Young Writers Society

Kit grabbed Midnight's reins and led him to the stalls. As she walked out to get Gertrude, the oldest mare, her cellphone rang. "Hello?" She said into it.

"Hey Kit! My farmhand, Colt is comin' up to the mountains. Is that okay with you?" Kit recognized the at once.

"Oh, hey Uncle Shaun. That's fine with me. He better be good with a shotgun though." She told him.

"That's great. But why would he need a shotgun?" Uncle Shaun asked.

"Them pesky wolves have been attacking the horses. I had to put Old Tom down yeterday." She said with a sigh.

"Okay. You do have an extra room up there in the house right?" He asked.

"Yes. And if he doesn't like it here, he can stay in the resort across the Pecos River." She said.

"Okay. I'll call you when he leaves. Good bye!" He said as he hung up the phone. I sat the cellphone down and ran out to the field, grinning ear to ear, to get the remaining horses.

Name: Missy Lark

Age: 19

Hair: light brown, long (usually in pony tail)

Eyes: Hazel

Figure: Slender, curvy, and muscular

Personality: Outgoing, funny, somewhat odd, doesn't like showing off unless it's on her horse.

Alibi: None, yet

As Kit rounded up the rest of the horses she saw Missy Lark across the feild riding her brand new horse. "Missy!" She called as she waved. Missy waved back. Kit put the last horse in it's stall and ran over to Midnight's stall. She opened it up and climbed on his back without bothering to put a saddle on. Kit rode over to Missy and began talking.

I walked over to Kit who was riding Midnight over to me. I was laughing, because she was riding bareback.
"So where did ya hide my horse this time," I joked, still laughing. I board my horse, Sage, at her stables. She Jumped off Midnight and grabbed his reins.
"Well, I did just put her in the barn," she said still walking Midnight towards me. i opened the gate and secured it tightly. i looked up at the sky.
"Well, it looks like it's about to rain, I should help you out with the other horses," I replied, grabbing a leader and a halter off the fence and I put them on Little Joe. I jumped on his back and began to canter him up to the barn. As I did that, it began to drizzle. I slowed down to a walk and headed towards towards Kit and Midnight, careful not to get the horses too close to each other, and we both continued walking the horses up the hill to return them before it started to pour down rain.

Name: Maxine (Max) Whitney (Kara Whitney's twin sister)
Age: 25
Apperance: olive complextion, long dark hair, slender, green eyes.
Occupation: Film Editor in L.A.
Marital Status: single
pets: Australian Shepherd named Phantom
Personality: works a lot, hasn't spoken to her parents in 3 years, been known to slip into a southern accent when the situation is right, strict on herself, has a good time when around the right people, thinks her family was too hard on her gay brother, doesn't really believe in a happily ever after, neat freak
Alibi:In L.A. working

__________________________________________________________________

Max

I was going to throw up, i could tell. I could tell because usually i am a very composed person but when mother called and told me i dropped the phone and ran to the bathroom. Now here i was kneeling beside the toilet of my very clean apartment in L.A. puking up everything i had eaten that day. You proably wouldn't feel so great either if you had just found out your twin sister had been murdered, God how i wished i would have just gone to visit her or at least told her i loved her instead of hanging up on her the last time she'd called. I could be such a jelous little brat sometimes. She was everybody's favorite though, because she stayed on the farm with dad till he died and became the perfect farmers daughter. I wouldn't even pet the horses growing up because i was afraid of the type of germs they might have on them. And you can only imagine how thrilled my parents were when i told them i was going to film school and would not be staying on the farm. And i guess my brother saw that as the opportune moment to announce that he was gay. Well, Jimmy left that weekend, we talk sometimes though. After that summer, three years ago, i went off to school and never spoke to my parents again.
Kara would call all the time. in the beggining she would try and get me to make up with mom and dad, eventually she gave up. She would call me at least once a week and when i didnt answer she would leave 10 minute voice mails. I didn't even go to dad's funeral when he died. No wonder everyone liked her more than they liked me. I threw up one more time and then stood up. i grabbed my new iphone and called my travel agent. i was set to be on the next flight out to Texas.
As i packed my mothers words ran through my head "They found her body in the river.." I was going to go to the farm she had been working on. After dad died they sold the farm and kara started working for a friend of the family's, and mom moved in with aunt Nel. It would be hard to go down there, to see everyone and everything i had left behind.
I finished packing and before i headed out the door i called Jimmy, it wasn't an easy phonecall to make. He cried and i realised that there was something really wrong with me. I hadn't cried yet, i mean she was my TWIN sister for god's sake and i couldn't even sqeeze out a few tears. I was pathetic.
I was clamy and shaky the whole plane ride. When the plane landed i realized i'd forgotten all about Phantom my adorable australian shepherd.. the only person who never judged me and i'd forgotten him. i called my neightbor and best friend, lorelei, she had and extra key and said she'd take care of Phantom, even she cried.

