Guardian Angel

Chapter Two

Dahlia stood in the middle of her new room with her suitcases. It was fairly large, definitely larger than her room in the apartment back at Manhattan. There was a bed in the corner with quilted covers and flowery patterns on them, a standard-sized oak desk and chair with a reading lamp, and large windows along two of the walls. 

They had gotten off the five-hour flight to the airport at around 3: 30, and then taken another hour to drive to the house. 

"Dahlia, Lily, dinner is in thirty minutes!" Her father yelled from downstairs.

Dahlia checked the time on her phone. Five-thirty.

"'Kay," she called back.

As she began to unpack her things, she wondered how she would pass the time from now on. She didn't think wandering around the countryside would be the same as in the city. She was in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do. Great.

••••••••••Time skip••••••••••    

Dahlia groaned and sat down heavily on the front porch. She was so bored. After dinner, her dad had kicked her out of the house for the time being and told her to spend some time outside while he unpacked. On top of that, he had taken her phone so she couldn't just stand around texting her friends. She wondered how he had known that that had been her exact plan for spending time outside. He had also said that she could go visit her grandparents, who were just across the dirt road from them.

She sighed and slowly began to walk to her grandparents' house.

••••••••••Time skip••••••••••

After ringing the doorbell, Dahlia looked around. Her dad told her that she'd only been here once or twice, as a toddler. Frankly, she couldn't remember anything about it except the horses. For some reason, she knew that they had always had horses, even though she couldn't remember any specific one - just the general idea of horses.

The door opened, but only slightly. Her grandmother stood there, and it seemed as though she was trying to hide something inside the house.

Dahlia smiled. "Hi, Grandma."

"Oh! Hello, Dahlia! We weren't expecting you..." She looked nervous.

Suddenly, she heard a crash from inside, and footsteps. Her grandfather appeared behind Grandma.

"Dahlia! It's good to see you. Do you need something? We're a little busy at the moment." he said.

"Oh - no, I'm okay, just bored." she answered.

"If you want, you can go see the horses out back," he said, "but please don't go into any of their stalls, since no one's with you."

"Oki-doki. Thanks, Grandpa, Grandma."

Grandma quickly shut the door, and Dahlia walked around the house to the barn, slid open the door, and stepped inside.

After the brightness outside, Dahlia had to take a moment and let her eyes adjust. Once they did, she noticed the smell. It obviously was the smell of horses and horse manure, but it didn't smell...bad, strangely enough. It didn't smell good, but it didn't bother her, either.

She began to walk along the stalls. she could hear nickering and shuffling on the far end of the barn, but the stalls near the door were empty. Finally, she slowed to a stop before the first horse she had ever seen in person for eleven or so years.

She was tall, and had a penny-colored and white coat. The sign on her stall said Sabrina, and she was at the far end of the stall. When she saw Dahlia, she nickered softly and walked over as if to say hello.

Dahlia knew she had seen a horse before, but this felt so new and fresh. The way Sabrina moved reminded her of a waterfall - calming, majestic, flowing and powerful. She reached her hand out slowly to her, and Sabrina pressed her velvet-soft nose against it. 

In that moment, Dahlia wasn't so sad about living here anymore. She wouldn't be bored or moping all the days she spent here, like she originally thought. There was something here that Manhattan could never give her, but she couldn't quite put it into words. It was... freedom. Beauty - but not human or manmade beauty - the beauty of nature. Peace. It was horses.

Okay... so that last sentence was pretty cheesy... but I have to say, that is pretty much how I feel about horses :)

Also, Sabrina is an actual horse that I know and ride. I consider her my favorite horse EVAH, and so decided to write a book about her :D