Young Writers Society

Fawn crossed her arms and looked at the ranch in front of her.

"You have to be kidding." She hissed.

"No, Fawn, now lets go." Daniel, the man from child services, said pushing her gently towards the door. She crossed her arms and followed him inside.

"Ah, hello Daniel. This must be Fawn." An older looking lady smiled walking in.

"Go ahead, tell me how nice of a name it is." She hissed at the lady.

"It is a very orginal name, Fawn." The lady smiled. "I'm Kimmberly. Everyone calls me Kimmy, my husband is Colt."

"Great." Fawn replied. "I won't be here but for a week, just wait."

"I told you about how she used to be quiet, after a few other homes she's gotten this additude. She switches between being like this and being extremely quiet and shy. Just a small warning." Daniel smiled.

"I think I know just the mustang for you." Kimberly smiled.

"Oh, so now your compairing me to a horse?" Fawn hissed. "Take me somewhere else." She growled turning and walking towards Daniel's car. He grabbed her shoulders turning her back around.

"No, this is the last house in this state you can go to." Daniel replied. She shrugged his shoulders off and pulled her over sized jacket tight around her shoulders. "Come on, Fawn, don't close yourself off."

"Close herself off?" Kimberly asked. Fawn just looked forward ignoring them.

"When she draws her coat closer or wraps herself in a blanket she closes everyone out. Has no feelings or anything. I think it's a protection meconisum." Daniel replied.

Kyle heard the phone ring and got off the couch.

"Hello?"

"Kyle, it's Colt. Listen, I've got a new girl here, Fawn. Looks like she's going to be a hard nut to crack. She says she won't be here more then a week."

Kyle smiled despite of himself. "I said the same thing, remember? I can't thank you enough for forcing me to stay put. Okay, I'll be right over."

Before he hung up the phone Colt added, "Could you ride here? Maybe if she saw your horse, things might turn out better."