Max:(sorry but i dont hav eanything else to do right now)

It was warm and smelled like Texas. Well of course it smelled like Texas i was in Texas after all. I hadn't told anyone i was coming tonight but i still remembered my way around. I was surprised and disappointed that the walk to Shaun's didnt take long. It was only about 9 o'clock at night but farmers followed that whole early to bed early to rise pattern.
I felt bad just showing up and knocking on the door but i definatly didnt want to go see my mother first. I knocked 3 times and then waited. I had waited about a minute and had begun to loose hope when a light came on. When the big oak door opened two men were standing on the other side. There was still a screen door separating us. I imagine i looked a big snobbish standing there with my arms folded looking impatient. The man that was not Shaun looked at me wide eyed. He thrust the screen door open and threw his arms around me, "Kara i cant believe.. it can't be!"
"So she never told you about me then."
"What?" he said pulling back.
"Colt this here is Kara's twin sister Maxine."
"Oh." he abruptly dropped his arms to his sides and took a step back, "I'm sorry i.. no she never told me."
"I wouldn't expect her to.. i was sort of the black sheep of the family."
"Max what'r you doin here?"
"Mom called and told me.. I-"
"Figured maybe you should come to this funeral?"
"Don't Shaun okay just DONT! I do not need a lecture right now!"
"I don't know why you even bothered to come, she told me you'd stopped answering her calls."
"I was busy, i do have a life you know."
"A life that keeps you too busy to even call her back, just once."
"So i take it i should find a hotel room for the night?"
"You mother wouldn't even put you up?"
"Look i get it! i am a big disappointment to everybody and she was a much better person than me.. " i could feel it now, the tears pricking at the back of my eyes, "I could never be like her and i know that and i know i should have been here when dad died. But she loved me still and i didnt deserve that and maybe thats why i never called her back.. i didnt want.. " i wiped my cheeck, "I didn't want to hert her like i hurt eveyone else." i picked up my bag, "This was a mistake i shouldn't of come here." something about Texas always made me look at my life and see it for what it really was: sad. I walked down the creaky wooden steps from the porch.
"Max wait," Shaun called me back, "It's too dark to be walkin around outside at night, come on in." I hesitated then turned and walked into the house. i was embarassed and ashamed. Memories rushed back into my head as soon as i walked in the door, kara and i used to play in this house when we were young. I walked into the living room and slummped onto the couch, "I miss her." i said quietly.
"We all do." This time it wasn't Shaun that answered it was the younger man, Colt, "I'm sorry," he said, "You just look so much like her."
"Well we were twins.. did you know her well."
"We worked together."
"You guys were friends huh?"
"Yeah, you could say that." he smiled and looked down at his feet.
"I'm gunna go call your mother." Shaun said and when i made to protest he threw me a look that silenced me quickly. I fell sideways onto the sofa cuchions and let the physical and emmotional exhaustion take me over. I dreamed about when we used to play cowboys and indians in Shaun's backyard.

Kit put her and Missy's horses in the barn and walked out back towards the house, with Missy right behind her. The rain had let up a little. "My Uncle's farmhand is comin' up soon. It so happens that the two girls that were recently murded were his best friends." She told Missy.

"Really? That's sad. How old is he?" Missy asked. Her words seemed to come out all at once.

"I don't know how old he is. He hasn't even left my Uncle's farm yet." Kit told her. Missy was strangely silent. Kit looked over at her and saw fear in her eyes. "Missy. Missy what is it?" She asked.

"W-w-wolf!" Missy screamed and pointed into the woods. Kit turned around and sure enough there it was. A red wolf that carried a baby lamb in it's jaws.

Kit's eyes grew as large as mine were when she set eyes on the red wolf. I stood there, petrefied.
"Go get the shotgun from the barn," Kit ordered. I didn't move. "Missy, now!" she yelled. I managed to run into the barn and retrieve the gun. Sprinting back i handed the gun off to Kit. She grabbed the gun out of my hands and aimed.

Kit shot at the ground right in front of the wolf. She didn't want ot hurt it. Just scare it enough to where it wouldn't come back. The wolf yelped and ran into woods, leaving the lamb on the ground. "Come on!" She said to Missy as she ran up to the lamb.

"It's still breathing." Kit said calmly as she examined it. "Missy, please go get the first aid kit from the house." Missy nodded and ran towards the house.

**Ok, it isn't a farm its a ranch, ranch hands, and wolves normally wont attack horses that are in a pack, they go for the smaller stuff. If there is a dying horse somewhere or they are desperate, but horses are not easy to attack. Mountian lions are always a threat for horses, but not so much wolves. But I'll go along with it, just wanted to let y'all know.**

Colt looked at the girl sitting across from him. He was half way up to the place his boss wanted him to go see and Shaun was letting him stay with him for the night. She looked so much like Kara it hurt. He had almost asked her out at one point. But he didn't want to hurt her so he had never done anything. He smiled as he remembered her sweet face. He shook his head he couldn't think about them, that was why he was going up to the mountians, to get away from the memories. It wasn't going to be easy if this girl, Max, hung around but part of him didn't want her to leave. He chewed on his lip as Shaun came back from calling Kara's parents.

