Ok, ok guys you've got me! I've heard your pleas to upload and so I decided to put you guys out of your misery and upload another chapter today instead of making you guys wait a week (save your applause for later lol) I certainly was surprised this morning that in writing two chapters I've had 13 reviews! Thank you so much guys, it means a lot to me that you leave me feedback.

I have written for other fandoms before and I never received as much support as I am getting here. To be totally honest, I gave up writing a year back because I got so disappointed that no one read or reviewed my stories. The stories that got the most reviews were the ones where the main characters in the series were the mains of the fanfic and it just wasn't content I thought I should write. I'm thankful here though that you guys are OK with a story where it's not all about the main characters because for some crazy reason I always like older people as my fave characters (ie Jack and Lisa)

Anyway, I won't bore you any further with my honesty! I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's only about 2.5k words long but I think where I left it is quite good. I probably won't be able to upload again till next week sometime, so it's a good time for you all to excersise some patience lol! I'll leave your wondering minds in suspense as to what is going to happen!

Chapter 3

The girl looked like she was frozen, staring at him and Lisa, then she sprung into action.

'Let's go boy.' A hand grabbing his mane, she leapt onto his back and held on as he reared again. Frantically looking for a way out, she realised she was trapped. There was a six foot fence behind her, and two people in front of her. Looking around again as he reared and pawed the air, she made a split second decision. They would jump the fence. She knew the stallion would run over them if she gave him the command, but they hadn't done anything wrong. There was no need for people to get hurt. Digging her right heel into his flank, she lent down over his neck and hung on as he spun around like she had taught him. In three strides he was in a flat out gallop, then the fence loomed ahead. Suddenly, her courage faltered and she pulled him up at the last second, falling off his back as he hit the fence.

'Woah, woah, woah! We aren't going to hurt you.' Jack called out after the girl as she fell off the horse, watching as she rolled beneath its hooves. 'We aren't going to hurt you!'

'We just want to help honey.' Lisa added as she ran up to Jack, standing beside him as the girl got to her feet and jumped back up on the horse. 'You don't need to be scared.'

The girl wheeled her horse around again as she saw the two people walking closer up the alleyway. She was scared, she was terrified. The stallion under her was exploding as he reared and roared. She could barely stay on his back with the way he was acting. Again she turned him, trapped with nowhere to go. She looked back at the fence again. They had to jump it. She had to trust him to get her over it safely. There was no other way out.

The stallion reared again as she held onto his mane, her hands intertwined tightly through his hair then she kicked him forward in the flanks towards the two people. Going a few strides, she turned him like she did when she was after a runaway mustang and he spun on his hindquarters. Again the fence loomed in front of them, but this time they were going to jump it. They had to jump it. She didn't want innocent people to get hurt. A stride away now, she closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to watch. The stallion gathered his hooves underneath him, then leapt off on his powerful hindquarters as he tucked his forelegs underneath him. They soared over the fence, with inches to spare then came down on the other side. Gathering herself, she opened her eyes as he galloped down the road and out of the town.

Jack and Lisa looked at each other as the girl leapt the fence, then hurried after her. Opening the gate, they glanced down both roads at the end of the alleyway, but the girl was gone. There was no horse, and no girl. They were nowhere to be seen. They had vanished.

'What on earth is going on?' Maggie asked as she ran up to them, having heard the commotion going on from inside the diner. 'What happened?'

Jack turned to her as he shook his head in disbelief. 'A girl, riding a horse bareback just cleared this fence by miles and disappeared.'

'A girl?'

'She was going through the bins, looking for food.' Lisa motioned to the trash cans against the diner. 'Jack tried to talk to her, but her horse flipped out and she took off.' She turned back to Jack. 'I'd place five bucks that that girl was the one who took the feed last night.'

'There is no way a kid could jump a horse over that fence.' Maggie looked up at it, the wooden pickets were taller then she was and there was no space in the alleyway for a horse to get a run up for such a fence. 'It's impossible.'

'Well, she did, and she's gone again.' He glanced down the road, but there was definitely no horse or girl. It was like she had disappeared into thin air like a ghost. 'She came off the first time trying, then she managed to get back on and over the second time. It's like she was a ghost, the way she's just disappeared.'

