I can't believe it. I just can't believe they would do something like this. Especially Angela. Allie paused with her pen still poised above the pages of her journal. She'd already filled up two pages, but suddenly, Allie didn't feel like writing anymore. Suddenly, all Allie wanted to do was get out.
Snapping her journal shut, Allie tossed it onto her bed and walked out of the room. She jogged down the stairs and went into the kitchen, where Nathan was sitting at the table, no longer in uniform, looking over some paperwork.
"Hey, kiddo," he said, looking up as she entered the room. "How are you doing?" Allie had told him all about her day as soon as she had stepped foot through the doorway.
Allie shrugged. "Fine, I guess," she muttered. "Can I go for a ride?" she asked then, leaning her elbows on the back of one of the dining room chairs.
"Sure, kiddo," her dad answered, his eyes softening. "You can take Newton."
"Thanks, Dad." Allie managed a small smile, even though she didn't feel all that cheerful. Allie headed to the door and grabbed her light gray coat that was hanging on one of the hooks.
"Just be home in time for dinner," Nathan said.
"I will," Allie promised. Then, she opened the door. "Love you!" she called.
"Love you too!" At that, Allie couldn't help turning back and smiling at her dad one more time before shutting the door behind her.
The weather was crisp, but not too cold and there was a nice breeze that whipped through Allie's hair. The smell of fresh rain made it feel like fall.
As Allie walked towards the stables, she let her mind wander. Today had started out like any other school day, but as soon as Allie had stepped foot inside the schoolhouse, it had just gone downhill from there.
Angela, Opal, and Emily had already been inside, standing close and whispering to each other. They were so engrossed with their conversation that they didn't even notice Allie walking up the aisle towards them.
"It was so much fun," Opal was saying, when Allie got close enough to hear. "We should do it again."
"We have to," Emily added. "And soon. Maybe tomorrow after school?" Angela and Opal both nodded.
"Can you ask your mom if we can come over to your house again, Angela?" Opal asked.
"I'll ask her, but I'm sure it will be fine," Angela replied.
"But we can't let Allie find out!" Opal whispered and then the three of them giggled together. Allie just froze and her heart sank to her shoes. At that moment, Opal happened to turn around and her gaze widened as soon as she saw Allie standing there. Opal reflexively nudged both Emily and Angela, and when Emily turned around, her expression immediately mirrored Opal's.
"Hey Allie," Emily said then, as she seemed to force a smile onto her face. Now, Angela looked extremely uncomfortable. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but at that moment, Mrs. Thornton asked everyone to take their seats. Allie quickly slid into the nearest vacant seat next to Timmy and Toby while Angela, Emily, and Opal sat together across the aisle. Angela still looked as if she wanted to say something, but Allie just stared straight ahead.
Her mind was spinning. Are they hanging out without me? Why? What did I do? What is wrong with me? How could they do this? She couldn't seem to stop the thoughts from coming and suddenly, all she wanted to do was get away. But she couldn't. Not yet anyway.
Allie let out a sigh as she headed inside the livery and towards Newton's stall. It hurt that her friends would exclude her like that and even after racking her brain for hours, Allie still couldn't conger up a reason why! But the worst part of it all was that Angela seemed to know all about it.
"I thought she was my best friend," Allie whispered to Newton as she slowly ran her hand down his snout. "How could she do something like this?" A single tear trailed down Allie's cheek and she let out a frustrated moan as she roughly wiped it away. I am so not crying about this!
"Alright. That's enough of that," she muttered. "I'm starting to sound like my dad, talking to Newton." Allie opened the stall and stepped inside. "Let's do this, Newt." In a matter of minutes, Allie had Newton saddled and was riding out of the livery. Instinctively, Allie turned Newton in the direction of the ridge where the pines form a V. She had only been up there twice, both times with her dad. Once after his Mountie inquiry and once last year, after she had returned from her ill-fated trip to Grandville. It held a special significance for Allie. Whenever Dad took her up there, they usually talked about Mom. Going up there made Allie feel closer to her dad and her mom, all at once. Plus, it was just so peaceful.
"And I could sure use some peace right now," Allie said to Newton, as much as to herself. "C'mon boy." As soon as they were off the road, Allie spurred Newton faster and the loyal horse easily obliged. The pair tore across the grass and cleared the tree line in a matter of minutes.
