Destiny

Chapter 21

You know when you wake up and you have a feeling that something is terribly wrong. Everything seems normal. No warnings signs that something is wrong but yet you can feel it deep in your bones. That is exactly how i felt when i woke up at 3 in the morning.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The house was quiet and undisturbed. My alarm clock blinked 3:00 AM and the soft glow of the barn light glowed through my bedroom window. Everything was as usually. Nothing seemed out of place except the fact that i was awake at 3 AM.

I guess maybe it was the sick feeling down  in my stomach that made me turn over and stare out my bedroom window. That's when i say it. The barn door was open slightly. Just a little but it was enough to push me off my bed and scramble for my boots.

Then Daisy and Boomer started barking. They were frantic barks as they clawed at the front door trying to get outside.

The sound of splintering wood made me stand up and look out my window again, the search for my boots temporarily forgotten. The shriek of a horse sounds through the air as the black shadow of a horse streaked out of the barn

"Mom! Dad!" I scream. 

I run out of my room and down the stairs, my bare feet slapping against the hardwood.

A shot rings through the air and my stomach drops. A horses screech fills the air.

"Mom! Dad!" I scream again but this time i'm crying. I keep screaming and crying as i run out the door. I can hear Mom and Dad yelling at me to stop but i don't listen.

My screams stopped and it turned into wailing. Loud, long wails that echoed across the landscape. 

I tried running in the general direction that i saw Destiny run but i couldn't tell very well in the dark. My barefeet hit rocks and stepped on thorns but it was almost like i didn't have any nerve endings because i was to pre occupied with the thought of Destiny alone and hurt.

At one point, i'm knocked flat on my back by a branch and i finally feel all my brusies from running and i can't catch my breathe. My stomach hurts from running and crying and every thorn hurts. A new wail rises and catches in my throat causing me to choke and cough.

The only thing that pushes me up is reliving that shot that rang through the air. suddenly i'm off and running again and i scream her name

"Destiny!"

A small weak whinny comes from my right and i swerve and come up to a big black mass laying stretched out on the ground. Destiny.

"No,No No No!" I say over and over again without thinking.

Destiny lays on the ground in a heap, breathing heavily and with a bullet wound in her shoulder. A dark liquid oozes from the wound and it can only be blood.

I drop to my knees next to Destiny and run my hand over the wound. She flinches away from me and whinnies weakly.

"Oh no" I mumur before i break down and start crying. Not the loud wails as before but small soft weeps that shake my body.

I move Destiny's head into my lap and she sighs. Her breathing slows down and i cry harder and start stroking her neck.

"Please stay with me" I say as i weep into her mane. Only the sound of Destiny's breathing answers me.

"I love you" I whisper and then I fall asleep on Destiny's shoulder. Still stroking Destiny's neck.