Flying Changes

Chapter 1

My brother and I grew up in a world full of haters. Sinners. Both our biological parents were...and probably still are. Everyone we knew hated the world. At one point, it became too much. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I took my little brother and we ran away. We ran to a neighbor's house, they took us to an orphanage, and that was that. I was 9 at the time, my brother was 6. I knew that I needed to care for him. I did. We lived at an orphanage for a year. I became used to that put down, crappy old life. When we were finally adopted, it was by a family that spoiled us. That was about 7 years ago. I'm 16, my brother's 13. We now live at the top of a hill, in a small house. Surrounded by a dreamland. About 30 horses living in paddocks.

That's right, we were adopted by the owner of a horse barn.We have only a mom, but living at the barn gives us almost a full family. I own a horse, I teach sometimes, I work at the barn, we're both homeschooled, I take lessons, and I have a boyfriend. Compared to our old life, this is probably as good as it gets.

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"Dakota!" Ryan banged on my door.

"Ugh, what do you want?"

"It's Christmas!" He said, opening my door.

"Really?" I asked, sitting up.

"Get up, there's presents!" He yelled behind him and ran out of my room.

I groaned and eventually got out of my bed. Almost every December, I stay in my flannel pajamas all morning, especially Christmas morning, so I didn't bother getting dressed. I walked into the living room and saw my mom waiting there with Ryan and my manager at the barn, Heather.

"Morning, sweetie!"

"Morning."

I wasn't the happiest person in the morning. Ever. But I knew that, and so did my family. I saw a pile of presents under the tree.

"Woah, that's a lot of presents!"

"Yeah. Come sit!"

"Merry Christmas, Koda."

"Thanks Heather, you too!"

"I have your first present. Promise me you won't scream." my mom said.

"Scream?"

"Yeah." she got up and went to her room. When she came back, she was holding a weirdly shaped present, it looked almost like an animal carrier. She put it down on the couch and opened something. Slowly, a small, black furry animal came out of it, starting with a head. It looked around and finally saw me.

"You're kidding."

"I didn't think 30 horses were enough animals to own."

"Oh my god!" I said, trying not to scare it.

"Is it a cat?" Ryan asked.

"No, it's another horse. Yeah, it is." my mom said sarcastically.

"I wasn't serious, mom!"

"Oh, you don't want it?"

"No, no, I love it! What's his name?"

"It's a girl, and her name right now is Cupcake. I thought you'd want to change it."

"Wow, mom! Thank you so much!" I hugged her and picked up Cupcake.

"Name ideas?"

"Twinkle!" Ryan suggested as a joke.

"Ryan, come on, I already have a pet named Twinkle. How about, like Star? To match?"

"What, you think they'll get along?"

"Maybe,"

"I have a present for Dakota." Ryan said, getting a small present from under the tree. He set it on my lap. I ripped off the wrapping paper and it was a book and a movie that I liked.

"Thanks, Ry!"

"No problem, Koda."

The presents kept coming, and we each gave a present to everyone. I gave Heather a new personalized halter for her horse, Shamrock. My mom gave me a set of fairy lights for my room. I loved them. Heather got me a horse blanket for Twinkle, my horse. It was purple with blue dots on it. Her name was stitched on the front shoulder.

"Thanks everyone!" Heather said, getting her stuff together.

"Thanks for coming! Mom, can I go see Twinkle?"

"Sure." she replied

I grabbed an apple from the fridge, and her new blanket. It was snowing a tiny bit, but not a lot. Twinkle lives near the house, so I could visit her any time. Twinkle was laying down in her shed also, so I went over to her. She stayed where she was for me because she knows I'm her owner, but she usually doesn't let anyone catch her. There's a big rock right next her shed. I sat on it and reached out the apple to her.

"Hey baby!" She took a big bite of the apple but stayed in the same position. I allowed her to eat the rest of the apple and then got her up to get her blanket on. She stood up and I took off her black blanket and put the new one on her. It fit perfectly. I stayed with Twinkle for a while until my mom called me to say that I had to ride soon. I usually rode a different horse for lessons, not Twinkle.

"Bye, honey! Love you!"

She whinnied.

I went down to the barn again and asked Jen, my trainer, who I was riding. She told me a horse named Chester, who was a chestnut horse, about the same size as Twinkle, but definitely much lazier. I usually didn't ride Twinkle for lessons, only because I rode her so much anyway. I either rode Chester or Liberty for lessons. 

I got Chester from his paddock and brought him down.

"Merry Christmas, Dakota!" another instructor, Leanne, said to me.

"Thanks, you too!"

"How are you?" she asked.

"Great!"

"Have a good ride."

I took Chester to the wood post and made a knot with his lead rope to keep him there while I got his tack. I got his saddle, saddle pad, girth, bridle and brushes. I used Twinkle's saddle and saddle pad because they were the same size. I tacked him up and then got my helmet from my locker and put it on.