Twice Freed 6-8 It is midnight, the house is quite except for the occasional crunch of a wrapper as I stuff granola bars in my backpack. I put the last thing, my diary, into my bag, swung it onto my shoulder and turned to face the window. I crept on silent bare feet towards it, grabbed the bolt and unlatched it, slid the window open and placed one foot on the cool roof. Suddenly, I turned around wondering if I should really leave, a warm bed to sleep in at night, food and shelter, once I ran away, none of those things would be guaranteed. But then I thought of Casey, my elegant Morgan mare who was patiently waiting for me by the willow tree where I had tied her earlier that night. In other places I would have never left her tied especially at night Where she would be easy prey for a mountain lion or other wild animals. But here the most ferocious animals were the geese that swam in the nearby lakes. Casey was a good horse she never bit, kicked or threw her riders. But she had an awful habit of running away to neighboring farms and, not being a very good jumper, often knocked down fences, Which in turn let cows out of their pastures. Once out, they would stray to the roads where they were soon killed by oncoming traffic. My father and mother knew they would soon be sued for this, so they decided to get rid of Her, and since no one would want such a trouble maker, they decided to sell her to the slaughter house. When I heard about their plans, I made up my mind to do the one thing I could do, run away with her. So I swung my other leg out the window and jumped off the roof into a huge mound of hay. I ran towards the willow tree with the wind pushing my long black hair behind my frightened and Excited face. Once I reached Casey I slipped on my brown boots, tightened the girth strap that went under her belly and was attached to the sides of the saddle, and climbed into the saddle. A warm summer breeze bid us farewell and we were off. We rode on for most of the night, then, about a hour before dawn we stopped for a rest, we were both sound asleep within five minutes. The sun was high in the sky by the time I awoke, Casey was already awake and was gingerly pulling up the grass As she grazed. I yawned and unrolled myself from the warm blankets I had slept in, stood up and stretched then walked over to Casey and gave her a pat on the neck. I turned my head to check out my surroundings for I could hardly see a thing the night before in the dark. There were evergreen trees everywhere. Birds chirped and frogs Croaked all around us. It was all so peaceful it made me want to stay. But I knew we would soon be found and Casey would be hauled off to the slaughter house. “Well, Casey its about time we started on our way.” I said, more to myself than to Casey. I gathered up the blankets and put them in my Backpack, mounted and rode off into the woods. It wasn’t long before we came to a fence bordering an old, deserted Farmyard. The fence wasn’t high so I knew Casey Would have no problems jumping it. We rode over to it Then I gave her a little squeeze with my thighs and over we Flew, but just before we took of, half of the barn collapsed. The sound frightened poor Casey out of her mind. She pranced and reared on the other side of the fence. It took me a few minutes to calm her down. In that time, dark clouds had been forming overhead, seconds later it started pouring down rain. We took shelter in the large shed that was luckily stronger than the barn. I took the saddle and bridle off of Casey and covered her in a blanket and wrapped myself in the other, laid down on the dirt floor, using Casey’s saddle as a pillow, and fell fast asleep. I was soon awakened by voices calling my name. “Taylor! Taylor!” I quickly recognized the voices as my parents and froze in fear. If they found Casey and I, we would both be taken home and Casey would be hauled off to the slaughter House. “Casey! Casey!” the voices called out again, but this time to my horse. Upon hearing her name, Casey let out a shrill whinny. I knew this was the end. There’s no way they could have missed that happy greeting from my horse. “Amber, did you hear that?” my father called to my Mother. “Ya, I think it came from that shed over there.” she yelled back to him. My mother was the first to the Shed. Our eyes locked on each other for a moment, tears welling up in hers and fear showing in mine. My father appeared just seconds after my mother. “Taylor!” My father yelled as he dropped on his knees to hug me. “Why did you leave?” he asked. My only answer was a long, loving look at Casey. “How did you know?” my mother Questioned, tears streaming down her face. “I-I heard you and D-Dad talking about it, in the living room the other day” I stammered. “Oh, honey, you know we didn’t want to, but money is so tight these days, we have no other option” my father Reasoned. oh why did they find me? How did they find Me? I thought to myself. But it didn’t matter, they had found me, and now Casey was doomed. Two days later, back home, I watched Casey in her Paddock, Peacefully grazing. Suddenly, without warning, Casey galloped towards the fence bordering the field. I knew what she was doing, she was going to jump it. I knew this would probably be her last jump so I wanted to watch. But just before she was about to take off, she suddenly stopped. She snorted as she showed the whites of her eyes as horses do when there scared. I wondered what had scared her. But then it came to me in a flash. The barn! Of course! Casey had been jumping over a fence when it had collapsed and scared her. She must relate jumping with being scared. She was afraid to jump! “Dad! Dad!” I called as I ran towards the barn where my father was caring for the other horses. “What! What’s wrong?!” he answered in a confused voice. “It’s Casey, she’s afraid to jump the fence!” I answered “What? Why?” he asked in an even more confused voice. After I had explained he smiled and nodded. “I see, so I suppose your expecting me to say you can keep her.” He said with a grin on his face. “Oh please can I?” I begged. “Well, I suppose. As long as she doesn’t start jumping the fences again.” he smiled. She never did. THE END