New home

“Where do you live dear?” then I remembered his words. “Please, with

you…”

That night changed me forever. I felt alone in this world. My last name

went from Anderson to Odell. I’m now eight years old, my name is Austin Odell, I’m a girl with a boy name. I have an adopted brother now, he helps me keep my life occupied from the accident. Should I be mad that they were the people in the car that killed my hero? Or should I be grateful that my life isn’t a living hell with a biological mother?

I sat on the tire swing on the willow tree in the back yard. Just

thinking. “Austin!” then, just like that. My thoughts disappeared. I looked up from the green, grass ground and I saw my brother walking towards me, “morning preston” I love that name. Preston. “Why did you wake up so early?”

“Huh? Am I not aloud to? I just had… “that” dream again”

“Oh…” his eyes scrolled towards the ground, “you want to talk about it?” he took the single-seat wood swing next to me. It thought about his question, “no… I don’t. Thank you though”

“No problem aus, that’s why I’m here!” he grinned happily, showing a missed tooth. “Really? I thought you were only here to bug me!” I slipped through hole of the tire swing and ran across the field. My best friend running after me.

I now live on a property of twenty acres, with grass as green as it can

get. Preston and I share a black and grey gelding horse named chester. Along with chester there are three other horses in the barn. A tall palomino gelding named streak, a stout buckskin mare name sweet-gum, and an average sized dapple-grey mare with the name fleas. I love all of them, but I think I like sweet-gum the most, but I can’t let chester know this. Then we have three dogs, a black and tan male German Shepard named dacota, a black and white female German Shepard named skye and a border collie female puppy named breezy; I thought of that name. In addition to those three dogs, we have three cats, a pitch black tom named alex, a black and white female with the name princey, and a calico tortoise shell female name siaah. Even though I’ve only been here for a couple years, rhia and Jason still treat me like I’m their own kid. I live in a three story cream white house. The kitchen, living room, first bathroom and laundry room on the bottom floor. My bed room, preston’s bed room and rhia and jasons bed room on the second floor. At the top is our huge attic, office, inside play place and above all, it has the best look out over the property.

Preston and I stopped running when we reached a large hill. I wore a

white dress that went under my knees, and I could feel it being played with by the wind. Preston, with his hazel eyes, dusty brown hair and small dimple smile made me feel like I was never going to get hurt. He wore his usual dark blue jeans and a grey shirt, but you can’t forget his favorite red ball cap. “Preston…”

“Yes austin…”

“Why are we not aloud to go past this hill? I forgot…”

“Because, mom and dad aren’t really sure about what is in the swamp below…” it’s true. Right below the hill, it a gloomy swamp, the only part that makes it beautiful is the weeping willows above it, making it cast a gloomy yet beautiful state. “We should explore it sometime”

“Yea, sometime, but not this time”

“Why?”

“Because… you it!” he tagged by arm and ran back over and sped down. I didn’t run after him at first, I stare at the swamps lost depressing beauty, then I slowly turn around and run after.

That whole day went by slowly, while preston went out to play with his

original neighborhood friends, I was lying down on the grass, watching the white fluffs in the sky roll by. Did you think I did it alone? I had company, my only three non-human friends, siaah, breezy and sweet-gum. Siaah slept next to my right side, breezy was on my left side, and sweet-gum was grazing on the grass near by. “Why does today seem so… different from others?” I looked up when I heard jasons voice. “What do you mean?”

“Is it just me? Or does today seem slow from others?”

“Yes, it does seem a little bit different…” I lied back down in the same imprint on the grass from before. He sat next to me, stroking breezy “would you like to do something tonight?”

“Why tonight? It’s Sunday…” there was a small silence then he stood up. “Well, tell me when you figure it out alright?” he kissed the top of my head. Something else I got used to when growing up here. “When is preston coming back?” he looked back and smiled, “I’m guessing he’ll be back in about an hour of so. Why don’t you find something to do? I’m pretty sure you can put a saddle on sweet-gum and explore the property”

“Really? I can ride her!” I sat up and she looked up too.

“It wouldn’t hurt, besides, you’re the only one who really looks after her” he patted sweet-gums neck and walked back to the house. “Breezy” the puppy looked up at me and sat up, “would you take siaah back to the house while I get sweet-gum ready?” the dog sneezed and pushed siaah with her nose and the two went back to the house.

“Austin? Austin where are you!” sweet-gum and took a trip around

the swamps, to stay away from trouble. As soon as my name was called, sweet-gum looked up, “hey watch it preston, I have sweet with me”

“Oh sorry… why is she out here? Why are you not riding chester?”

“Jason said it was okay for me to take her out, besides she was already out of her pin” his head poked out of the bushes then he crawled the rest of the way through. “Did you have a good time with mark and red?”

“Yea, we played football and splashed by the lake…” he didn’t sound to enthused about it. “Did something happen?” normally he would have a long story set up for this. “Well today, mark said something to me that that slightly bugs me…”he said it quietly, but loud enough for me to hear. “Would you like to tell me?”

“It would make you feel a little uncomfortable…”

“I’ve been uncomfortable before preston. When I first came here?”

“Well, that was different!” what could possible be so bad that he can’t tell me? “Just tell me!” I gave a sweet smile, just like I always do. “Well, mark said that he thinks he likes you…”

“He thinks?” even though it is nice that a guy likes me, I think I was getting mad. “Yea, he thinks, he isn’t sure”

“Weird kid that one is…”

“Yea I guess so…” he shrugged it off and looked at sweet-gum. “I think you like sweet-gum more than chester…” he chuckled. “What are you talking about!”

“You stay extra long in sweet-gums pen, than in chesters…”

“Okay, maybe I do. Sweet-gum is adorable, I love her! Chester is nice, but I still like sweet-gum”
“I promise I’ll keep it a secret from chester…” he stroked her mane then threw a rock towards the willow trees. “Want to head back?”

“I guess so…”

“Want to ride double?”

“Can sweet-gum do that?”

“I know her better than you, trust me”

“Slow her down austin!” he sounded scared, but to me it said ‘faster,

faster’. We were racing across the property, past the willows, over forgotten logs. And through large puddles. “Austin!” sweet-gum was sweating, you could feel her thrusting forwards with every hard step. “Austin!” Then I forgot that preston was screaming behind me. “Sweet-gum, steady!” she started to slow her pace, but not too quick. She wet from a fast run, to a slower run, lope, long trot, trot then a snorting walk. “Don’t ever do that when I’m on here!” he was scared, I could feel his hands shaking on my waist. “It’s alright preston!”

“No it isn’t! We’re not supposed to do that”

“Sometimes preston…you have to break the rules”

Later that night, after dinner, watching the stars, and getting ready for

bed. Preston fell asleep eventually, but me? I snuck out of the room and went to the third floor. Siaah followed me; leaving her mother princey in bed. Then we snuck out the balcony window to lie on the small porch. The truth is, is that I know why it was a slow day. I know why it was different. I know why Jason suggested that I should pick for something to do tonight. It was different, because today would be a full two years since the accident. A full two years of suffering this word with out a blood relative by my side. But a full two years of happiness and not looking back at my sad past.