The Life Of A Horse

Chapter 5

Just as I'm about to bite the rope to get free, I see Ashley coming toward me. Ashley? I freeze and look at her. What will she do? She looks toward the house and sneaks toward me. She climbs the tree that I'm tied to and then gets on my back. "Shoot," she mutters. She gets off and unties the rope. Then holding it tightly she repeats the process of getting on my back.

How did she know I was here?  She squeezes my sides lightly and steers me to the woods. I'm not sure what she is doing but I don't think it's a good idea. I halt suddenly and she kicks me harder. I decide to see where she wants to go. I walk forward and she nudges my sides to get me into a trot and then a canter. She laughs to herself, enjoying the ride.

Why is she here? Did my parents call hers to see if I was there so she decided to come find me? I'm worried about what she is planning on doing. No good idea ever starts with riding a random horse in the night. Even though I'm not some random horse she doesn't know that.

And to make my concern worse she steers me in the direction the mountains are in. Mountains? Hopefully she doesn't go as far as the mountains. Maybe she is just going on a short ride to forget about her worries and it is a coincidence that we are going toward the mountains. She keeps riding for probably 30 minutes and I don't know what to do. Before I know it we are at the bottom of the mountains.

She pulls back on her makeshift reins and I halt. She dismounts and ties me to a tree. That's when I notice. She has a backpack, and a sleeping bag. She looks at me, thinking. "We need to find a name for you," she says. She sits there thinking and shakes her head a few times. "Black Beauty?" She looks sad suddenly. "That's one of Sasha's favorite books. I don't need a sad reminder that I will not be seeing her again. What about Dakota?"

I think about it for a second running through any other options I like better but decide on going with what she likes. I am her horse now after all, and she is the human. I rear up in agreement but my rope stops me. It rubbed against my neck giving me a slight rope burn. I neigh instead. "You like that name?" She says with a joyful smile. "Dakota it is. It's funny because we live in South Dakota so it's the perfect name for a wild horse even if you aren't actually wild." I laugh to myself. My best friend and I are similar in many ways. I glance at her backpack and realize that she is making a fire with a match. She is starting a camp. I am her horse. We are running away...

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A/N

I decided to add Ashley to Sasha's escape. What do you think? There will be another surprise next chapter. Stay tuned to find out. :)