"Faster boy!" Allie urged Newton faster. Newton, being the skilled horse that he was, didn't have any trouble speeding up to a faster pace. But as Allie rode, she couldn't help replaying the memory of her fateful morning. Again and again.
She just wanted to know why.
It took a second for Allie to realize that she was going too fast. Had her father been the one riding Newton, it probably wouldn't have mattered, but while Allie was a good rider, she wasn't that experienced. Allie pulled on the reins and tried to slow Newton down, but his momentum prevented him from easing up.
"Slow down, boy!" Allie yelled now, still pulling on the reins with all her might. They were out of control and Allie knew it. But she couldn't do anything about it. "Newton!" Allie screamed as a tree zoomed closer and closer. We are going to crash! At what seemed like the last possible second, Newton swerved to the left, just narrowly missing the tree. But his sudden movement threw Allie off balance.
"No!" she shouted, but it was no use. Allie felt her body pitch to the left as the reins slipped from her hands. And then she was falling.
Suddenly, everything started moving in slow motion. Allie heard herself scream. The ground was getting closer, closer, closer until- Allie's body slammed into the dirt and pain immediately erupted up her left arm. The pain was intense, like nothing Allie had ever felt before.
Her heart was pounding and her arm ached, but Allie couldn't help feeling thankful for the solid ground beneath her. But when she finally managed to lift her head, what she saw made her heart drop.
"No!" she yelled, as she watched Newton's retreating form. "No, Newton!" she cried out. Now, tears were streaming down her face. "Don't leave me!" Allie dropped her head, her hair sticking to her wet cheeks. "Don't leave me," she whispered, but there was no one around to hear. She was completely and utterly alone.
Nathan was almost done cooking dinner when he realized that he had forgotten to buy bread at the cafe. He was making spaghetti tonight and it was a tradition with him and Allie to have fresh bread on the side. They both agreed that Minnie's was the best.
After leaving a note for Allie in case she happened to be home before he was, Nathan grabbed his brown coat, shrugged it on, and then started walking to town. The sun was just starting to dip down in the sky and the clouds were beginning to turn a brilliant orange. Nathan let out a contented sigh. It had been a while since he had felt this carefree. Right now, he didn't have anything to worry about. He was finally getting to court the woman of his dreams, who also happened to have an amazing son, and Nathan had the best daughter he could ever wish for. He couldn't think of anything else he could possibly want or need. And he didn't even want to consider what could possibly interrupt his perfect reality.
As soon as Nathan rounded the corner into town, he heard his name.
"Nathan!" He was already smiling by the time he turned around. He'd know that voice anywhere.
"Elizabeth," he said, bending down to give her a kiss on the cheek when she got close enough. "I was just thinking about you," he told her once he straightened.
"Oh really?" Elizabeth's lips lifted into a smile and her eyes twinkled. "May I inquire after your thoughts, Constable?"
"Well." Nathan pretended to think about it. "I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you. And Allie and Little Jack." He reached out to gently take both of her hands in his. Elizabeth looked down at their hands for a second before turning her shining blue eyes to meet his.
"I couldn't agree more," she replied, giving his hands a squeeze. The two of them could have just stayed there, staring into each other's baby blues for hours, but a car horn suddenly shattered the moment and reminded them that they were standing in the middle of the road.
"What are you doing in town?" Elizabeth asked Nathan, once they had moved off the street. They started walking through town hand in hand.
"I forgot to get bread from the cafe today," he answered. "Allie and I are having spaghetti."
"Sounds yummy! Speaking of Allie," Elizabeth said. "Is she OK? She was really quiet at school today, but she left before I had time to ask her about it." Nathan sighed as his heart went out to his daughter. He stopped walking and turned around to face Elizabeth.
"Something happened at school this morning," he finally said. When Elizabeth's face immediately filled with concern, Nathan felt his heart expand with love for the woman standing in front of him. "Allie overheard Emily, Opal, and Angela talking about…" Nathan's voice trailed off as he caught sight of something over Elizabeth's shoulder.
"Nathan?" He jerked his gaze back to find Elizabeth watching him with a confused expression on her face. "What is it?" Nathan glanced back over Elizabeth's shoulder again. There was something in the distance coming from the direction of the woods. It seemed to be getting closer and at a fast rate of speed.
"Hold on a minute." Nathan stepped away from Elizabeth for a second and squinted, trying to get a better look. It was too big to be a person, but it wasn't the right shape to be a car or wagon. It almost looks like a horse, Nathan thought to himself as the blur got progressively closer and gradually became sharper. It almost looks like…
"Oh, no." Now, Nathan started jogging.
