In the eye of the Storm

Prologue

Run! That's the only thing I can think about. Run Catherina! Run like your life depends on it! And that does it. If I stop running now, I will die. They will find me, torturing me and in the end kill me. 'But then you could be with him again'. My conscious says. 'Why just don't stop running and let it just all happen?' I try to ignore the little voice and run even harder.

I hear nothing but my heart beat. My legs can't bear it anymore.

I risk my life by watching behind me. Nothing...

I stop running and I take in my surroundings. Trees is all I can see. On my right trees, on my left trees. Before me trees, behind me trees. I listen for everything that doesn't belong in a forest. But the only thing I hear are birds singing. Finally. If that man wouldn't kill me, I would've died of exhaustion. I look for the biggest tree and climb in it. After a good 15 minutes of trying, I am finally at the top. Nobody can see me. And that's what I want. I lean my back against the big tree and try to relax and for some weird reason my body manages it.

He's dead. That's all I can think. He's dead and he will never come back. You're alone now. I begin to cry. I can't stop it anymore. The tears are flowing uncontrollably. My only family I had is dead. The only person who cared for me.

I scream. It's probably not the best idea I ever heard since I'm being hunted by that vile man that killed him. But I don't care. I keep screaming till my voice cracks and refuses to give any sound. But I don't stop. I begin to kick and hit the tree.

Because of my anger I don't hear the creaking sound of the tree. Eventually I hear it, but it's already too late. The next thing I know is darkness.

I wake up by the sound of sniffling. I try to move, but I almost break down in tears again. My arm hurts so much. It's probably broken. I think. Wonderful.

Then I remember that I woke up by some sound. I look around me and I see what had woken me up. It's a horse. I remember seeing such breed of horse, it's a Frisian horse. Although he is very skinny I still recognise it as a beautiful gentle giant, a Frisian horse.

"Hey, don't be scared. I won't hurt you. Trust me. I am alone too." I stretch my arm to the horse. The horse looks thoughtful for a moment, but moves a few steps forward. "Trust me, I won't hurt you." It seems like he knows that I won't hurt him, because the next thing I know is that his nose against my hand palm.

"I won't harm you. My name is Catherina. Who are you?" I pause for a moment. Just so I don't say too much, I know I have to be gentle with horses. I've read that, so it must be true. "You don't look like you've got an owner because you're very skinny, but you're not wild either. Did you break out and ran away? Just like I did" The horse comes closer to me and licks my face with its huge tongue. I laugh. "Thank you man. I like you too. I didn't even know that horses do that." I say laughing. I try to stand straight and for some reason I manage to stand. My arm pounds and hurts very much. I have to find a solution for my arm. "Come on Catherina! You're a Snape, you can do this." I mutter to myself. When I say this to myself I think of what he always said to me; "Catherina you must never give up. There is always a solution, you only have to look harder if you can't find it immediately. A Snape never gives up."

I look down myself and see the belt I'm wearing down my middle. I grab it and put it around my neck. I put my broken arm through it. I look back down and see the horse again. "Are you going to accompany me or are you going again?" I ask to the horse. I begin to walk and look behind me, the horse walks behind me.

After what seems like an hour of walking I hear water flowing. When I hear that I discover that I need water. A lot of water. Even though my broken arm, I run as fast as I can to the sound.

When I find the small river, I let myself sink to the ground and put my hand in the water. I make a sort of cup form with my left not-broken hand and bring it to my mouth. I let the cool liquid run through my throat. After what seemed as drinking two to three bottles of water, I lay down on the ground. I feel the body of the horse lay next to me.

I sit back up and watch at the creature next to me. It's black and has beautiful black eyes, like charcoal. "You're beautiful, you know that?" I say to the horse. "Is it okay if I give you a name? What do you think of Jean?" I watch at the horse but he doesn't move. "Okay not Jean I get it. What do you think of Eddy? No, what about Hadley or Prince, Ben or maybe James?" still nothing. "Are you serious?! You are like him. He always needed that special thing; only that drink with that temperature. Damn, he was even specific about his food and shoes." He still looks at me, with those beautiful black eyes. Just how HE looks – looked. "I know it, what do you think of the nickname of him; Ölli?" Now the horse heaves his gigantic head. "Then Ölli it is." I say smiling.