Unbound (5 page)

“I left my phone at home again,” she said guiltily.
 
“Your hair looks pretty Annie.”

I threw my head back in a dramatic way. “Doesn’t it? It’s all thanks to Marie though. So what was this creepy person doing?”

Laney looked down and smiled again, in the way you do when you know your reasoning is something to be made fun of. “Um, just walking.”

We all laughed.
 
Laney looked at something over my shoulder and her eyes narrowed in obvious concern.

“Why is that guy staring at you, Annie?”

I turned to look. “What guy?” But before I could finish my short sentence, I saw who she meant. Mr. Male Model looked just as embarrassed as we had and turned away quickly, too quickly, and it was obvious we caught him staring. I turned in shock back to my friends.

“Nah-ah! He was probably looking at Marie, or you!”

Laney shrugged. “It looked like he was looking at you.” She glanced over my shoulder again. “He’s getting into a car. I think it’s an X-terra. Black and newish looking,” she informed us.

“Want to get his license number too, while you’re at it?” Marie joked. Laney made a face at her.

“Come on, let’s get ice cream now. I’m hungry!” Laney stood and we followed.

I ordered my usual two scoops of cookie-dough ice cream and we sat back at our table.
A familiar looking dark blue Mustang sped through the intersection next to us. The passenger side was facing me, and I thought I saw a blonde girl sitting in the seat.

“Was that Mike?” Marie asked.

“I’m not sure. There has to be dozens of blue Mustangs in the city.”

“I’m sure there are too,” Laney agreed. But before I could think any further about why Mike would be driving a blonde chick around, Laney said, “Look whose back!”

We turned to see the same hottie from earlier walking back to the same store as before. This time, an older, but still attractive man, was standing by the door waiting. He looked around in a paranoid manner and ushered Mr. Male Model inside. Something about it struck me as weird.

“What store is that?” I asked my friends.

“I’m not too sure,” Marie said, and she closed her eyes to think. “I’m pretty sure it used to be an antique store, but from what I remember, it closed last year. I thought it was empty.”

“Yea! It was an antique store!” Laney exclaimed. “I went there with my mom a few years ago. I remember because that was when she was going through that phase of collecting antique broaches.”

“I wonder what they’re doing in there then.” I looked at the empty spot in front of the store where the two men had stood. “Want me to drive you to your car when we‘re done?” I asked Laney. She did, and soon we were on our way back to my house.

***

Marie and Laney left around ten the next morning. I took my time eating breakfast and getting dressed for the barn. Laney had Annabelle duty today, so I told her that I would take care of Abra. Leslie was out of town at a weekend long show, which meant I didn’t have a lesson today. I exercised Neptune and Abra, gave them a quick brushing and put them out in the pasture. I was feeling lazy when I brought Mystery in. I slowly brushed him while I mentally debated if I should take the time to saddle up and ride or just jump on bareback. Ramona was in the tack room cleaning out her locker, and getting my saddle meant having to deal with her, so I decided to go with riding without it. I tied Mystery’s lead rope to his halter and used that as make-shift reins. I jumped on and headed in the direction of the trails.

                                                                                                                                               
The sun filtered through the leaves creating a checkered pattern of light and dark in the forest. Birds chirped loudly and a slight breeze made today an outdoor lover’s dream. I was thinking about nothing in particular when a rustling in the underbrush made Mystery pace nervously. I pulled on the lead rope to tell him to settle down but he didn’t respond. I tugged harder, getting annoyed at him for ignoring me. He suddenly stopped and refused to take another step.

 
“What are you doing?” I asked as I nudged his sides with my legs. A branch snapped. Something was moving towards us. Mystery’s ears flickered wildly back and forth. To my left, I could see an outline of what looked like a dog trotting towards us. “Relax boy, it’s just a dog,” I told him.

Mystery pawed at the ground. He danced anxiously forward and I had to really pull back on the lead rope to keep him from bolting. With an incredible leap, the dog landed right next to us. It was a dog alright, but not a normal one.

 
It resembled an Alaskan Husky in its build and coat color, but its ugly face was flat and almost human like, with a huge bloody gash going diagonally down from its right eye to its left cheek. Its legs ended with distorted paws that had fingerlike toes with very long claws. A low, grumbling growl escaped from its mouth, showing its razor sharp teeth.

Mystery reared up and struck out at the creature. My reactions were paralyzed in my shocked state. I felt myself sliding backwards and I remembered the lead rope slipping through my numb hands. At the last minute I tried to regain my balance, but it failed and I twisted as I landed, with my hip hitting the hard ground first and my head second, right against a large rock. Pain immediately struck and I felt a little dizzy. The thing moved closer and closer to me. Not three inches away from my face it stopped growling and sniffed me. I pulled myself backwards, desperately searching for something to defend myself with.

My fingers closed on the same rock that had done me damage and thinking of my own survival, I planned on smashing that thing in the head as hard as I could. I would have to go to plan B though, because the rock was buried deep in the ground and didn’t even budge when I tried to pull it up. The thing hunched down and got ready to lunge.

I never heard his hoof beats but suddenly Mystery was standing next to me. The creature barely even looked up at him before Mystery’s hooves came crashing down on it. But instead of being crushed, it disappeared. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and scrambled to my feet. I grabbed onto Mystery for support; I was shaking now. Somehow I managed to pull myself onto him. With no need of direction from me, we galloped all the way back to the barn.