'Do you think she was hurt?'

'I don't know.'

'Come look at this.' Lisa interrupted, looking at them from where she was kneeling next to where the girl had come off the horse. She held up her handkerchief, covered in blood. 'I think she's quite mortal.'

Jack raised his eyebrows as he saw the puddle of blood on the ground. There was a decent amount there, and he could guess that the girl had been injured. 'Well, she's obviously gotten herself hurt, but she's definitely gone by now. There's no way of finding her, and there wouldn't be any tracks on tarmac' He looked back down at the puddle of blood for a moment. 'Hopefully she's not hurt bad.'

'Did you get a look at her?' Maggie threw the garbage that had been dropped onto the sidewalk, then closed up the donation bin the girl had opened. 'Was she from around here?'

'I've never seen her before.' Lisa replied, shivering slightly as a cool wind from the north chilled her. 'She had brownish blonde hair, was a little shorter than me and she was really underweight. When she was looking at us, the light caught her eyes and I could see she was scared. Terrified, is more the correct word. She was utterly frantic.'

'Poor kid, scavenging through garbage bins.' She picked up one last plastic bag and threw it in the skip bin, then an idea came to mind. 'She would be on the surveillance footage. The camera monitors everything out here since that time the artwork got vandalized. Maybe we could get a better look at her and the police could use it to identify her.'

'It's worth a shot.' Jack agreed. 'We'll take a quick look at that, then we really need to get back to the ranch. Lisa still has to drive home yet.'

'Alright, we'll make it quick then.' Turning, she led them through the diner into the office and grabbed up the monitor. Finding the right file suited for the time frame, she clicked on it then nodded as she saw it was the correct one. 'Well, there she is.'

Lisa watched as the screen played the girl riding up to the bins, then the girl going through them. Her heart ached for the child, she looked so young. Too young to be on her own in a very harsh world. The horse though, he was something else. The clip replayed him rearing and charging at them, the girl trying to ride the horse over the fence the first time and failing then the second time and succeeding. 'Could we get a copy of that? Amy might have seen that horse somewhere. Maybe she could tell us who the girl is if she has seen the horse before.'

'Sure.' Maggie plugged a thumb drive into the computer, then transferred a copy of the video to it. 'Here.'

'Thanks.' She placed it in her pocket, then looked at Maggie and Jack. 'I don't think we should tell anyone about her yet. She came to Fairfield the other day, and Heartland last night to grab horse food. If she comes back, it might be better us trying to talk to her again rather then get the police involved right off the bat.'

'I highly doubt you'll get close enough to talk to her, but it's worth a shot.' Maggie shut the computer down and turned off the light in the office. 'I won't say anything.'

'Thanks Maggie.' Jack grabbed his keys out from his pocket, then placed his arm around Lisa. 'We better get going.'

'Yes. Night Maggie.'

'Night you two. Good luck.'

'We're going to need it.' Jack added under his breath as they walked out to the truck and got in. Turning the heater up, he took a look around the still streets. There was no sign of the girl, but it didn't hurt to look. 'Lisa, it's already too late for you to drive back home tonight so you might as well stay the night at Heartland. I can fix up a bed for you in the living room.'

'Well, on any other night I would say no.' Lisa yawned as she rested her head back on the head rest. 'But I don't think I'd be able to drive home. I'm barely able to keep my eyes open.'

'Alright, well you just rest back and let me do the driving.' He turned his indicator on as they stopped at the crossroads and he turned down the road towards home. It was starting to get foggy, the temperature dropping further as the night progressed. Looking out the window, he kept looking for the girl as he drove back home but not one sign of her did he see. Pulling up outside the house next to Lisa's car he turned off the engine then looked at the woman sleeping next to him. She looked so peaceful it was a shame to wake her. 'Lis, we're back.'

Lisa rubbed her eyes as Jack placed his hand on her shoulder. Yawning, she groaned as she woke up. 'I think it's a very good idea I'm not driving back to Fairfield tonight.' She yawned again, then glanced at her watch. It was almost eleven. 'Did you see the girl?'

