My heart is racing.  I know exactly what to do, but for some reason I freeze up.  Seeing the flames grow encourages me to start moving again.  I quickly jump onto my horse, Rose, and will her into a gallop. She dashes away, dodging the flowery flames. 

Once we are a ways away from the fire, I let Rose slow down so we can turn around to see how fast the flames are growing.  The blaze is huge now and Rose neighs sadly; that old, rickety barn has been her home since she was three days old.  I felt her pain.  We both had fond memories of that barn, but now they were all gone.  I started crying silently.  I saw a shadowy figure run into the barn, but I thought nothing of it. I knew that I had to get help before the fire got much bigger.  I nudged Rose into action.  She rears, then races away; all four hooves rhythmically beating on the ground.

I couldn’t believe I had been so careless.  Rose and I were just playing around in the barn when I knocked over a candlestick.  I just stood there, speechless and frozen in fear,  while the flames slowly spread.  Once the fire had nearly engulfed us, I realized I had to do something. I threw hay at the blaze (though, looking back, that might not have been the best idea) to try to stop it.

I snapped back to what was currently happening as I saw my house nearing.  I slowed Rose down, then jumped off as soon as  she stopped.  I ran inside the house.

  My mom saw my panicked face and became worried.  “Is something wrong, Ann?” she questioned. 

By now I was hyperventilating.  At 90 miles an hour, I explained to her what happened.  “I’m didn’t mean to.  Rose and I were just playing around and--” 

My mom interrupted me. “Take deep breaths and calm down,” she guided.  I did as she said and told her the whole story...minus the part about the hay.  Right as I told her about the fire, she raced over to the phone.  She told the operator our address and then we had to wait for, like, an hour for the fire department to get here. 

As we quickly made our way down to the barn, we saw the flames had started to cover a lot more ground than they should have for the amount of rain we’ve had here lately.  My mom and I looked at each other and ran over to the firetruck to see if there was anything we could do.  They very rudely told us to stay away and let them take care of it themselves.  So there, standing there like bumps on a log, Mom and I stayed.  It felt like forever until they got the blaze out. 

By the time they got it out, we had lost everything that was in the barn, including the candle.  All of it was gone because I had been so careless.  I apologized to my mom for the like thirteen billionth today.

She stopped me. “I don’t care about the stuff as long as you and Rose got out.  Now if you hadn’t…” I playfully punched her and we both laughed.  Even though we all  got out safe, I still felt terrible. 

The firefighters came out and said that the fire probably grew so fast because there was gasoline involved. 

“We don’t have any gas except for in our car,” my mom remembered. 

“Just telling you what we know ma’am,” he spoke. 

My mom looked at me questioningly.  I knew that I was going to get asked about that later.  But I had my own questions, too. 

As soon as we got back to the house, I called my dad. (He got kicked out of the house because my mom caught him doing things he definitely shouldn’t have been doing).  When he picked up he sounded antsy.  I asked him where he was, but he said that it didn’t matter.  From the sound of the phone, it sounded like he was on Kings Ln., the road that leads away from my house.  It’s the worst one in town, but no one will do anything about it.

After I got off the phone, my mom asked me about the gas. 

I told her that there wasn’t a trace of it when I was in there.  Then I remembered the mysterious shadow.  “Mom,” I started, “I saw someone enter the barn after I had left and I looked back.”  She thought for a moment then called the police.

A few minutes later the police arrived.  They got here much quicker than the fire department. Thank you very much.  This nice police woman asked me some questions like, “What did the figure look like?” and, “Is there anyone you know of that would have wanted to light the fire?”  When we were finished, the police woman thanked me for my help and left.  Before she left, I couldn’t help but notice my mom glare at the lady. 

The next morning I got up to go feed Rose.  After I fed her, we started playing around again.  I know what happened last time, but there was no fire around here.  At least not that I know of.  We played all of  her favorite games before I led her back to the house. 

When I got there, I saw my dad’s truck pulled up in the front.  “That’s weird,” I thought, “He was banned from here.”  I opened the door and went inside.  There was an eerie feeling inside.  I saw my mom tied up on a chair.  She looked at me and mouthed “get out.”  I opened the door, but then my dad stepped out in front of me.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he shouted like a lunatic. “Except home with me.”  He looked at Mom.

“She’s not leaving with you ever.  Not if I can help it!” my mom screamed even louder than he did.  My dad walked over to her and they glared at each other. 

“You think you can stop me?!”  he smirked.  He turned around and slapped her so hard he knocked the chair she was tied to over.  She hit her head on the corner of a table and got knocked out.  I was just staring at her and the blood until I realized that he was too.  I took the chance to run at the door, but before I got there, I was pinned to the ground. 

My dad dragged me over into the farthest corner from the door.  “You thought you could get away?”  he shouted in fury.  It was then I noticed he had a gun.  I backed up as far from him as I could.  I never realized how scary he was until now.

“You see,” he started, ”it was me who added the gasoline to the fire in the barn. And you know why I did?”  I warily shook my head no.  He smiled to himself then explained some more.  “I was mad at your mother, Ann.  I was angry that she took you away from me.  Well now, I’m going to take you away from her!”  He seemed proud of his ‘master plan’.  I just sat there watching for any move he made with his gun. 

Before I had the chance to object, he grabbed my arm again and started to drag me out the door.  All of a sudden, I heard a thunder.  I looked to see what was making it and I saw Rose.  My dad saw her too, though.  When she was about ten yards away, he raised the gun and shot three times.  The first two missed, and she kept running, but then the third one grazed her.  She reared up and kicked my dad in the head, then collapsed. 

He fell back into the side of his truck and left a dent.  When I was sure he wasn’t waking up for a while, I ran over to the phone and called 9-1-1.. After I hung up on them, I called our vet, Dr. Newburg.  While I waited for them to show up, I hurried over to Rose and started to cry.  The vet got here before anyone else, and immediately got to work.  She said Rose was going to be ok since the bullet only grazed her. 

Now the only problem that I had was that I had two knocked out parents.  Just then, the police and ambulance arrived.  The ambulance put my parents in different trucks and left.  The police asked me more questions, most of which I didn’t have an answer to.  Then I saw the nice lady who questioned me the other day.  She looked just as worried as I did.  She told me to get in her car and we would go to the hospital.  Cautiously, I went with her.

On the way to the hospital, she said she had to tell me something.  She bit her lip and then blurted out, ¨I’m your aunt.” I gave her a funny look.  “No really.” she told me,”Your mom got mad at me once and said that I wasn’t allowed to visit anymore.  It’s not like I could object, so I went along with it.”  I was in shock.  I had an aunt.

When we arrived at the hospital, the doctors said my mom had lost a lot of blood, but she was going to make it.  They also said that as soon as my dad woke up, he’d be going to jail. 

My mom was awake, so we went to talk to her.  My mom smiled at me, then she saw my aunt.  “Ann, what are you doing here?”  Her name was Ann, too?  I stared at my mom and she said, ¨I would explain, but your aunt here has probably already told you.”

I nodded and asked what I was going to do while she was in the hospital.  She told me, “Stay with your aunt, of course.”  Aunt Ann and I looked at each other and smiled.

Someday, when my mom is out of the hospital, I was going to have a new life.  One with my aunt, my mom, and Rose all included.  Our family was reunited.  Finally.