"Alright."

~~~

A two hour ride later, Kyle was at the ranch. He looked over the land and sighed. He had spent so long here, Colt banging it into his head that he should work with his horse if nobody else. His horse had led to working with Colt, then Kimmy, then the rest of the kids here. Now, having finally found a permenant home, he still liked to come back and help other kids.

He trotted his gelding, Dustfoot, out to the stables and dismounted, taking his hat off and leaving it on the saddle horn. His long black hair was in a single braid down his back, showing high cheekbones, slightly red skin and black eyes. Colt was waiting for him.

"Kimmy's getting Fawn organized. It's taking longer then usual."

Kyle chuckled. "I'm guessing that's what led you to think she'll be hard to break?"

Colt shook his head. "I haven't seen somebody so stubourn since you came here. C'mon, I want to show you the horse I have in mind."

Kyle followed him to the back of the stable. Tucked away in a corner stall was a brown and white pinto, her mane and tail a soft yellow. He opened the top door and let the mare sniff his hand. Imedietly she snorted and shied away.

"A perfect fit, if what I'm seeing is true." He jerked his thumb to the house. Fawn was coming out of the house, her arms firmly crossed over her chest. Kimmy had to push her down the path to the stables.

Colt rolled a shoulder. "I'll set her up, grooming wise. You can take care of Dustfoot, but watch Fawn. Once that's done... I think I'll stick you with the task of teaching those two to bond."

Kyle clicked his tongue. "I swear you're sticking me with the tough kids on purpose, just for payback. Anyway, what's her name?"

Colt chuckled. "Not payback. You're just good at handling the tough shells. And this horse doesn't have one yet. I've been waiting for the right kid to name her. And here she comes."

Fawn looked around the barn and her frown deepened. She'd been to a place where they tried to get her to losen up with horses. All that happened was she got attached to a small foal that died and then she was sent away. She pulled her jacket tighter around her at the memory as tears threatened to prick at her eyes. She wasn't going to cry though.

"This is Colt, and then Kyle, he helps around here somtimes." Kimmy was saying. Fawn didn't say anything. She just stood there and looked at the older man and then at the guy. He was about her age, deffinatly a Native american of some sort or another.

"Hi, Fawn." The man said as the younger guy excused himself to pull the tack and everything off a horse she'd seen tied to a post outside.

"I'll be inside if y'all need me." Kimmy smiled turning and leaving.

"Like I told her, someone's tried this technique before. It didn't work." She said keeping her shoulders squared and her gaze locked on his daring him to challenge her.

"We're not trying any technique." Colt smiled. "Come on, I'd like you to meet one of our horses."

"No thanks." She said flatly.

"Why not?" He asked.

"I don't like horses." She lied as she felt herself start to withdraw herself from everyone.

"Why?" He smiled.

"I don't know, I just don't." She replied. She glanced behind him at a pinto mare that was looking at her from the corner of her stall. "What's that horses name?"

"She doesn't have one yet. Want to name her?"

"No. I don't like horses." She said every muscle in her itching to get a closer look at the horse.

"Come on, it's just a name." He smiled.

"You want a name?" She hissed. "Dusty. Alright, there is a name for the stupid horse." She turned and stormed out of the barn walking the opposite direction of the house. They weren't going to make her work with horses, they weren't going to crack her shell. No one would ever crack her shell. She had worked way to hard to put it up. To block out everything that hurt her. People hurt her, Dawn had hurt her. (((Dawn is the foal))) She found a tree and climbed up in it pulling her legs against her chest as she balanced herself on the limb. The only way she was going to get down awas if Daniel came and got her.

Kyle watched her go and shook his head. "You weren't kidding."

"I don't kid about that stuff." Colt sighed. "I'd better go an get her."

"No, you might make it worse." Kyle rubbed Dustfoot's nose. "I'll talk to her." He had seen the direction she had gone in. If he was right, she'd be in the same place he had gone to....

He spotted her jacket in the tree.

"Fawn? It's Kyle."

"Go away," was the barely audible reply.

Kyle leaned against the trunk. "If you curl into a tighter ball you'll fall off. Trust me. I fell out of this tree once."

She uncurled a little bit. "You lived here?"

"Since I was fifteen. Now I'm a few hours away." He saw her uncurl a little more. Kyle knew he was treading on thin ice, but he had to try. "I got my horse here too. Named him Dustyfoot. If you don't want them to be too similar, you might want to pick another name."

Fawn went back to her original position. "I don't want to look at that horse."

Kyle tried something different. "What about mine then? He could use a treat-- and a brush down. You wouldn't have to go inside the barn, just look at him outside."

She uncurled a little bit, but quickly suppressed it. When she didn't say anything for a few minutes, he got out from under the tree.

"If you want to see him, I'll be here for the next little bit." With that, he left her in the tree.

Fawn watched him go and she frowned taking a deep breath. It wouldn't hurt. She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes taking another deep breath.

"Fine!" She hissed. She slowly slipped otu of the tree and pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders. "It's just a horse." She walked back to the barn where she saw Kyle sitting on the hitching rail swinging his feet as he talked and rubbed his horses head.

