Into My Arms

“It’s not that hard,” I said as I was mounted on top of Faith, waiting for Nick, Demi and Joe to follow in pursuit.

“Yea, easy for you to say,” Demi commented as she was struggling.

I couldn’t help but laugh. I picked the easy-going horse for Demi but she’s just too mentally challenged to get on. I picked the more stubborn one for Nick but I think between his stubbornness and the horses, I don’t think there was much of a problem because he was on the back of the horse in seconds. I picked the more enthusiastic horse for Joe…and I found much amusement in it. Joe would try to get on but the horse would move so Joe would lose his balance. Then once Demi was finally on, Joe got on as well…but he was facing the wrong way.

“Joe…”

“I know, I know…I got this…”

Then the horse started moving so Joe fell off and right into a mud pile. We all started laughing. “Faith, lets help him out okay?” I said as I got off her.

I helped Joe up as Faith kept the spirited horse in line, long enough for Joe to get mounted on. He was all set. So then I got back on faith with ease and we all started at a walk.

“Just follow me and we’ll take the path,” I told them and we pushed forward.

The scenery was beautiful…just like I remembered it. “Hey, I’m actually getting the hang of this,” Joe said, proudly and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Race you to the edge of the woods,” Nick challenged. I smirked.

“Will you two be okay for a bit while Nick and I go on ahead?” I asked.

“Yep, we’ll be fine,” Demi answered.

“Go!” I shouted and Faith and I took off with Nick quickly gaining.

I was kind of shocked by how well he was handling the purebred…but in a way, I wasn’t shocked at all, at the same time. I loved seeing Nick laugh and have a good time when he was with me. It gave me some hope, letting me know, I wasn’t too boring. We raced down the path until I started to notice that it was getting dark and I started to see some signs stapled onto some trees which was unusual. So I started to have Faith slow down, although I felt her wanting to go farther.

“Wait! Nick!” I yelled and he turned to look and he saw me stop so he began to turn around with a worried expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“I dont't know. I don't think we took a wrong turn…I’ve been down this part of the woods but…”

“But I thought we would be able to see the sun set just ahead”

“I know. I thought that too…but something’s different…and it’s getting really dark, we should go back to Demi and Joe,” I said and I knew he could see the panic in my eyes.

I was scared. These parts of the woods was now uncharted territory to me…and it looked like it was going to rain…and I didn’t even want to know what those signs said. It began to down pour right away and I stared up.

“It’s okay…” he said and smiled at me which made me feel a little safe. He came closer and cupped my cheek. “We’ll just go…”

But before he could even finish…we heard a crack…and a pop…and Faith was hit. She fell to the ground hard, throwing me off her and rolling a good ten feet away. There was thunder. Then lightning. It all happened so fast.

“Rachael!” Nick yelled as I looked up and saw him jump off and rush to my side.

I squinted up at him, trying to gain back my vision, but then I looked straight ahead and saw a horse…my horse…lying on the ground, helplessly.

“Faith!” I yelled as I jumped to my feet and got to her side, throwing my helmet off.

A man came running over to us with a gun in hand. I was ready to beat the living shit out of him for shooting my horse.

“What the hell do you think you were doing!” I yelled at him as I shot up, ready to deck him but Nick was doing his best to hold me back without hurting me.

“You have to calm down!” the man yelled at me, over the loud rain.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” I yelled back, trying to get out of Nick’s grip and out of nowhere Joe came running and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me back.

I don’t even know where him and Demi came from…but I didn’t care. “She’s still breathing!” Demi shouted as she was crouched down by Faith as she was struggling to stand up. I rushed to her side.

“Okay, it’ll be okay Faith, we’re going to get you home,” I told her as I looked her in the eye when she was completely on her feet.

“I was trying to protect you both!” the man yelled over the loud rain.

“From what?!” I snapped as I was gently moving faith so she would move slowly.

But before he could answer…I heard a branch snap. We all looked up and saw a big cat…and lets just say, it wasn’t house trained or people friendly.

“From that!” he yelled and my eyes grew as the giant cat jumped at me and Faith.

I felt Nick’s arms wrap around me but I knew he wouldn’t get us out of the way in time…now everything really was going in slow motion. I couldn’t keep up. The next thing I know, I get bumped in the side by Faith’s nose and Nick and I both go flying, rolling on the ground.

“No!” I yelled as I looked up with tears flowing down my face while the cat took bites out of my beautiful stallion and she struggled to get him off.

Then another crack and pop and the cat flies off and limps away. “No! Faith!” I yelled as I went to run back to her but Nick grabbed a hold of me and held me tight.

I looked up and over his shoulder to see Faith bleeding like crazy and injured deeply.

I dug my head into Nick’s shoulder and sobbed as he comforted me. All that filled the air was the sound of the thunder, the light of the lightning and the sound of the rain hitting the ground. I felt my legs give out from under me but I didn’t hit the floor because Nick was holding me up. He got me onto the horse and I sat there as he got on in front of me. I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, burying my face into his back, my cries, being unheard by the works of mother nature.

“We’ll head back and tell Billy Ray what happened…he’ll know what to do…” Nick told Joe and Demi as I saw them get on their horses as well. “Thank you, for your help,” he said to the man and then I felt us moving.

I don’t know how long it took for us to get back but right when we did, Miley came running out with Billy Ray close behind her.

“We were worried sick about all of you!” she yelled over the rain but stopped running when she saw Nick had to help me off and I wrapped my arms around my stomach, walking toward her.

“What happened?” she asked.

I saw in her face that she was confused and worried as she just wrapped her arms around me to hug me and I hugged back. Billy Ray came over to us and I let go of Miley.

“Where’s Faith?” she asked.

“She’s back in the woods…” I tried to tell them what happened through my sobs and luckily, both Demi and Miley knew what I had said.

“Miles, you get them all inside, get them warm. I’ll take care of it all”

“Daddy, you don’t have to put her down right,” Miley ran over to her father as Demi took her place in comforting for me and the guys were at our sides.

“I don’t know Miles…” he sighed.

“It’s okay if you do Billy Ray. Please just help her stop hurting” I cried more as Nick hugged me tightly and Joe was rubbing my back to comfort me and Demi was doing the same.

It was dark, cold and I was starting to feel numb…but all I could think about was how Faith was feeling.