Wild Horse 2

Renewed Hope

The next morning I woke early. I lay in bed with my eyes squeezed shut, hoping, praying that last nights events had all been a terrible dream.

I sat up in my bed and walked over to the window and pulled it open. The air was cool and crisp, fresh after all that rainfall. I took a few deep breaths and that's when I heard the voices coming from outside. It seemed like my dad was talking to a few people.

I hurriedly got dressed and ran downstairs.
Sure enough, as I pushed open the screen door I saw Robert, Alison Ned and a couple of more officers talking. The reality that this wasn't a dream and that Spirit was stolen washed over.

I was overcome with a wave of emotions but I kept a calm demeanor as Alison rushed towards me. She wrapped her arms around me. "Are you feeling better?" She asked. I nodded.
"Where are Jacob and Brianna?" I asked.

"They left right after we got back. They were pretty worried about you Kate," said Robert.
Ned turned to me. "Do you mind telling us what happened?"

I nodded and told them everything I'd seen and remembered. "There was also a footprint," I said. "It was on the porch." "Jacob told us about the footprint," said Robert. I noticed he wasn't looking at me directly. There was something they weren't telling me.

I looked back and forth between my father and Ned. "There's something else isn't there?" Robert sighed and handed me a newspaper clipping. I immediately recognized it was a picture of our group at the competition.

"Where did you get this?" I asked. "It was underneath the porch.Whoever took Spirit must have had it on them," Robert replied.
Ned stepped forward. "Which means this was planned."

"So what are we going to do?" I asked. "We can't just sit here. Someone took my horse!" Robert sighed. "There's no we Kate. Ned is doing everything he can. We think it might be those horse thieves. They'll search for Spirit. You on the other hand have your finals coming up. Your graduation is in 3 weeks."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My graduation was more important to them? I started to protest when Alison said, "You're fathers right Kate." I turned to her. "No he's not right! I'm not just going to sit by I need to find Spirit!" I snapped.

Abruptly I turned away and walked towards the stables. If they weren't going to look for Spirit then I was. I quickly saddled Phantom and led her out of the barn. Mounting her, I urged her into a gallop as we neared the trail behind our barn.

The sun was high in the sky by the time Phantom galloped towards the hill, the place where I'd first seen Spirit. My chest tightened at the memory as dismounted and looked around.

It was quite. The only sound was the chirping of birds flying overhead against the brilliant blue sky. I watched the lush green grass sway in a gentle summer breeze. A few bees buzzed by and Phantom snorted behind me as she bent down and begun to graze.

I sat down in the grass and closed my eyes. This was so much worse than last time. At least before I'd known where Spirit was, but now if these horse thieves had him he was likely already being sold off, maybe even out of the country.

I sighed and lay back in the grass. The green grass tickled my skin as I stretched and looked up at the sky. I watched the white clouds take shape as they drifted lazily across the vast blue sky, the sun streaming through a break in the clouds. It was also so beautiful and peaceful and yet this peaceful scenery did nothing to dull the pain I was feeling.

A large shadow loomed over me and I opened my eyes to find Phantom's muzzle a few feet from my face. She nuzzled the top of my head and I couldn't help but I laugh. I sat up as she continued to muzzle my hair. "It's okay girl. I'm okay you can stop." I stood up and rubbed her muzzle as we gazed down the hill.

"I'm going to find Spirit. Whatever it takes." As hopeless as I felt right now I wouldn't sit by I was going to find those horse thieves and I was going to find Spirit. With renewed hope I mounted Phantom and galloped back to the ranch.

~picture above is from google^