" Becky compliments. I smile. "Thanks".

After some time, we all curl up in our sleeping bags. Without checking my phone, or thinking at all, I silence it so I won't hear if I receive any messages.

I lay my head against my pillow and inhale deeply, enjoying the comfort, but I am soon awoken by Jade shaking me. "What's wrong? What's going on?" I ask. "We think that there are horse thieves in the yard" Zoe says.

Horse thieves? Raven. "Then what are we still sitting here for?" I ask. We all sneak into the stable, and Becky grabbed a broom for some unknown reason. We peek out heads out of one of the stalls, each of craning to get a look at what was going on.

We all duck down when they got to close and I heard a voice. Zoe jumps up and stares at someone. "Mom?" She asks. The rest of us jump up. "Well this is unexpected" I say as Zoe opens the stall that we're in.

Zoe starts talking to her mom and I'm pretty sure the the man with her is Elliot, Mia's father. As they talked away, I heard something. Sure enough. Mia, Susie, and Zoe's little sister Rosie appear.

"Ummm. What going on?" Rosie asks. "What's mom doing at your sleepover?" Susie asks Zoe. "More importantly, whys my dad here?" Mia butts in. "You have horse braids in your hair" Jade notices. I look over and Mia and Susie are now hiding a part of their hair.

"At least it's not ghost pony" Becky says before Ravens squeal interrupts our conversation. "Raven!" Zoe yells before running off to the paddock with the rest of us.

We run to the paddock to see two people in masks trying to force Raven into a trailer. Zoe jumps the gate and I follow her over. "Call 911!" Zoe yells. "It's not the same here!" Becky yells back. "You know what I mean!" She yells.

"Get away from him!" I yell. Zoe jumps on one of the guys and I punch the other. Hard. My wrist stings but I ignore it. Zoe is eventually thrown to the ground but Raven rears and scares them off. I grip my wrist tightly before looking down at Zoe, who wasn't moving.

"You better run! Pony squad strikes again!" Becky yells, slapping Jade's hand with her own. "Zoe" her mom shakes her as the thieves drive away.

Zoe jolts upward and we all help her up. Mia looks at my hand. "You sprained it" she says. I wave it off. "It's fine. I'm fine. Really" I say, partially lying. My wrist really hurt though.

I pull out my phone from my pocket to check the time and see that someone is calling me. Unknown number. I answer. "Hello? Is this Amber Dales?" A female voice asks. "Yes. Who's this?" I ask. "I'm afraid I have some bad news".

Amy POV:
I knew I should have gotten a spare tire, but now my car is stuck here and the truck won't be here for another hour. I can't find my phone or my car keys and my boss kept me at work until 6. This is not my day.

I decide to go to a restaurant that was near my work to kill some time and I notice that I'm the only one walking on the street. Suddenly, a car speeds around the corner that I was turning on and pain erupts through my entire body before everything goes black.