Savannah's Fate [short story]

Chapter 12: The Setup

Chapter 12:

Elijah shook his brother's shoulders. "Wake up!" he prodded.

Cole groaned and opened his eyes to see his little brother right in his face.

"Lijah..."

"It's time to go to The Strip. We need to find the horses, Cole!"

Cole sighed and sat up, blinking his eyes. He looked towards the dark window. "It's barely sunrise yet, Lije."

"That's right, it gives us just a enough time to get things packed for eating before we head out," Elijah answered.

Cole shook his head, letting out a breath. He smiled. "Alright, but we need to make a deal right off."

Elijah nodded his head. "Okay."

"You head to the left, and I'll head to the right," Cole said. "I know what always Pa says about splitting up, but it'll work better that way. You make sure to stay on your end and search every little spot. Got it?"

He smiled. "Sure, Cole!" His grin widened. "You really trust me to be alone?"

"Course I do! You're almost a man, so a little independence can't hurt any. How about you go get some breakfast that we can take with us?"

"Sure thing!"

Elijah ran out of the room, leaving Cole to get dressed. He felt kinda bad for lying to Elijah, but Lije did need some independence. Elijah was also one of the worst at keeping secrets, so there is no way he could tell him about Savannah.

Savannah.

Cole smiled at the thought of her. She would be waiting for him holding that book and petting those horses. He could see her now with her flowing brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, and devastating smile.
He dressed more quickly than before. After that, Cole raced down the stairs to find Elijah with a sack of food.

"You ready?"

"Yep," Elijah answered.

With that, they headed out the door. The sun was barely peaking over the horizon, but it gave them just enough light to see by. Each of them saddled their horses and went riding off towards The Strip.

"So, Cole, why are we really going out here?" Elijah asked from behind.

Cole almost halted his horse in shock. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you hid before that there were horses missing, which means you already looked for them yesterday. So what're we doing?"

"We're looking for the horses."

"Ah, come on, Cole," Elijah prodded.

"I'm serious. Don't be fooling around," he ordered. "This is very serious."

He heard Elijah sigh. "Fine, fine. I'll do what you say, but still."

Cole swallowed. He'd have to be watching out for his little brother.

{-}

The Strip came into view in all its glory; with grass as green as ever, trees guarding the property, and flowers sprinkled throughout.

He smiled. It couldn't get much prettier, aside from Savannah brightening the place up.

"Cole?"

Cole turned to Elijah. "Uh, you head your way, I'll head mine. I'm trusting you, alright?"

"Yes, I know. I won't dissapoint."

Elijah rode off, and Cole rode in the opposite way.

His grin widened as he kicked his horse to go faster. He was so excited to see her, and so close to coming into view of the oak tree.