Chapter Three:

The morning dawned bright and early, sunlight streaming in through her partially opened window. She groaned and rolled over, shielding her sensitive eyes with her arm. A snore sounded from above her bunk and she slid out of bed just enough to see an arm hanging over the side of the railings. She held back a snicker as she swung her tired legs over the side of the bed and did her best to stretch.

“Time to wake up, Danny!” Mattie shouted, standing up and shaking the bunk just a bit. A tiny shriek pierced her sore eardrums and she hopped down from her small perch to stare at her best friend. She held back her giggle seeing her best friend’s tangled long black hair puffed up everywhere.

“Take a shower, Danny! Your hair’s wild this morning!” this time she laughed, noticing her best friend’s glare, or the best glare she could muster at this hour. She ran her fingers through her own hair as Danny ambled down from the top bunk and into their tiny little bathroom. She stretched her legs by walking to the window and pulled back the thin curtains.

Danny shouted something from the shower and Mattie turned to see what was being said. But when she didn’t repeat what she said, Mattie shrugged her shoulders and turned from the window and pulled off the tank top. A tiny rap from the window made her whirl around and made her turn beet red.

“Davin!” she shouted, covering herself as best as she could with the tank top. He turned red as well and covered his eyes, giving her time to pull on the top in haste.

“Is it safe to come in now?” he asked, his hand still covering his eyes.

“Yeah,” she squeaked, feeling her face heat up. A couple moments of silence and the cabin door swung open and closed again. Davin had a sheepish grin on his face and he tried to cover it by snickering.

“Umm.. I’m sorry for seeing you, uh, like that.” he said, trying to keep from stuttering. She waved the comment off, holding her forearms rather tightly. Davin rubbed the back of his head, trying to figure out something to make things seem less awkward.

“Look, I’m sorry about last night.” Mattie said, staring into his eyes with a genuine apology. Davin looked at her funny, then remember what happened. Davin shrugged his shoulders and glanced out the window next to her.

“It’s all right, I just was in a pissy mood.” he replied, still not meeting his eyes. She shuffled from her feet and brought her hand up to her lips and chewed her bottom lip. She turned towards him and closed the distance between the two. She gazed up at him with her wide, innocent green eyes and he nearly melted there.

“To make up for scaring your ass late last night, I can treat us to dinner?” she asked quietly, lowering her gaze. He shrugged his shoulders again; this girl was so confusing that he couldn’t really understand why she was asking to pay for a dinner together. He stopped, a dinner together and his mind clicked. He nearly smirked at this thought; that would be the perfect time to find out more about this strange girl.

“All right, but I must insist that I pay for at least half,” he said in a gentleman voice, bowing down half way to prove his words truthful. She giggled at his actions and nodded slowly.

“All right! I accept this proposition. We’ll agree on an restaurant and I’ll decide casual or formal clothing.” she giggled and gave a wide-eyed smile. He laughed as well and bowed low again.

“All right my lady, I’ll see you later on during this day and we’ll decide then.” and with that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the cabin, before her cabin mate came into the room only wearing a towel.

“Who know that!” Danny shrieked, dancing around in the towel. Mattie laughed at her friend’s actions and gave a good-hearted shove at Danny. Both dropped into a fit of giggles and Danny’s hold on her towel slid down just a bit more.

“Be nice Danny!” Mattie complained in a good voice, trying to mock glare at her best friend. Both collapsed into a fit of laughter again.

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“Alexander! Keep your posting in time with the horse!” Mattie’s voice rang loudly across the ring. She watched patiently as the awkward teen tried to adjust himself in the saddle. The redhead dropped the reins, causing the horse to stop suddenly in the arena. She waited for his usual wail whenever this happened. But this time there wasn’t the usual wailing, only the sound of a person dropping to the ground and kicking dirt. She watched as Alexander brought the chestnut mare forward and waited for his reason for getting off.

“I can’t take this anymore!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. She felt her face heat up and she reached up to rub her starting to throb temples. He stomped for good measure and noticed that he didn’t have Mattie’s attention.

“I HATE posting, I hate riding!” he shouted again, getting up in her face this time. She held back the urge to giggle suddenly as she glanced at the small boy’s rather cherry red face. He kept yelling so she quickly thought of a different way to get him back up into the saddle.

