June Story Contest
Lightning Chapter Three: Accident Click to read part 1, part 2
By: Spellcheck
Age: 12It had been days since I heard back from Aaron. I was still checking the phone every hour hadn’t missed his call, and racing to the phone every time just to make sure I it rang. I couldn’t wait to hear how things had gone with Lightning. I hoped he was doing okay. Every time my mom or dad picked up the phone instead of me, I stood by anxiously to make sure it wasn’t Aaron. If it was, then my parents might find out about Lightning, and that would be a disaster.
I could just imagine what would happen if they found out I was attempting to train and ride a three-year-old, wild, unruly horse, not to mention the fact that I practically stole it. But hey, at least I had a good cause; they would have put him down otherwise.
I sat down on the couch and leaned against the back of it, when the phone rang, I was just about to ignore it, when I thought better of it, and picked it up.
“Hello?” said the voice from the other end of the line. It didn’t sound like Aaron, so I was a little disappointed.
I didn’t feel like talking right now, so I improvised. “I’m sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed, please check the number and dial again,” I said in my best imitation of that annoying voice you get when you mess up on a phone number.
Just then my mom came around the corner. She had obviously heard that. I was about to hang up when she said, “Avery! What have I told you about doing that to people? It’s rude, and annoying,” She scolded.
I was about to hang up quickly when the voice said, “Avery? Oh, good, I had almost thought I’d messed up on the number.”
I stopped. “Aaron? Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize it was you.”
“That’s okay, sorry I didn’t call sooner, but I, uh… had trouble with the number,” he sounded cautious, as if he didn’t want to offend me by saying he couldn’t read the writing.
I laughed. “My hand writing is that bad, huh? I was afraid of that.”
“No,” He said quickly. “Its fine, but anyway, I’ll get to the point, Lightning is almost coming to me, but not as well as I’d like, I was hoping he would like you better, and by the way, Sage really helped, Lightning hasn’t even complained yet.”
“Okay, what have you noticed about how he’s reacting? Has he tried to get out at all? Even just into Sage’s pen?”
“Well,” he said. “Actually, apparently he can jump four feet with only about a five-yard run at it.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Now we have to worry about keeping him in.”
“No, actually, he should stay in just fine as long as we keep Sage in there; I decided that they’ll be fine together if it’ll stop him from getting out.”
My mom looked at me with a curious expression, but didn’t say anything.
“Well, I have to go, try to come to my house today, any time will be fine, my uncle is gone for the day,” Aaron said.
“Okay, bye.” I hung up the phone.
“Who was that?” My mom asked.
“Oh, that was a friend from Redwood Riding Academy; we were talking about some horses there.” I wasn’t completely lying; I did meet Aaron at Redwood. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to keep lying to my mom for much longer. But there was really no other way to do this; if she found out, she wouldn’t hesitate to hear my objections about Lightning being tame, before sending him off to be slaughtered.
She nodded. “Okay,”
I walked into the living room and sat back on the couch.
Mom turned on the T.V. and changed it to a local news station. I didn’t get why she was always watching T.V., she always said it was just the noise that helped, but I usually preferred it quiet, and I never really paid much attention to the news or anything. In fact, I never really paid much attention to T.V. at all.
The news went to a story about a riding school that had a horse go missing. “If you have seen any sign of this horse, or have any idea as to where it is, please contact the police department immediately,” The news anchor said in an attempt at a serious voice, but just sounded bored. “The horse is reportedly dangerous, and is said to have gotten loose during an attempt to put it down. This horse has a one-thousand dollar reward out by the county, dead or alive, along with another thousand-dollar reward from the owner only if brought back alive. Be on guard, this horse is reportedly vicious, and will stop at nothing. For more information, visit our website.”
It showed the name of the news station’s website at the bottom before it changed to a different story about a brush fire in the next town over.
Great, I thought. They’ve got a reward out for Lightning. That’s not going to help us at all.
“Uh, Mom, I’m going to go on a walk. I won’t go far; I should be back in just a few hours,” I said, and waited for a reply.