Chapter 3 Bad Company

I awkwardly slid off Mystery and walked into the barn. My hands were shaking.

“Ohmigod!” Amanda shouted. “Anora, what happened?”

I suddenly became aware that I must be bleeding. I put my hand to my head, wincing at the pain. I recalled hearing Mom say that head wounds bleed a lot. I definitely can attest to that.

“We were riding and Mystery…something spooked him and I fell.”

I took a step forward but felt dizzy again. I staggered. Amanda took Mystery and was back in a heartbeat and put am arm around me. I must have looked like I was going to faint. I pointed to Mystery’s stall and she led me over there. I sank down heavily on a pile of uneaten hay. Amanda crouched down to my level.

“Are you ok?”

My head throbbed, blood was dripping in my eye-which isn’t very comfortable, by the way, and something had just tried to eat me. I was far from ok. It could be worse, though, right?

“I think so. I’m just really shook up.”

“I’m gonna call your mom.” She started to stand. I quickly reached up and grabbed her arm, startling her a bit.

“No! She will freak and never let me ride again!” I looked her straight in the eyes and pleaded nonverbally. She held my gaze for a few seconds before she looked down.

“Ok. I’ll call your brother instead. Do you have your phone? I don’t know his number.”

“Yea, it’s in my car. It’s unlocked.”

She jogged over to the grooming area and picked up a clean towel. “Hold this on your head.” She dashed out the door. I carefully pressed the towel to my head, afraid the pressure would hurt.

It did.

My mind was running a million miles an hour. What was that thing? Did I imagine it? No, Mystery was scared of it. So that means that he had to have seen it, so it had to be real. How did it just disappear? Maybe I really am going crazy. Why did it hesitate? It could have easily lunged for my throat while I was down. Was it going to come barging in and finish the job? I felt a little upset about my violent thoughts towards it too. I’ve heard that when your life is in danger, you become capable of things you never thought you were. Today was certainly turning out to be a learning experience for me.

I pulled the towel away to see the damage. The bleeding seemed to be slowing down. I put the towel back to the wound and winced once again at the added pressure. A big bruise was sure to form. Great, and I have a party to go to tonight. How was I going to explain this to people?

Amanda rushed back into the barn and helped me stand. Walking brought on more pain, and I remembered landing on my left hip. We walked into the bathroom and I closed the toilet lid and sat down. Horse people are used to doing first aid; horses get scraped and cut more easily than you’d think, and Amanda wasn’t bothered one bit by the blood. She pulled a first aid box down from the cabinet and handed me a thick piece of gauze with peroxide on it.

“This is gonna burn.” And boy, it did. The cut was deeper than I thought, but I insisted that I didn’t need stitches. A bit of dirt had gotten inside the wound on impact, and that was super fun to get out. After I was cleaned up and bandaged, I slowly walked back into Mystery’s stall. Amanda sat down next to me.

“Thank you,” I said as sincerely as I could.

“Of course.” She smiled ever so slightly.

“You can ride now. It looked like you were just about to.”

“I can wait.”

“Really, it’s ok. You did all you can. Harry should be here soon.”

She stood up. “Do you want Mystery? He can stay in Allie’s stall or I can put him out for you.”

I didn’t want her to do anymore for me than she already had. I got up, my hip feeling stiff already. Walking would do me some good. “I can get him.” Before she could object, I was leading him out to the pasture. I stood by the gate and looked around. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The birds were chirping loudly and the horses were grazing as if no danger existed. Was it safe to leave them out? Should I warn Amanda, tell her to go home or find something to defend herself with? Surely she would think I was crazy. And how do you defend yourself from a vanishing, monster dog? It would probably poof away before anything sharp and pointy even made contact.

I sat back down in Mystery’s stall and waited for what seemed like very long time before Harrison burst through the door.

“Jesus Annie!” he said when he saw me.

I didn’t think I looked that bad but when I reached up to check the bandage on my head, my fingers got wet with blood. I guess it hadn’t clotted after all. Harrison put both hands on my shoulders and put his head close to mine, examining me.

 
“I think you should go see Mom.”

“No. You know how she is. I’m not going.”

He carefully pulled off the bandage. “I think you need stitches. This is deep.”

“And how would you know?”

“I’ve seen plenty of guys get hurt on the field and have to go get stitches.”

“Well I guess I’m tougher than any football player because I’m not going to the hospital. Just get me some of those butterfly Band-Aids or whatever they’re called. I’ll be fine.”

“Ok. There’s no point in begging you; you’re just as stubborn as I am. And I won’t tell Mom.” I hadn’t asked him not to, but he knew I wouldn’t want him to. “I’m going to take you home at least, ok? You might have a concussion or something and probably shouldn’t drive.”

He helped me up and thanked Amanda for taking care of me. Her face turned very red when he talked to her. I didn’t think Amanda talked to boys very often.

“Thanks, Harry.”

“Just don’t do it again.” He half smiled and I realized how tired he looked. I bet he wanted to go back to bed. I completely forgot that Harrison was out again last night. As I looked at him I saw that his normally striking blue eyes were red and blue circles were under them. I also didn’t notice until now that he was still wearing his pajama pants. He must have jumped out of bed and rushed over here. I felt a wave of fondness towards my brother.