"Why Dustyfoot?" She asked. He looked over at her and smiled. She just frowned looking at him.

"Well, look at his front right foot." He said. She had to step closer to look, but it looked like there was dust on it. "It's naturally like that."

"Nice." She said walking around the horse and then crossing her arms.

"Come on, he wont' bite." Kyle smiled.

"All horses are capable of biting." She replied.

"Yes, but he isn't going to bite you." Kyle replied. She clenched her jaw and then stepped towards the horse not uncrossing her arms. She didn't want to feel it's warm fuzzy nose. It's soft fur. Dusty feet swung his face around and bumped her arms with his nose. She steadied herself and just looked at the horse.

"Hi." She muttered to the horse uncrossing her arms and rubbing between his eyes. She then pulled her hand away and then turned around storming away her heart pounding and tears pushing at her face. She had sworn never to touch a horse again, not after Dawn died. She pulled her jacket tight across her shoulders and walked to one of the corrals lowering herself down against one of the posts and pulling her knees close to her.

"The corrals this time," Kyle muttered, shaking his head. "They haven't found any original spots, have they?"

Colt chuckled. "Not for a while now. I think you got all of them. You'll go again?"

Kyle nodded. "Mind looking after Dusty? He really need a brushing, and this might take awhile." Colt nodded and began currying Dusty down.

Kyle trotted over to the corrals. It was easy to find her in here. There wasn't anything to hide behind.

"You know, the hayloft is a better hiding spot," he said, leaning against another post. "You can actually hide in there." He heard her chuckle, but she didn't lift her head out of her arms.

He let out a breath. "So, it's touching a horse that scares you. Why not brush him then? You'd have a piece of wood between you and the actual fur."

Fawn still didn't move.

Slowly Kyle walked out of the corral; if she wasn't willing, there wasn't anything he could do. Before leaving, he turned back to look at her. "That mare, at the back, that you were supposed to be paired up with-- if she doesn't get a match soon, she's too skittish to keep. Colt doesn't like to keep unpaired horses more then a year, and he's already kept this one for a year and a half. But if you really don't want her, then you can get paired up with another." He didn't like playing on her emotions like this, but he needed something to get to her.

"What-- what would happen to her?" Fawn said quietly.

He shrugged. "She'd get sold. Colt likes to make sure they go to good homes, but, with this one I don't know if anybody will take her for work." He couldn't say the rest. He knew he didn't need to. He left Fawn alone with her thoughts again.

Fawn watched him go and she frowned. She didn't want to be around horses, why couldn't they understand that?

Your letting that horse down. She told herself. They'll send her to the glue factory. She got up and slipped into the barn opening the stall door and then closing it behind her and sitting in the corner opposite the mare. She looked at the mare and the mare looked back at her.

"I don't like you." She said flatly to the mare. "Don't expect me to like you." The mare snorted and shook her head. "Good, we agree."

She leaned her head against the wall and looked in front of her taking a deep breath as she heard the mare shift a little.

"Come on, I want to go ride." Someone said outside of the stall.

"Kimmy wants us to meet the new girl though." Another voice said.

"Y'all can go ahead though." She heard Colt say.

"Thanks!" The two voices coaresed and then she heard horses' hooves leaving. She didn't move, the mare walked towards her and drank some of the water from above her head.

"Let him find this hiding place, he won't ever think I'd come here." She said to the mare as it sniffed her hair and then backed away again.

"She go off and hide again?" She heard Colt say.

"I don't know, she isn't at the corrals anymore." She heard Kyle replied.

"Let's let her be, I'm thirsty." Colt laughed.

*If you think she's getting off that easily, you would be wrong*

Kyle glanced over his shoulder and saw the mare was oddly close to the stall door.

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Colt grabbed his shoulder. "I told you to leave her be."

He smiled. "You said to leave Fawn be. You never said anything about the horse."

"You haven't lost your talent for finding loopholes, I see," Colt sighed. "Go on."

Kyle chuckled and went back to the stall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Fawn curl into her jacket, trying to make herself invisible. He ignored her. Instead, he focused on the mare.

"Hi girl," he whispered, putting his hand over the stall door. She snorted and shied away. Kyle raised an eyebrow and turned his hand over, so it was palm down. "Better?"

The mare tossed her head and came a little closer. When she did, her bangs moved away from her forehead. They had been hiding a perfect heart. Kyle's jaw dropped.

"Hear--" Fawn whispered, but she cut herself off. It took all his willpower to ignore her.

"We're having lunch in a little bit," he said, pretending to talk to the horse. "I'll have to leave soon after that. But just so you remember me..." he went over to a bucket of rich feed Colt used to treat the horses, grabbed a small handful, and put it in the mare's feed dish. "You know who that came from, right?" She snorted and went to eat. Kyle smiled and headed back towards the house.

~~

"Fawn's in the stall," he told Colt, sitting down at the kitchen table. "I think she's named her too."

Colt raised an eyebrow. "How did you manage that?"