She looked over at me. “Okay, but be careful, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I nodded, forgetting the fact that she couldn’t see it, and rushed out the door.
I broke into a jog after I got out of view of the house; I had to get there fast if I wanted to warn Aaron in time. I had always been a good runner, but five miles would still leave me pretty winded. The worst of my worries though, was how long it would take to get there anyway.
It took about thirty minutes to get to Aaron’s house, and when I did, I walked up to the door and rung the doorbell. No answer.
I alternated to knocking on the door, but still no answer.
I backed up, and walked around back, where Aaron was sitting on the fence to Lightning’s pen, holding out an apple.
I walked over to him, and tapped him on the shoulder.
He jumped, and nearly fell off the fence, dropping the apple. He quickly grabbed the fence for support, and climbed back up.
Lightning, seeing the opportunity as the apple rolled five feet away from the fence, trotted over and snatched it up, cantering away before either of us could react.
I laughed as Lightning crunched the apple loudly.
Aaron glared at me. “Have you ever heard of knocking?”
I smile sarcastically. “I tried; you weren’t there. It’s not like I was going to knock on the fence, not that it would have had a much different effect anyway.”
He rolled his eyes. “Look what you made me do; now Lightning thinks he can go and steal apples whenever he wants.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What I did? You’re the one who dropped it. Besides, from what I witnessed, it seems like he’s been doing that for a while.”
“Well, yes, but–” he broke off, unable to think of a good enough comeback.
I decided to be nice and not push it. “So how can I help?”
He paused for a moment. “Can you go get a small handful of oats? That might work better than apples. They’re in that shed over there, in the biggest of the plastic tubs. Actually, I take that back, put the oats in a small bucket.”
I nodded, and walked away, towards the shed. I picked up the first empty bucket I could find, and filled it half-way with oats; it was a semi-small bucket, so half-way was only about a half a dozen handfuls.
I brought the bucket back to Aaron and handed it to him. “Thanks,” He said, and shook the bucket of oats to get Lightning’s attention.
Lightning looked at it cautiously, as if he was conspiring a way to steal them without coming too close.
“Here, let me have to oats,” I offered, holding out my hand.
Aaron handed them over without a word.
I climbed up onto the fence next to him, and then slid down to the other side.
“Avery! Get back over here! You’ll get yourself killed!” He said urgently as I walked out to the middle of the pen.
I looked back at him. “I doubt he’ll try to kill me for not giving him oats. My worst fear is that he’ll get smarter and smarter and then we won’t be able to keep anything away from him.”
I decided to walk over to Sage and pretend to be feeding the oats to her. I doubted Lightning would try to hurt me if I was next to Sage.
I walked up to Sage and held out a tiny handful of the oats for her to eat. She licked my hand to make sure she got every last oat. I laughed silently.
Lightning looked over at me and eyed me cautiously as he saw me feeding handful after handful to Sage. He pretended to be grazing, and slowly took step after step towards me, chomping on imaginary grass.
After a few moments, I looked away from him and focused on petting Sage, and talking to her softly, hoping to make Lightning jealous. Apparently it worked, because he took a few more steps until he was just a few feet away.
I looked up at him, and offered him a small handful. He slowly extended his neck to sniff my hand, and took the oats quickly, and then jerking away once he was finished. He didn’t canter away like he did with the apple; he simply took a step to the side so that he was barely out of my reach
I held my hand out to him again, but when he didn’t come, I took a slow, measured step toward him.
He backed up a little farther, and I decided no to push it. I stroked Sage again, and gave her the handful of oats that I attempted to give Lightning.
Lightning looked up at me, and he had a jealous glint in his eyes. I’m sure if he could, he would have said, “Hey! Those were my oats!”
I smiled at him. “Well, then you’d better come get them.” For a second, I almost shook my head at myself for talking to a horse, but then he took another step forward.
Hmm, maybe I should try that more often, I thought, not joking a bit.
“Good boy,” I told him softly, hoping it would help.
He took another step forward and ate the oats again. This time he didn’t back up, so I gave him some more.
He lifted his head to look at me, edging closer.