"Nathan!" Elizabeth called after him, but Nathan didn't stop. Instead, he picked up the pace. It wasn't until he got to the edge of the road that he finally let himself believe that his worst fear had come to life.
"Nathan!" Suddenly, Elizabeth was beside him. "What-" She didn't finish her thought as her eyes caught sight of the animal coming towards them. "Is that Newton?" Nathan didn't even bother to answer. Instead, he took a few steps forward to intercept his horse before Newton ran straight onto the road.
"Woah, boy," Nathan said, reaching for the reins. Hearing his voice, Newton slowed and Nathan was able to grab onto him. No, no, no. Newton's saddle was empty.
"Nathan, what's going on?" Now, Elizabeth sounded scared. "Why is Newton here?"
"Allie," was all Nathan was able to say.
"Allie?" Elizabeth repeated. "What do you mean?" Nathan's vision tunneled. The saddle was empty. Newton was here alone. Where was Allie? Had something happened? Was she OK? She had to be OK. He couldn't let anything happen to her.
"Nathan!" Elizabeth's voice broke through his thoughts and his vision suddenly expanded. "Are you OK?" She spoke slowly and it took Nathan a second to realize that Elizabeth had taken the reins from his hand and was now running a hand down Newton's side, trying to calm the agitated horse.
"It's Allie," Nathan managed to reply, his Mountie instincts kicking in. "She took Newton for a ride, but something must have gone wrong. She was upset about what happened at school today. I thought going for a ride would help her clear her head, but maybe she wasn't paying attention and something happened."
"Do you know where she went?" Elizabeth asked urgently.
"No." Nathan shivered. Why hadn't he asked her before she left? "I have no idea. She didn't tell me-"
"She didn't tell you what?" Elizabeth prompted, when Nathan abruptly stopped talking.
"I know where she is." It was as if Nathan hadn't even heard what Elizabeth had just said. "I know where she is," he repeated. "We have to go!" He took the reins from Elizabeth's hands and rushed over to Newton's side.
"Wait! Where is she?" Elizabeth questioned, hurrying after him.
"She's at the ridge. Where the pines form a 'V'," Nathan responded. He swung up onto Newton's back in one swift motion. "I'll explain on the way. Where's Little Jack?"
"He's with Rosemary," Elizabeth answered. "I can ask her to watch him until we get back," she added, reading Nathan's mind.
"OK. While you do that, I'll grab some stuff from home that we might need. Then, we can swing by the livery and get Sergeant." Now, Nathan held his hand out to Elizabeth. "Come on." Without even hesitating, Elizabeth reached up and grabbed onto Nathan and he easily swung her up. Once Elizabeth had wrapped her arms around his waist, Nathan squeezed his heels into Newton's side and the two took off away from town, both thinking the same thing; We have to find Allie.
Allie knew something was wrong with her arm. She wasn't sure if it was broken or just badly sprained, but one thing she did know was that it hurt. A lot. Allie slowly sat up and after making sure that she wasn't dizzy, she started to stand. She didn't get very far before her left ankle gave out and she collapsed back onto the ground.
"Great," Allie grumbled. So, not only was her arm messed up, she had hurt her ankle too. "There goes any chance of walking back to town," she muttered to herself. Even if her ankle wasn't broken, there was no way she could walk that far on it.
The ground was covered in mud, due to the recent rain, but Allie didn't have any other choice. She eventually was able to scoot over to a nearby tree and lean against it. It was a little more comfortable, but now mud covered her clothes.
Allie surveyed her arm, which she held tightly against her chest. Her dad had taught her enough first aid for her to know that she should try to create a makeshift sling. The problem was, she would have to tear off part of her skirt to make that happen, which was practically impossible to do with one arm. I guess I'll just have to keep it as still as possible, she thought, though it was far from ideal.
Allie let out a sigh. She was glad she wasn't more seriously injured, she knew a fall like that was extremely dangerous, but her situation was far from good. The sun was starting to set. It would be dark soon. Who knew what or who lurked in the dark shadows of the forest. Allie gulped. Don't think about that, she told herself. Just don't think about it.
She couldn't go anywhere. She'd just have to wait for someone to find her. Please Dad, she silently pleaded, squeezing her eyes shut. Please come find me.