'Not a sign.' He pulled the keys out of the ignition, then got out and operated her door for her. 'Come on, for once it's me telling you to get some rest.'

'I won't argue with you there.' She sleepingly followed him to the house, then saw Amy, Calab and Mallory around the coffee table, watching a movie on the TV. She glanced quickly at the clock. 'Mallory, don't you have school tomorrow?'

'Yeh, but we're waiting for the ghost.' She held up a monitor next to her, showing the inside of the barn. 'I know as soon as I go to bed, it's going to come.'

'Well, you can go to bed right now Mallory.' Jack sat down on the couch, then patted the seat beside him for Lisa to come over. 'I don't think your parents would be too happy knowing we let you stay up this late, and second, there is no ghost! Lisa and I both saw who stole the feed in town. Tonight.'

'Oh!' Mallory raised her eyebrows as Calab chuckled. 'Are you sure-'

'Yes Mallory. We even have a video of her.' Lisa pulled the thumb drive out of her pocket and handed it to Amy. 'She was on a black horse, going through the bins at Maggie's. We got the recording off Maggie's camera and I was wondering if you've seen the horse somewhere? You might know who it is, or if it's been stolen from someone.'

'I'll take a look.' She took the thumb drive from Lisa and plugged it into her laptop where she had been working on a school assignment. Mallory, breathing down her neck. 'Mallory, it's bedtime.'

'I want to watch it! Please Jack? Please?'

'Fine.' Jack gave in. 'But bed straight after.'

'Alright, alright.'

'Well, let's see what we have.' Amy clicked on the file and the video started to play, Calab going around the chair behind her to watch it. Concentrated on the stallion, she tried to remember if she had seen him before. The horse was standing there quietly as the girl started looking through the garbage, calm and relaxed. 'I don't think I've seen him before, but that's the calmest stallion I've ever seen.'

'Wait till Jack tries to talk to her.' Lisa scoffed. 'He went plumb crazy.'

'I can see that.' The horse was rearing and aggressive now as Jack tried to walk up to them. Watching the stallions movements, she tried to look at his eyes but the graphics quality wasn't the best and she couldn't be sure of what she was seeing. 'It's like he was protecting her. He's clearly comfortable with her before you walked into the picture but I think he viewed you as a threat to her.'

'That's the feeling I got from him.'

'He's a nice looking horse too. A bit of thoroughbred in him I'd say.' She watched as the child vaulted onto his back, then turned him to the fence behind them. 'Don't tell me she tries to jump him over that bareback.'

'Ah, yeh.' Mallory commented as the girl fell off, almost getting crushed under the horses hooves. 'That had to hurt.'

'I'd say.' Calab added. 'Wait, she's going again?'

'I don't believe it.' Her eyes widened as the horse jumped the fence with a five stride start and clear it with inches to spare. 'That's a six foot fence!'

'And by the time we got through the gate, there was no one there. She just disappeared into thin air.' Jack felt Lisa's head getting heavy on his shoulder and looked down to see her fast asleep. He put a finger to his lips as he whispered instead so he didn't wake her. 'I think it's time we all hit the hay. We can talk about all that tomorrow.'

'Ugh. Fine.' Mallory rolled her eyes as she got up and headed to bed. 'Night.'

'Night.' Finally. Peace and quiet away from her talking. 'You two should hit the hay too. You still have school tomorrow Amy.'

'I know.' She placed the laptop lid down and put it aside, then got up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 'Night Grandpa, night Calab.'

'Night Amy.' Calab replied, heading out of the house to the barn. 'I'll do the night check before I head on home.'

'Ugh, I completely forgot! Thank you!'

'No problem.'

Finally, the house was quiet. The glow from the fireplace was the only light in the room, Amy having turned them out on her way to bed. Jack looked at Lisa sleeping comfortably against him and smiled a little. She looked so cute and peaceful when she slept. There was no point trying to wake her again, she was dead to the world. Carefully so he didn't wake her up, he moved out from under her and laid her down on the couch then placed a blanket on top of her. 'Night, Lis.' He gently placed a kiss on her cheek, then headed off to his room.