Just for You

Chapter 4 - First Sighting

The rest of the week moves really slowly. I go to school, be a loner and come home. Dad's having problems with the internet and it's still not up. I spend my afternoon reading books. Books! I never use to read books and I'm not to impressed with the fact that I've started, especially since all the books are classic and I can hardly understand them. I'm starting to loss faith in my horseshoe.

Friday afternoon comes and the moment I get home, Todd is pulling on my shirt, asking me to take him for a walk. Again. I had already taken him for a walk yesterday, down to the creek, and now he wants to go again? I walk into the kitchen, grabbing a drink out of the fridge. Todd follows me up to my room and stands at my door as I fish for some clothes to wear.

“Please Phoebe! Please, please, pretty please, with a cherry on top?”

“Todd, I took you yesterday.”

“But I want to see the fields and the other stuff! I promise I won't annoyed you for the rest of the night?”

I grin at him, “The rest of the night, huh? That sounds tempting...” I tease.

Todd stares at me, wide eyed, waiting for my answer.

I sigh, “Ok, just an hour.” It not like I have anything better to do.

Todd is jumping in the air, squealing. Then he races out of the room, yelling something like, “get changed” and is gone in a flash.

I chuckle, close the door and change into trackies and a t-shirt and jumper. I slip my runners on and head downstairs, where Todd is pulling his boots on. We head off around the back of the house and jumping the fence, we start walking through the fields.

It’s a pretty windy day and long grass is blowing back and forth. Todd jumps around in it, loving playing in the outdoors, while I walk through it quietly and look around me. If the house was nicer and we had internet and I actually had friends, I think I could like this place after a while.

We walk for about half an hour and the fields just keep going and going. Todd is starting to get tired, so we stop by a clump of trees and rest before we head home. Todd wonders a little way off into the trees to make a fort and I lie down on a flat rock, half buried in the grass. I closed my eyes and actually find it quite relaxing. I realise just how tired I am and before I can think about it, I am drifting off.

I wake up to my little brother shaking me hard. I open my eyes and stare at the clouds. Todd waves his hand in front of my face and I glance at him. “Phoebe, look!”

I sit up and follow his gaze to a figure standing near the trees. It's actually getting quite dark and it's harder to see. But my eyes adjust and I can make out what the figure is. A horse.

That is all I know. It is brown and it looks either neglected or wild. It's mane and tail are matted and dirty and it's coat is dirty to. It just stands there, staring right back at us.

Todd giggles and starts to move toward it. I grab his hand and stop him and he whines. “Phoebe, let me go. I want to pat it!” I keep my grip on his wrist firm and wrap my other arm around him protectively. I don't want my little brother going anywhere near that thing. We don't know anything about it.

Suddenly, Todd twists around at a funny angle and I loosen my grip on him, giving a cry of pain. He slips out of my arms and starts running toward the horse with his arms held out wide. I call to him and run after him.

The sudden movement scares the horse, and it turns sharply and thunders away and out of sight. Todd stops running and stares after it. I run up next to him and pick him up, all the while telling him off severely and checking him for scratches or cuts of any kind. He just continues to stare off in the direct the horse went.

“Where'd the horsey go?”

***

When I finally get Todd home, Dad is standing at the front door, waiting for me. The look on his face tells me that I am in a lot of trouble. He marches us both into the kitchen, sits us down at the table and demands to know were we've been.

Dad, don't worry! I just took Todd out for a walk!”

Dad spins around from where he is standing, pouring coffee, “For two hours?”

I look up at the clock an am shocked at the time. I've been away two hours? “Dad I didn't realise the time! Ok?”

“You didn't call me? You didn't leave a note? I mean, how far did you go?”

I open my mouth to answer but Todd bets me to it. “We went a long way to see all the fields Daddy! We saw a horsey but it ran away!”

“A long way Phoebe?” Dad looks at me critically.

I stand up abruptly, knocking my chair over. Tears began to leak from my eyes. “Dad! I'm not five any more! It was just a walk and we stayed in the bounds of the property! That's not illegal! Why are you so protective!”

Todd stares up at me, wide-eyed and Dad, down angrily as tears streak down my face and fall to the floor. I turn and run up the stairs and and into my room, slamming the door. I collapse onto my bed and let the tears fall.

Why is my life so messed up? Why doesn't my own Dad trust me? Why don't I have any friends? Why am I here anyway?

I sit up on the bed. I know what I have to do. If I'm going to survive this nightmare I need to set myself to a task that will give me something to occupy my time and show Dad that I'm capable of living out here.

And I know just the thing.

***

The moment I step into the stable I realise just how dark it is in there. Stables aren't suppose to be so dark and musty. Most of the windows are boarded up and the light outside is fading but my eyes adjust quickly. The place really is a mess. It's going to take a while to clean this up.

I start by grabbing a pen and paper and writing down all the things that need fixing. Then I gear up in working clothes and gloves with Dad's tool box and get going. I won't be able to do much today with the sun going down rapidly.

First thing I do is pull down the boards covering the windows and try to let a little more light into the structure. The stables itself is actually still in good shape and not about to fall down, just in need of some patching up.

When I'm satisfied with the light quality I start to clean out the junk left over from previous use. I find plenty of horse shoes, old bits of leather and saddlery and plenty of wood and metal scraps. By the time the sun is down to low to continue I have a good portion of the stables cleared and ready for improvement and then new residents. I stand back to surveys my handy work. I have to admit that for some one who has lived in the city all her life and never intended to go anywhere near dirt roads and cattle, it was a good effort.

Even Dad would be impressed.