Never the Same

⟮A FEW DAYS LATER⟯

"Steady, steady. Now hold on to his mane tightly." Raven ordered. I was sitting on Niko's back, it was my third day of horse riding practice. I gripped his mane. Raven held onto a lead that was attached to his halter. She guided him around the perimeter of the meadow. Then she let go. I felt so alive! The gentle breeze blew through my hair, making my long, poofy curls bounce around. I pushed my feet lightly into his ribs and he started to trot a bit faster.

"Can I make him gallop?" I asked excitedly.

"If you think you're ready. Be careful." Raven replied. I dug my feet into him and he started to go faster and faster. It felt amazing! I enjoyed it so much, until he was going at an amazingly high speed.

"Woah boy. Slow down." I said to him, but he kept running. "SLOW DOWN!"

He jumped the fence and raced into the forest. My face was getting slashed by branches and leaves. Then, I lost my balance and fell off.

"Oh my days! Lucy are you ok?" i heard someone say. My vision was blurry and my head was spinning. Traumatizing thoughts flooded my head.

I got home from school one evening and found Bob sitting at the table, multiple glass bottles and pills laying in front of him.

"Hello sir! It's very cloudy today. Do ya think it's gonna rain?" I asked. He groaned. I walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm.

"Are you ok Bob?" I said to him. He stood up abruptly and held my arm tightly.

"What are you doing here? I don't want you here. I don't want anyone here. Leave. Leave and don't come back." he told me with a deep frightening voice. I tried to get out of his grip, but he squeezed my arm tighter.

"L-let me go!" I demanded, but my seven year old self was too scared and weak to try anything. Then, he hit me. He hurt me. He abused me until I couldn't feel myself anymore. My vision blurred up and my head was terribly dizzy.

My eyes fluttered open. I was laying on a bed, in a room. It was my room. Raven was sitting in a chair beside me, reading a book.

"Hello." she said without looking up from her book.

"How?" I asked sitting up.

"Magic," she replied and walked over to me. "How are you doing?"

"I dunno. I can't really feel anything."

She frowned and felt my forehead. Why do people always do that? Even when your injury has nothing to do with your temperature or head!

"How's Niko?" I asked.

"He's been ignoring me for the past few days-"

"Days?!?"

"Yeah. You've been unconscious for a few days now."

"Can I see Niko?"

"You can, but you won't be able to ride him."

"Why?"

"You broke your leg."

I sighed, "Okay. Thank you for helping me."

"No problem. I'm always here for you."

I smiled. She was the nicest person I have ever met. And she cared for me like no one else did. She wasn't even related to me or knew me at all.

"How long will I be in this...state?" I asked, referring to my broken leg.

"I don't know. I suppose maybe a week." she replied.

"A week?!?! I can't go that long without being outside with the animals and riding Niko! It's torture!"

"It's safe. You need to let your leg heal."

"Ok fine."

Over the week, I read books, drew pictures and Raven even let me dye my hair. I died most of it black, there's a bit of blond left. Eventually, the week ended and Raven told me that my leg had healed. I was so excited! That day, I went immediately into the pasture and Niko happily ran towards me. I rode him for the rest of the day, it was amazing. I was so glad to have that uncomfortable cast of my leg. But I still wondered why Niko ran into the woods, and he didn't stop when I told him to. Weird. Anyway, that night was stranger than ever. Let me explain.

I just finished dinner, and was upstairs getting ready to sleep. Then, I heard creepy animal noises. But I ignored it because I just assumed it was the farm animals. So I got into bed and started to doze off. I couldn't fall asleep. There was a weird scraping sound in my room. Then, I started hearing animal noises. I was probably just hearing things. It got louder. So I got out of bed and found Raven sitting in the living room reading.

"Um...Raven?" I said to her. She looked up.

"Oh hi. What can I do for you?" she asked.

"There's this weird scraping noise in my room. Also, some animal noises." I told her.

"Okay, I'll come up and look." she said. I followed her to my room and she stood in the doorway, listening. The scraping noise was really loud. Raven frowned.

"Am I hearing things?" I asked.

"Well, I guess not because I hear it too." she replied. I watched as she took out her phone and dialed 911. A bit later, the red and blue lights pulled up on the driveway. It reminded me of earlier that year. Not pleasant. They went into my room and investigated while me and Raven chatted with an office in the living room. The officer talked about his wife and his children and Raven talked about her animals. Then the other officers walked towards us from my room.

"Is everything okay officer?" Raven asked.

"I'm afraid not," one replied. "There is a small older lady wedged under her bed with a butcher knife, carving into the bed."

"Why?" I asked coldy.

"We assume she was trying to carve into the bed to reach your back and stab you." He replied.

"Well ya didn't have to tell her!" Raven said, putting an arm around my shoulder.

"Where is she now?" I asked. The officers turned around and went back into my room. They came back with a worried expression on their faces.

"Um, we don't know." one said.

"YOU DON'T KNOW?! I WANT THAT WOMAN OUT OF MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" Raven yelled at them. The officers nodded and began searching the house. After many searches, they still didn't find her. Raven was getting frustrated and she started pacing around the living room.

"I'm not gonna sleep in this house if there's a creepy lady somewhere." I told them.

"Then, sleep outside." Raven replied sarcastically.

"Actually, that's a good idea." I said to her. She rolled her eyes. The police then left and I went outside. Raven slept in the attic of the house, with the door locked tightly and surrounded by tall furniture. I slept in Niko's stable. I created a bed out of stacks of hay and blankets. Then, I fell asleep. I was dreaming about something really weird, when a horse's bray woke me up. My eyes shot open and I sat up. Niko was whining and he constantly lifted his front legs, jumping up. Then, he fell down. I stood up and saw an old lady with a butcher knife stabbed into Niko's chest.

"No!" I screamed and jumped on top of her. I grabbed the knife and threw it outside of the stable while pinning her down. Without noticing, her hands gripped my neck and flung me off of her. Then I jumped up and grabbed onto a metal bar attached to the ceiling. I kicked her in the face and pushed her down, landing on my feet. That's when I realized that I was in love with fighting.