The Rabid

Chapter 1

I've been editing and working on this, and I've started to redo parts (like the title).  Please critique (but don't be too mean).  Vote, comment, and share if you like it :)

This was it. This is what she needed. All the moving, all the confusion, and all the searching had not been in vain. Of course, it was nothing she could control. She had no say whatsoever in the direction her life took, but in the end, she had no complaints. None. At least not right now.This was it. The escape. The freedom. The nothingness.

Here no one asks the 14 year old her opinion. Here, right now, in this moment, no one is asking her to take sides or make the adult decisions. Not like the real world where they just expect her to get past all the pettiness of her teenage years in the blink of an eye so she can burden the weight of the world on her shoulders.

The sun was bright, but it barely touched her. The trees were so thick and dense that it closed in, enveloping her in a private sanctuary. The only light that escaped the clutches of the branches was a few streaks here and there, but they shined as bright as the star itself.When the trees finally released her, it was only to release her to another world. A world of rolling hills. Hills that would be mountains in other places, but only seemed to climb higher into the sky itself.

The wind howled in her ear, and the air chapped her lips. The feeling from her fingers had long since faded, but it did not matter because she simply did not care. She wanted to feel more. Not only feel more, but experience more. She pushed on harder and faster and when the response came, she smiled at the speed of the run. Not just any smile, but a crazed smile that led to a hysterical laugh. To run this fast seemed impossible, as if she was flying.

Running. Was that what she was doing? Is that what felt so good about the pure euphoria that burst from every fiber of her being? Whatever it was, she would take it and be grateful. Her parents nasty separation that eventually led to the agonizing divorce that came out of left field (said no one ever). The fights, the packing, the lawyers, and then, the move. Her mother wanted to be no where close to her former husband, and thought that halfway across the country would do it, but don't ask her that because she won't give you that answer. No matter the excuse, this was definitely worth it. Her mother seemed to be running from her troubles, bringing Annaleigh with her, and now what had she found salvation in as well, running?

Her face crinkled in thought, and her mouth turned down into a frown, in her reflection. In that moment of lost thought and concentration, her world started flying by, literally. So abruptly that a grunt escaped her lips, she felt her pelvis catch in the pommel of the saddle, and her legs slipped back while her momentum propelled her forward and to the left. She felt her shoulders graze the warm body that she was previously mounted upon and watched as the ground suddenly engulfed her vision, and then her face.

Annaleigh landed hard, so hard she rolled over the grass until the world righted itself and the sky appeared overhead. Annaleigh did not move, did not blink. One deep breath, followed by a second, before she allowed herself to rise, but only that happened very slowly.

Realizing she wasn't seriously injured, she knocked her helmet for luck, so thankful her family had burned it into her head that helmets were always a must, and proceeded to drift her eyes slightly to the side where she found her target.

"Dang it Joe!" she screamed slamming her hands on the green ground beside her, then getting to her feet and stumbling forward. She was so close to cursing at him right now, and she was sure that no one in their family would chastise her after being thrown the way she was. She stomped with a purpose, but not aggressively so as not to spook, the flea bitten grey that now seemed to lock eyes with her. His thoughtful and intelligent face seemed to follow her movement and was not the least bit started when she yanked the reins off the ground.

"What were you thinking you stupid horse? You could have killed me, you know that? Then where would you be? Mom would send you off to the glue factory in a second!" Annaleigh's voice pitch grew higher until she eventually ran out of breath.

With the reins in one hand, she unbuckled the black helmet and let it hang loosely at her side for a moment before tossing it onto her saddle and buckling it on a strap.

"There! It's just for a second, I promise. Can you manage not to throw that as well? Stupid horse."

She held the slightest bit of resentment in her voice, but she also knew Joe was a horse. Be it, one of the most amazing horses of all time, but still a horse. She had lost her concentration for a moment, and he had taken advantage of that. Still, stupid horse.

She gathered the reins and led him over to a log, and gingerly took a seat. With her helmet on the saddle, she wiped the sweat from her face and pushed the stress backwards out of her face with her hands.Her hands became matted with sweat and tangled in her long strands of hair that she had brushed from her face. She let out a frustrated sigh. No matter how tight she made the stupid ponytail her hair always escaped. Her dark ebony hair hung down past her shoulders covering her face. The thick hair framed her round face, and always masked her sky blue eyes, which now, stared straight ahead absorbing the beauty of the land. Her shoulders, already heavy with burden at the young age of 14, sagged as she held her head in her hands.

She hated that her parents had brought her to this moment and place in her life. Sure, she had seen it coming for years. The bickering when she was a toddler transformed into shouting and arguments as her elementary years ended, and then as she entered her pre-teens, it erupted into full out war. The trial separation, the new girlfriends for dad, and then the transition for her mother from house wife to single mom.

Where did that leave Annaleigh? She was left to raise herself from the start of junior high. In-between, the endless custody battles and visitations, she had to adjust to relying on herself. She had to make sure that she had plenty of lunch money for the week, or she had to pack it herself. All the documents at school were signed by her hand. She had to go grocery shopping for herself because her parents couldn't keep up with her likes and dislikes as she grew up. In fact, if you were to ask her dad, Annaleigh's favorite food was still macaroni and hot dog slices. But that wasn't the worst.

The worst, the absolute rock bottom, was when she had to be the adult and make the tough decision. She had to walk into the courtroom in the same dress she wore to her first school formal, take the stand, and make the hardest decision for her family: who did she choose to live with.

Annaleigh will never be able to purge the face of her father at that exact moment in time. She didn't mean to look in his direction, after the words fell from her mouth, but she couldn't help herself. His face was the portrait of hurt, betrayal, and humiliation; it only begged one question from her, why?

Annaleigh always knew the answer to this question, but prayed that her independence, her ability to walk between her two parents and sustain herself, would keep the custody battle away, and keep her from revealing the truth: she could not live without her mother. Through all the trials and tribulations, her mother was a rock, that never let Annaleigh get lost in this haze. Her mother was an independent soul that forgot herself in a young marriage, and was able to right herself again for her sake and her daughter. She worked in the day, and went to school at night, during the early stages of the divorce, so that when she re-emerged from her husband's shadow, she was a working mother that could provide comfortably for Annaleigh.

Annaleigh not only loved her mother, but respected her, and could never bear the thought of living away from her, especially knowing what her mother would have given to prevent Annaleigh from stepping into that courtroom. She could not be with her mom.

It wasn't as if her mother didn't have enough to run from. Annaleigh could totally see the cliche of, "a clean slate," she just didn't see how it was going to fix the past years, but maybe it wasn't supposed to. There was no fixing, or forgetting, there was just moving on.