“You hate riding? Then why do you still keep Gino around?” she asked, folding her arms into her chest and resting her chin on her hand. Alexander glanced to the black stallion behind him, then back to her, then towards Gino again. She waited quietly; she knew Alexander was beginning to regret his furious words he shouted. He dropped the reins in defeat and turned his gaze back towards her.

“I’m sorry Ms. Mattie.” he whispered, hanging his head and she noted that he wiped the back of his hands across his eyes, trying to hide the tears. She gave a small smile and clapped him on his shoulder.

“I know you are mad about posting but next time, instead of yelling in my face and saying you hate riding, just calm down and try again. I know it’s hard to hold back your frustration but if you constantly blurt out things you don’t mean, it’ll get you into loads of trouble.” she spoke, resisting the urge to wag her finger in his face. He whispered again and nodded before climbing back up in the saddle.

He trotted around the ring as she glanced at her watch. Due to the whole freak out just moments before, she was certainly going to be late for a lunch/dinner for Davin. She raised her hands and shouted.

“Come on in Alex! Cool Gino down because it’s starting to get too hot out here.” The redhead reined in Gino and slowly nudged the horse into a walk towards her. She gave a small smile as he exited the ring and she followed after them.

Waiting for twenty minutes, making sure things were put back in their place; she rushed up towards her cabin. For a quick moment, she stopped to bend down and smelled a soft purple flower, and then she stood back up and ran off again. Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket for a moment so she hurriedly dug it out and noticed Davin’s name popped up. She slid up the wood steps to her cabin, flung open the door and saw Davin sitting on her bunk.

“I’m so sorry! Alexander Grays had a minor breakdown in the riding ring and I had to patch things up. I’m so, so sorry!” she said breathlessly, panting quietly. He nearly laughed at her expression but he kept it down to a snicker.

“It’s ok, I understand with Alex and everything. Kid’s got an anger issue, though.” he stated, looking off towards the window. She gave a wide smile and hurried into the tiny bathroom. She wiggled out of her work jeans and slipped on a pair of her white jeans. Pulling her short peach t-shirt over her head, she grabbed the black sleeveless top laying on the white countertop. Bending down, she grabbed her pink toothbrush and quickly set to work making her teeth white again. Spitting the glob of foam out, she ran her calloused hands underneath the warm water before drawing back.

Something seemed to prick, no, that word didn’t fit at all, something tickled at the back of her mind. A cold feeling washed over her, leaving her knees weak and threatening to give out on her. She glanced over her shoulder and shivered again, goosebumps breaking out across her arms. She glanced back to the mirror and saw Davin’s reflection staring back at her, holding a bloody razor in his right hand. For a moment she was frozen but then her mouth dropped and she let out an ear piercing scream.

The bathroom door flew open and she fell back onto the white carpet. She panted heavily and she felt cold sweat dripping down the side of her face. Davin bent down and helped her up but she flailed wildly. Her eyes were wide with horror as she stared at him.

“Mattie! Mattie, what’s wrong! What’s wrong?” Davin shook her shoulders, getting her to slowly calm down. She was still breathing heavily but her eyes had lost the glazed look. His own hands shook as he watched her and he sat down on the edge of the tub, pulling her down next to him as well.

A cold feeling washed over him as well as he stared into her eyes. Shivers attacked him slowly, racking throughout his tall form. She stared at his jerky movements as he pushed himself away from her. She slid off the side and fell back onto the floor, never taking her gaze off his form. He reached down and grabbed a hold of his left wrist, holding onto it so tightly that she heard a small series of cracks and pops. His knuckles were pure white from him holding them so tight.

“Get away from me,” he hissed quietly, keeping his back turned away from her. She stood on her shaking legs and opened her mouth to take a gulp of air. Tears pricked at her eyes but she wiped them back, this was no time to cry!

“Davin! Davin, what’s wrong?” she kept her voice from a shriek as she watched him bend over slightly and cover his ears tightly. As she reached out to gently touch his shoulder, he slapped her hand away and screamed,

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” she stumbled back in fear and watched him run out of the cabin. She put her hand over her mouth slowly and crumpled back to the bathroom floor. As she gazed at the spot where he had been standing just moments before, she noticed something small and red on the carpet. She crawled over to the tiny object, picked it up between two cautious fingers to stare at a tiny razor, still dripping warm crimson.