I reached out to pet him, but his head shot to the side, and snatched the bucket out of my hands. He turned sharply and galloped away.
I stood, shocked for a moment, then turned to Sage. “Well, sorry, I guess that’s all for now, it might take some convincing, but I think you can get him to share,” I told her, then walked away, back towards the fence where Aaron was laughing so hard that he was having trouble staying on the fence.
I came up to him. “That horse is way too smart for his own good,” I said, shaking my head.
He snickered. “No, just smarter than you.” He burst out laughing again, and I rolled my eyes, sitting on the fence next to him.
“No, actually, he stole that apple from you before he stole the oats.”
He had almost stopped laughing, when he looked back at Lightning who was prancing around, keeping the oats from Sage, and burst out laughing again.
I couldn’t help but laugh too. It was just too funny! Lightning was now teasing Sage, pretending to give it to her, and then jumping away and running off again.
We sat there, laughing for a while, when we finally calmed down.
“I have to start going home soon, so I’m going to try one more time, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll go home, okay?”
He bit his lower lip. “Fine, I suggest that you don’t bring treats this time; he’ll get fat.”
I laughed. “Good idea,” I grabbed the halter and lead rope that were sitting on the fence, and climbed back into the pen, walking over to where Lightning finally gave the bucket to Sage, only for her to find that it was empty.
I snickered as I approached Lightning. He looked up at the sound of my advance. Apparently my approach didn’t spoil his fun, because he nickered softly as I came. I noticed that he had a gleam in his eyes that made him look happy and amused.
I smile gently and walked up to him slowly.
He pretended to trot up to me, but when he was five feet away, he faked a jump right at me, and cantered off to the side. He looks so happy, I thought, starting to feel bad for intruding.
He apparently thought that having me here just made more fun, because he knew he could trick me easily. I decided that two could play this game.
I sat down and pretended to me amused by the dandelion that was coming out of the ground, when I heard Lightning approach.
He hung back a few feet out of reach, and waited for me to look over another dandelion when he shot forward and ate the first one.
I looked back at where the first one had been, and had to force myself to breath slowly to keep from strangling myself with laughter.
I looked back where the first one had been, and pretended that I was looking for it. He went over to eat the next one, when I spun around and jumped at him.
He barely had time to react before I had the halter over his head and buckled. I clipped the lead rope on as he tried to pull away.
I held tight, and inched toward him. He looked mad –no, “mad” was too strong of a word, more annoyed, I guess.
I giggled softly and stroked his face. He didn’t seem to mind; he was just happy I wasn’t rubbing it in. “Caught you,” I told him mockingly.
He hung his head and stopped pulling on the lead rope, looking depressed. I suddenly felt bad for ruining his fun.
All of the sudden he jerked away, attempting to gallop off, but I quickly tightened my grip, and he couldn’t get away.
He blew out of his nostrils loudly, as if he had been holding his breath, when I realized he was sighing, as if he knew I’d won.
I smiled, and walked him over to the fence. He came without a fight, but I made sure to keep a good grip just in case.
Aaron was laughing when I walked over to him, but he looked awed at the same time, as if he expected me to fail.
He reached out tentatively, and rested his hand lightly on Lightning’s cheek. “Wow, I never expected him to change so much in so little time; I think he likes you.”
I smiled. “I hope, otherwise we’re in trouble.” I petted Lightning for a second, and then I remembered why I had come here in the first place. “Oh, wait, I almost forgot; we have a problem.”
He looked over at me, worried by the suddenly serious tone of my voice. “What is it?”
I shifted my weight. “They’ve got a two-thousand dollar reward out for Lightning if he’s brought back alive, and a one-thousand reward dead. They broadcasted that on the news, so by the end of the month, there will be approximately five-thousand people searching for him, and that could go on all summer, maybe longer, and once school starts, we won’t be able to keep as tight of protection on him.”
Aaron stiffened and his eyes widened in worry. “Great. We can’t even let him go anywhere that has even a tiny chance that someone might see, and that even includes coming in even the slightest view of the road.”
I nodded. “Well, let’s just be thankful that we haven’t been caught yet, we know now, so we can take extra precautions.”