I forced myself to get up. I was sitting on the couch when i realised i had fallen alseep in my clothes. I went over the previous nights activities in my head while i brushed my teeth and hair and changed clothes. What that boy, Colt, must think of me. I had admitted things out loud that i wouldn't have even admitted to myself under sane conditions. I swung open the bathroom door and immediatly smelled bacon on the stove and heard Shaun humming a familiar tune that i couldn't remember the words to.
The clock on the microwave said 6 am, I never get up at 6. I sat down at the table across from Colt. I glanced his way and he quickly looked away from me to stare out the window at a honey colored horse.
"Max?" Sam Said pausing his humming for a moment."
"Yeah?" I answered automatically.
"Your mom wants you to come over to the house as soon as you are ready. She wants to go over funeral details."
"oh. where are they having the funeral?"
"Up in the mountains."
"Oh." It was weird but i couldn't take my eyes off of Colt. his puppy dog blue yes were still fixed on the horse outside the window. He was very Jake Gyllenhal in Brokeback mountain minus being gay, or at least i presummed he wan't gay when Shaun's daughter came down the stairs. She was decked out in a too short minny skirt, spaggetti strap tank top and pink cowgirl boots. He tore himself away from the horse to stare at her alright.
"Morning daddy, Colt," (she said Colt's name very flirtatiously), "who are you?"
"This is Max." Colt answered, "Kara's twin sister."
"Oh Max, i remember you." She was four years younger than me and i absolutly hated her when we were younger. I just nodded then turned my attention to Shaun.
"Who all is going up to the mountains for the funeral?"
"Well the funeral is in two weeks, Colt is headin up there today i think, to stay with my niece until then. I'm assuming everyone in town will go up there for the funeral though. Everyone loved kara a lot."
"Yeah i know." i mumbled then stood, "I think I'm gunna go over to my mom's now."
"Oh alright, Colt will you take her over to Nel's?" Colt looked at me like he would rather muck out a million stalls then ride in a car with me but agreed nontheless. I grabbed my stuff and headed outside waiting by Shauns deep blue pick up truck.

The ride to my mom's house was much too short for my liking.
"Here we are." said Colt putting the car in park. i didn't move, i definatly was not ready to see my mother, "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," I lied, "totally finee." i was trying to convince myself.
"You don't look fine."
"I havn't spoken to my mother in 3 years let alone been in the same room with her."
"i see."
"She hates me."
"I'm sure she doesn't hate you."
"I didn't go to my own father'f funeral. How am I going to go in there and look my mother in the eye."
"Sooners better than later."
"Yeah, uh yeah i guess your right." I got out of the car, and grabbed my bag. Colt threw me a half-hearted smile, i shut the door, he drove off. It's now or never i told myself. I marched up to the door and rang the bell twice. Aunt Nel answered. Aunt Nel never was the nicest of aunts.
"What're you din here you ungrateful lil' brat." she barked through the screen.
"Hi Aunt Nel, i missed you too." I was trying to remain calm and found that sarcasm helped.

*Colt hates Brittney, the daughter*


Colt shoved his hat on his head, he was going to have to think about Kara with her twin in the car with him. He walked out to his truck ignoring Brittney's flirting.

"We'll take my truck." He said climbing into the black F350 quad cab. He had saved up for the truck for along time. She walked over and hopped in putting her stuff in the back seat. He started the engine and drove off of the ranch. "What happened between you and Kara that she never mentioned you. She wasn't one to hold grudges."

*i know he hates her i was trying to add a jelous factor*

I sat on the plastic covered couch waiting for mom to get back dreading the moment it would happen. I though about the conversation i had had with Colt in the car:
He had asked me what happened between Kara and me.
"It wasn't anything that happened between Kara and me exclusivly, it was what happened between me and my parents. The three of us kids were supposed to grow up and take over the ranch. Kara was perfect for that, even Jimmy-our brother- loved the horses, but i was just the sort of outkast of the family." i turned to look at him, his eyes were still fixed on the road, unblinking, "When i left for film school my parents weren't real thrilled."
"What about your brother?" he said.
"They were pretty harsh on him but that was just mostly because they thought him and Brittany were gunna get married some day and take over Shaun's farm." i scoffed, "But i was the lost cause at that point, Kara called a lot. I would answer when i could but then it just got too hard, she was too nice i didn't deserve any of that. When dad died she left the message on my machine. She got upset when i didn't come to the funeral, which was about a year ago, and didn't call for a month or two. I guess no one really liked to talk about me much after i left. My whole family is in the ranching buisness and i had to go and break the tradition."

"I thought something more had happened, Kara was really upset but she wouldnt' talk about it. Everyone is made for something, not everyone is cut out for ranch life, some of us can't live with out it. But whatever you are called for you are called for, that is how it is. I always thought Kara's, your, parents were a little tough." He sighed, he missed her alot, he missed them both. He couldn't wait until he could get up to the ranch on the mountain. He pulled up to the small ranch and stopped in front of the ranch house. "Here you go."