Resolutions Part 1

Chapter 4

"Amy, can I come in?"

Silence

"Amy, are you in there?"

Silence

"What is it Lou?"

"I just want to talk; to see how you are."

"Can I come in?"

Silence

"Amy, please I just.."

"Alright, you can come in," interrupted Amy.

Warily opening the door, Lou inched cautiously into Amy's room. An unnerving darkness and sense of foreboding saturated her sister's old room intensified by the drawn shades and absence of light. Searching the shadows, Lou didn't initially detect Amy until a faint sound caught her attention in the corner of the room between the bed and the wall. There, her younger sister sat huddled in the corner with her head in her hands as haunting sobs escaped from her lips and racked her petite body.

Something's wrong with her…very wrong.

Lou carefully approached, hesitated a moment, then knelt in front of her clearly grief stricken sister.

"Amy, I'm so sorry about Spartan."

"What happened to him?"

"I…I just can't believe it Amy."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Lou, why…why?"

Unsure of her sisters meaning, Lou inquired, "Why what Amy?"

"Why… why would Ty kill Spartan?" an agonized Amy replied as she raised her head to look at Lou for the first time.

Lou was immediately startled by Amy's appearance. Her hair was disheveled; her face was drawn; but it was her eyes that scared Lou. They were like distant, vacant orbs, void of their usual spark and life. If Lou didn't know better, she would swear someone who merely resembled Amy was sitting in front of her.

"Amy, why would you say Ty killed Spartan? Ty would never hurt him."

"But he did Lou," Amy exclaimed defiantly; her voice rising to a near fever pitch. "He gave Spartan a shot saying it would help him and instead, it killed him. How could he be so reckless? He's a vet. They are supposed to know about such things! He knew how much I loved that horse and yet he killed him."

Amy's last few words spewed out with a tinge of venom that further frightened Lou.

What's happened to my sister?

Something's come over her!

I've never seen her like this.

She loves Ty.

She knows he would never intentionally harm Spartan.

Something's wrong with her…very wrong.

Instinctively, Lou sensed she needed to tread lightly with Amy in her apparent fragile, emotional state.

Now's not the time to press her. She's too irrational. Wait til she's calmed down and regained her senses.

Diverting the subject purposely away from Ty, Lou asked, "Amy, now might not be the best time but we need to make arrangements to have Spartan removed from the barn. Do you want me to take care of it?"

NO! No one gets near or touches Spartan but me!

"Ok, ok Lou replied. Would you like me help you though?"

Amy paused in thought for a moment. "Alright, you can help but not Ty or Grandpa."

"Grandpa! Why not Grandpa," Lou asked perplexed?

"Because he defended Ty saying he wasn't to blame. I don't understand how he could say that? Spartan would have been fine if it wasn't for the shot Ty gave him. I know he would have been. The one person in the entire world I trusted most betrayed me. How could Ty have done that?

Her eyes now fully acclimated to the dim light, Lou observed her sister's tear lined face noting again the change in her sister and grew more concerned with Amy's behavior by the minute.

Where is this coming from?

Something's wrong with her…very wrong.

"I don't know Amy; I'm sure it was an accident."

"Are you trying to defend him too?"

"No, no; I'm sorry Amy. I just want to help you."

"Lou, what am I going to do?" Amy cried in anguish. Spartan was my last connect with mom. She died saving him. Spartan was her final gift to me. I think she knew she was going to die. And now Ty has taken him from me. Maybe mom was wrong about him?"

Startled by Amy's comment about her mom knowing she was going to die, Lou instinctively knew now was not the time to attempt to reason with her distraught sister. Not knowing what else to do, Lou reached for Amy and wrapped her in her arms. "Amy, I'm so, so sorry."

For what like seemed liked minutes, Lou held Amy in silence as Amy sobbed uncontrollably while simultaneously banging the wall with her clenched fist in apparent anger.

Something's wrong with her…very wrong.