Aaron nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He petted Lightning for a second when I heard the door to his house open.
“Oh, no!” He said frantically. “It’s my uncle! Hide Lightning!”
“I thought he was supposed to be gone!” I said the panic obvious in my voice.
“He was! He must have come back early! Go!”
I pulled Lightning into a bumpy trot and jogged over to the other side of the pen, hoping that the barn would block us, but the barn wasn’t long enough, its shadow didn’t quite reach us, and I didn’t have time to open the gate and get into the other pen. Oh, no! I shouted frantically in my head. I have to do something!
There was no way I could get Lightning to jump that high with practically no running-start. I did the only thing possible.
I climbed onto the fence, and jumped onto Lightning, tying the other end of his lead rope to his halter so that it improvised as a bridle.
Luckily, Lightning didn’t buck, but he did turn around and try to gallop the other way. I pulled the lead rope to one side, hoping to force him to turn around by turning his head. It worked. Mostly. He charged at the fence, and moments before he would have jumped it, he jerked to the side, running along the edge of the fence. He stopped when he got to the water trough. There was a metal water trough that both the pens shared; it was a long oval that came as tall as the fence, and was about sixteen feet long and about six feet wide. It stretched eight feet into this pen, and eight feet into the other.
Lightning stopped short in the front of the water trough, and relaxed. At first I though he might be getting a drink, but he caught me by surprise and arched his back, he kicked his feet out behind him, sending me flying into the water.
Because the water was four feet deep, it broke my fall so I didn’t hit the bottom.
I reached up and grabbed the edge, and pulled myself out of the water. Coughing and gasping, I used the edge to pull myself over to the end, and climb out.
Aaron’s uncle came over to me with Aaron behind him.
He turned to Aaron. “I see that you’ve found a friend,” He said, indicating to Lightning. “Now, when were you planning on telling me?”
Aaron opened his mouth, but shut it, looking at the ground a shuffling his feet.
His uncle turned to me. “Would you care to give a better explanation? I prefer vocal ones, just so you know.” He glanced at Aaron with a joking smile.
I laughed, but that laugh soon died. “Well….” I couldn’t think of anything to say. Could I trust him? Would he turn us in to get the reward? I looked over at Aaron questioningly.
He nodded to say, go ahead and tell him, understanding my question.
Aaron’s uncle took me into his house and gave me a towel to put over my wet clothes.
I sat down on his recliner, while he and Aaron sat on the couch.
I explained to John (that was Aaron’s uncle’s name) the whole story, and Aaron added a few details here and there as I told it. He listened quietly through the whole thing; he didn’t even look mad when we got to the part about stealing Lightning.
He pursed his lips. “Well, you two should have told me from the beginning, but there’s no point in crying over spilt milk, so I’m just going to tell you this: you two were right; that horse had a right to be saved. If I had been in your shoes, I’d have done the same exact thing. There are other ways you could have done it, but I under stand your determination.”
Good. Now that he was on our side, I had one more question. “You’re not going to tell my mom, are you?”
He sighed. “Well, I should have figured that if you hadn’t told me, you probably didn’t tell your parents. But I suppose I can make an excuse for you for now, just as long as you promise me you’ll tell your mother eventually; you can’t keep her in the dark forever.”
That was an easy promise to make. I was planning on telling her later anyway. I agreed.
He nodded. “Good. I’ll take you home now.”
He took me home and told my mother that I had been on a walk and fell in a canal that was about a mile from John’s house. He had been out on a walk, and heard me scream and pulled me out, and then took me here. He lied so well, that I almost started to believe him myself.
He left soon after and then my mom had me change my clothes and take a shower.
Well, even though my mom didn’t know yet, we had at least a responsible adult helping us. I wasn’t sure if you could call an adult who was helping two kids hide a stolen horse “responsible” but he wasn’t insane or doing anything illegal, so I considered that good enough.*Note to readers: This may not seem like a whole story, but I accidentally made it too long and couldn’t shorten it due to need of explanation. Sorry, but next time it should be shorter because I’ll have less to explain. Thanks!