Kyle smiled. "Don't worry, I ignored her. When Fawn saw the heart on that mare's forehead, she couldn't cut herself off in time. Her name's probably going to be 'Heart-something,' or just 'Heart.' I don't know if Fawn'll come inside any time soon though."

Kimmy clasped his shoulder. "You've done more then we could've ever done. And she'll come around, eventually."

Kyle smiled crookedly. "The key word is eventually."

***Hahahahaha,***

Fawn looked at the horse eating out of the bucket that was hanging above her ehad like she wasn't there.

"Listen up, Heartthrob, I don't care what you've been through, I'm not going to work with you." She hissed at the horse. Heartthrob, Heart for short, moved her head to the water bucket and splashed water out of it and on Fawn. "HEY!" Fawn screeched. Heart jumped back and hid in her corner again.

"That wasn't cool!" Fawn growled at the horse. Heart bobbed her head and Fawn frowned. "Stupid horse." She got up and walked out of the stall and towards teh house her stomach growling a little. She didn't want to go inside, but she was hungry.

She opened the front door and slipped in looking around the huge house again. She walked into the dinningroom/kitchen and saw Kimmy, Colt, and Kyle sitting at the table.

"Come on, we saved you some food." Kimmy smiled.

"How'd you get wet?" Colt asked as Kimmy set another place for Fawn. Fawn sat down and kept her eyes on her plate.

"That stupid horse." She muttered picking up her sandwich and taking a bite out of it.

"Where we you, under the bucket?" Colt joked. Kyle didn't say anything about where he had seen her.

"Did you name her?" he asked instead.

Fawn growled quietly, bringing her jacket around her shoulders. "Heartthrob. Heart, for short. Not that I'm working with her or anything."

"That's a nice name for a 'stupid horse'."Kimmy said as she poured some lemonade. "And you don't have to work with her, just, take care of her."

Kyle drained his glass. "You have to bond with her first though- in the ring. Then you can really take care of her."

Fawn hesitated before asking, "How-- What's different from taking care of her and really taking care of her?"

Kyle shrugged. "Not much. Before you bond, you simply brush her, feed her, and give her water. After, you brush her, feed her, and give her water, plus, she understands you and you understand her. She'll wait for you at her stall door, let you pet her, that sort of thing. Well, I'd better be off. It's a long ride back. Nice meeting you Fawn."

"You'll be back tomorrow?" Colt asked.

He nodded. "First thing."

Kimmy put her hand on her hip. "You'd better not go livin' here again. Your parents will have my hide!"

Kyle chuckled. "Reason I have to leave now. To get back in time for dinner."

"Why do you even need to be here tomorrow?" Fawn growled.

"Some kids wanted me to show them a new trail I found," Kyle glanced at Colt, hoping he wouldn't call his bluff. "Or, get you in the ring with Heart." He held up his hand. "Don't answer yet. You can tell me what you want to do tomorrow." He got up and went over to the door. "Bye y'all."

Fawn glared at his retreating back. She didn't want to work with him, or the horse. She finished her food then washed her plate and slipped out the door running back to the barn and sat in Heart's stall again. She huddled in the down in the corner. She wasn't worried about being messed with in here, no one seemed to want to be around Heart.

"Just like me." She whispered softly. Heart bobbed her head a nd then tossed it walking to the stall door and pushing against it softly. "You want to go for a walk?" Fawn got up and walked to the horses head. She sniffed her hand then shed away a little. Fawn grabbed a lead rope and lead Hear to a corral and let her out. She couldn't get close to Heart, but she didn't mind.

"I'm surprised you got her out here." Colt said walking over and climbing up on the fence next to her. Fawn didn't say anything as she watched Heart run around tossing her head a little and then stopping and looking at them. "She's a gorgeous horse."

"But you were still going to get rid of her." Fawn growled.

"To a good home." Colt said.

"Sure. Everyone says the ones that aren't wanted are going to go to a good home. Well there isn't such a thing!" She hissed jumping off the fence and walking to the middle of the corral where Heart slowly approched her and stopped a few feet away from her.

*You do realize, you have made it near impossible for me to continue*

Kyle looked towards the corral and whistled. "Will you look at that. They've bonded already." Dusty promptly got in his way, placing himself so Kyle was looking over his saddle.

He chuckled and mounted. "I know, I know. I need to get home. But a few moments wouldn't hurt." Dusty turned his head to look at him and snorted, but he made his way to the corral non the less.

"It looks like we won't need to do any ring work tomorrow!" he called to them. "D'you still want me to come?"

Colt shrugged. "You have that trail to show the other, or you could show Fawn how to take care of her horse."

Kyle waved to the others as they came back in from their ride before looking at Colt again. "Yeah, I think it's time they saw more off the Blackfoot Trail. I'd be a good step-up for them. Or, Fawn and I can walk some of the easy trails around here. After she looks after Heart, of course."

Fawn didn't respond. She just continued to pet Heart.

Colt looked at his watch. "Shouldn't you be long gone by now?"

Kyle patted Dusty's neck. "You're the second one to tell me that. I'm going already!" He trotted down the trails until the corral, and the whole ranch, were out of sight.

