Chapter 4 - It's Not Your Fault Part 1 (Set around 7x10, sequel to Chapter 1 - The Accident)

Ashley pats my back and I soon stop letting the tears flow down my cheeks. "It's okay Georgie. If you blame yourself for the accident, it wasn't your fault. I just got a call from Ty, and he said Amy was hurt by a horse, not you."

I turn to stare at Ashley. "But you don't understand! Ty could have gone with Amy to Hillhurst but I needed help at Heartland. So instead of having her fiance to go with her, she went by herself. So it was my fault that Amy went alone." I burst out. I'm dangerously close to crying again. I pull Katie into my lap and rest my head on hers. She stopped crying when I did, but that doesn't mean she won't start again.

Caleb got up from the couch and returned a few minutes later. "It's for you," He says, handing me the cordless phone. "Lou wants to talk to you."

I put my ear up to the phone. "Hello?"

"Georgie? Is that you?" Lou sounds tired and upset.

"Yeah. How's Amy?" I ask, dreading the answer. "Is she okay?"

"I'll tell you about it when I get home. I just wanted to see how it was going."

"Tell me. How is Amy?" I repeat.

"She's, um," Lou pauses and I hear a sob escape her lips. "She's not conscious."

I don't say anything. Amy being hurt is my fault and no one else's. Why had I needed Ty to stay back with me? Couldn't I have used common sense and tell him to go with Amy?

"Georgie?" Lou sounds worried for me now. I'm not responding to what she told me, but what would I say? Sorry for letting Amy go alone to get kicked by a horse? Sorry that your sister, my aunt, Ty's fiance, Grandpa's daughter, Jack's granddaughter, could never wake up again? Yeah, no. So instead, I do the only thing I've ever known at times when I can't seem to shake my feelings. I run.

I bolt out the screen door and run to the barn. Realizing the phone is still in my hand and that Lou's still on the line, I throw it as hard as I can at the tack wall. I hear it shatter against the floor into millions of little pieces, but I don't care. Phoenix's tack in my hands, I quickly walk over to his stall and put on his saddle and blankets. Caleb runs into the barn just as I'm jumping onto Phoenix. "Georgie, no!" He tries to grab Phoenix's reins, but I whip them away and dig my heels into my horse's sides. Phoenix gallops out of the barn and we canter through the back paddock. I don't look back and keep Phoenix at a hard pace until we reach Ty's trailer. Then I slow to a walk and we keep going into the woods. Lou must be worried about me, I think. I basically hung up on her, more or less. Caleb is probably out searching for me already. I don't want to be found though, not yet. So I jump off Phoenix and tie him to a tree near a brook. Then I lean against a tree and close my eyes, hoping to sleep away the problems. But it's not working. And before I know it, I've being shaken awake by my mom.

"Oh honey." Lou pulls me into a hug. I wrap my arms around her and Lou holds me tight for as long as I need. When I finally break away, I see that only Lou's here, ands so is Spartan. "Georgie?" Lou makes me look at her. "Never run away like that again, okay? You had us all worried." She hugs me again and then pulls me to my feet.

"Is Amy awake yet?" My feelings and who to blame haven't changed, but the fact that Lou is not blaming me, is a start.

"No, honey. Ty is still at the hospital but Jack and Grandpa are home."

I climb back onto Phoenix and Lou gets on Spartan. "Can we not talk about the accident? Please?"

"Sure, but we will have to later. Ty asked us to bring some stuff over later, so I'm going to do that. Caleb and Ashley left a little while ago to grab Ty some groceries and such. C'mon, let's go home." Lou picked up a light canter and I followed behind her the whole way to Heartland. We left the horses in their stalls and then went to the house. I went straight to my room, but Katie was there taking a nap, so I decided to grab some breakfast. As I was taking some orange juice out of the fridge, Lou's cell phone rang. The cordless phone was in pieces on the counter and I swallowed guiltily. But before I could pick up Lou's phone, Jack walked into the kitchen.

He said a quick hello, before picking up the phone and answering, "Hello?"

The person on the other end must have been a doctor or nurse because Jack quickly hung up and grabbed his coat. "I'll be back soon Georgie. Amy's awake and there's something going on at the hospital. You'll be fine here, right? Lou is at the Ty's trailer and Tim went back to Big River. Katie just went down for a nap." Jack gives me a hug and then leaves. I'm left with that same feeling from before. It's all my fault.