Beneath the boughs of the Juniper tree She chanted a curse stealthily “Unto those that have betrayed me,
till my heart can rest so peacefully”

It was four o’clock when the police arrived,even thought it felt like forever just waiting for them. Ryan,Elicia and I were sitting out on the front picnic table,watching as a police officer questioned Jake.

“Whoever it was,they couldn’t have gotten out that fast.”I said suddenly, the vivid image of Chief laying on the ground in his stall flashed in my head,”Who would do something like that?”

“Some phsyco.”Ryan answered,half asleep.”They chose the right night for it though. They knew we’d all be tired from Vincent’s party.”

Elicia nodded slowly,”Poor Chief,poor Jake. Do you know how many people are going to be freaked out about the safety of their horses now? This could be the end of Airbrush.”

I frowned,thinking,none of it made sence. Why would someone do that in the first place? And anyways,Chief was just a lesson horse,a good one,but still.There were prized stallions and mares being kept at Airbrush, why didn’t they go after one of them? Maybe they were scared,perhaps?But why? The locks hadn’t even been forced open,whoever had broken in last night had a key, and I probably wouldn’t have gotten up if they hadn’t opened the door so clumsily.

I looked over at Jake and one of the officers,who was jotting down notes.”Do you have any enemys that might have done this?” “No,”Jake said,but I could tell some part of him was lying, he was worried almost,I mean really worried.

“Well,”The officer continued,”There haven’t been any other attacks,at least,not yet. Until then I advise that you keep a close eye on everything,
maybe set up a night watch or install a new security system.” Jake gave a nod of thanks, and then the police cars pulled away.

I followed Jake up to his office,I needed to know what was going on.”What was that back there?”

“Huh?”Jake asked,he turned to face me.”Oh,..it was nothing.”

“No,”I said firmly,”Something’s going on.”

“Look,”Jake said,sounding a little stressed,”I know that this doesn’t help with what you’ve been through,but everything is going to be fine.”

I frowned,”At least let me know part of what’s going on, everyone’s freaking out,they don’t know what to think.”

“And you think that I’m not stressed about this as well?!”Jake suddenly shouted. I jumped back slightly,I had never heard Jake shout before,but then again I’d never seen him in this type of situation before either.

He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair,”I’m sorry,there’s just a lot on my mind right now.And,don’t tell anyone,you can tell Elicia and Ryan,but no one else.” I nodded,listening. What could this be about?

“They didn’t find any fingerprints.”Jake said quietly,”Not one. It was completely clean,even the note. They didn’t find anything else other than that stupid note and the barbed wire. Whoever did this had it planned for days,maybe even weeks. We’re going to have a watch tonight. You,Elicia, Ryan and a few other people.” With that he walked into his office,closing the door behind him. It couldn’t be possible,not finding anything,I mean,unless the person was wearing gloves and it had been a plan...or maybe,it wasn’t someone,my thoughts remembering the poem..maybe it was something.

I stood with Ryan,Elicia Josh and Veronica later in the center aisle of the boarders barn,it was late night,about nine thirty.

“Alright,”I said finally,concluding who was watching over which barn.”Josh and Veronica,you two will be watching the boarders barn,Elicia and Ryan,you’ll be keeping an eye on the brood mare barn,and I’ll be in the Stallion barn. If anyone hears something,call everyone and we’ll get over there. And none of us can leave the barn for anything.”

“Yes,Colonel.”Elicia said and gave a fake salute.
I smiled a little,glad that Elicia was here to brighten things up.”Does everyone know their sleeping shifts?”

There was a murmur of ‘yes’ or ‘yeah’ from the small group, and a suspicous glance from Veronica towards me,but I ignored it.

“Are we allowed to practice for the talent show during watch?”Ryan asked suddenly.

“No!”Elicia and I said together. Then we all separated, I walked out into the dark and to the stallion barn,closing the barn doors behind me and locking them. Then I settled down in a chair near one of the stalls, staring out into the darkness of the barn and trying to catch the lightest sound. But nothing came for hours, maybe they were too scared to show up tonight. I checked my cell phone every so often,no new messages.
What if the horse butcher did show up and no one else’s cell phones had signal in the barns? What if something really bad had happened? Like the horse bucther had hurt someone to get to the horses..yeah,and maybe the easter bunny is going to leap out of one of the stalls and hop down the center aisle.Not.

My imagination was running away with itself. I checked my cell phone again,no new messages,and it was 2:00, just a few more hours and the watch would be over. And that’s when I heard it.

It was a low sound,painful,like a groan. But it was coming from outside.
From the pastures. I swore under my breath,the pastures!
I walked into one of the empty stalls and looked out the back window quickly. I could just see a large figure laying on the ground in one of the far pastures, and another figure standing near it. The second figure looked like it was a person, but it was too dark to see who it looked like. I quickly grabbed my cell phone and tried to call Elicia..no service. With that I closed the window and hurried out of the stall and out the side door,into the night,a thick blanket of fog covered the ground,which was weird for May.
What else could I do?
I started running,trying to muffle my foot steps as I neared the figure and the horse,ducking under the back fence and into the pasture. But,they saw me,
they dropped something metallic on the ground and started running like crazy.

“HEY! STOP!”I shouted,but by the time I got up to the horse I was out of breath,and the figure had dissapeared into the fog.
I looked to the horse,a bright chestnut stallion,which I recognized as Sir Minuete,one of Airbrush’s prized dressage horses. He lay on the ground,but he was still alive, I realized. He had been hobbled with barbed wire,like Chief had been. Another horse lay a little bit away,but made no movement at all.
I kneeled down next to Minuete quickly,”Hey boy,it’ll be alright,I promise.”I murmured and stroked his side. He only groaned lowly in reply,blood dripping from his legs.

“Let’s get you out of this,huh?” My voice was calm but my heart was pounding in my ears. My hands grabbed the barbed wire,ingoring the cuts I quickly recieved,untangling it from his legs. It wasn’t easy,the wire was tight,but after about ten minutes I pushed it away from his legs so he wouldn’t get tangled in it again. I looked over at the metallic object and picked it up,only to see it was a knife. Good thing I got here in time.

“You..”I heard someone say,the voice was breathless.
My head snapped to the side to see Veronica standing there, breathless. Then Ryan and Elicia were running up from behind her.

“It was you this whole time.”Veronica said again.”I knew there was something odd about you.”

“No.”I said suddenly,”It’s not what you think,I just got here. They just ran off..” But I knew in the back of my head,that the odds were against me.