**You could've done a time skip or had him leavin, I don't know. **

Fawn kept her knees pulled against her chest as she looked around the bed room again. It was pitch black and she should've been asleep a long time ago. She couldn't though, she wrapped her arm around her shoulders and let the tears slip down her face. She didn't want to be here, she didn't want to be anywhere. Life wasn't fair.

Your worthless. Her mother's voice said in her ear again. Your a worthless peice of trash. I wish I could get some money off you. But all your good for it sucking my money away.

She could remember every harsh word her mother had said to her. Every time her father abused her. Everything he did. Night time was the worst time for her. She couldn't stop the flow of the memories, the voice of her mother, the yells of her father.

"Are you ok, Fawn?" Kimmy's tenitive voice asked from teh door way. She glanced over at the woman then turned her back on her.

"Leave me alone." She hissed.

"Alright, you need some sleep, Fawn, and if you ever need to talk, I'm here." Kimmy said before yawning a little. Fawn listened to her leave and then laid down pulling her knees to her chest falling asleep curled up tightly.


---------------------------------------------------

The next morning Fawn woke up to some stupid rooster crowing. She pullled a pillow over her head and groaned.

"Fawn, wake up! You have a horse to feed!" Someone yelled outside the hdoor. She threw a pillow at it and rolled over. A radio started and she groaned again. What was wrong wtih these people. They were almost as bad as the stupid military guy she'd been put with. Least it wasn't four in the morning. She looked at the clock, six.

"Sleeping in isn't a crime." She moaned pulling jeans and a shirt on and then pulling on a huge jacket. She walked to the kitchen and groaned as she was handed a plate with waffles on it and then everyone started eating before disappearing out the door. She wasn't even half awake by the time Colt came back in and dragged her out to the barn.

"This is Heart's feed, take it to her in her stall, one of the others already got her in from the pastures." Colt said.

"I'm not awake." Fawn yawned as he gently pushed her towards the stall.

Kyle trotted up to the ranch on Dusty's back. If he had to take kids on a trail, he'd want his own horse.

He spotted Fawn by the stables, yawning. He looked at his watch. It was already nine a.m.

"Mornin,'" he said, dismounting. "Want to work with Heart today, or, should I just leave you alone?"

Fawn growled. Kyle could tell she had been up late. Crying, if the red tinge around her eyes was any indication.

"I'll leave you alone then." Kyle turned to a girl who was just coming back from the pastures. "Tawny! Get the others! We're going down the Blackfoot!"

"What else?" Tawny teased, knowing he always included something other then riding.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Some new plants down the trail. We're going farther this time!" Tawny squeeled and went to get the others. Once she was gone, Kyle brought his attention back to Fawn. "We'll be back before lunch, and my mom's letting me stay an extra hour. If you want to work then, we can do that."

"If you lived here, she's not your real mom," Fawn snapped back.

He leaned against the hitching rail. "You're right, she's not. But I still call her 'mom.'"

Fawn looked confused. "Why? She'll never be your real mom."

"For one thing, 'mom' is less of a mouthful then 'stepmom.'" Kyle smiled. "Could you imagine calling 'hey, stepmom!' all day?"

She smiled, but quickly stuffed the emotion away. "She's still not your real mom."

"No, she's not," he said gravely. "But, she cares for me. That's all it takes for me to call somebody 'mom.' I'd call Kimmy that, but she doesn't like it."

Fawn smiled again, but her face was half hidden by the collar of her jacket. By then, Tawny was back with the four other kids at the ranch. Before they could say anything, Kyle clapped his hands.

"Mount up y'all. We're heading out as soon as you're done. And, you'll get inspected after, so make sure you do it right!"

Fawn watched them get their horses and then watched Kyle check over everything. WHo was he to say if they did it right? She shook her head and walked to where Heart was standing in a small corral. She leaned against the fence and watched the horse eat.

"Let's go." She heard Kyle say and then the sound of them leaving.

"So they leave us." She said stepping in the corral and walking over to where Heart was eating. She looked up at her, and then went back to eating. Fawn sat down and looked around.

"Alright, let's work on an agreement. I'm not getting out of working with you." She said. "So, we have to get along, especially sense no one wants either of us. So, you help me, and I"ll help you. I'll help keep you here until they ship me off to who knows where, and you help me hide when I need it. It'll take some doing, but in the end we'll figure something out. Maybe we'll just run away together? Maybe we'll never have to worry about people again."

"I'm not sure that's a great idea." Kimmy said walking over.

"I wasn't talking to you." Fawn growled. "What's with you people watching me lik ehawks."

"We're just watching out for you." Kimmy smiled sitting down a few feet away sense Heart started to get a little nervous.

"You don't need to worry about me sense I wont' be here long." She hissed.

"You seem real sure of that." Kimmy smiled.

"Ya, well, no one keeps me more then a week or two." She replied as she ripped up some grass and held it out to Heart who nuzzled it then pulled away.

"She's getting used to you." Kimmy smiled.

"We have an agreement." Fawn replied.

"Right, well I'm sure she'll hold up her end of the bargin if you work with her." Kimmy replied.

***Have them come back if you don't have anything***