"Hi Cooper." I walked into the old, large red barn that I had behind my blue house, Zayn following close behind with a big yellow water bucket. "This is so heavy..." he complained as I shot him a little look. "And I do that everyday at 7 am, by myself, in 40 degree temperatures now, without complaining." I chuckled, shaking my head while refilling just one of my phenomanal horse's water troughs. The barn I had was huge. I seemed so lucky to some people and they all wished to be me sometimes. But they really shouldn't, because they have no idea what I went through.
My parents are dead. And wherever I go, I have to read someone because I am a physic medium... and people have hated me for that. They get angry that I am expected to help and tell the people that their dead realitive loves them, and that my time is sometimes limited with the people who are with me out and about. The nice thing about Zayn is that he accpets me for who I am, and doesn't care if I have to read people at every store we might go to. He actually thinks it's nice -- and even though it isn't his gift, he still loves it and is amused.
"It's because you're used to it!" Zayn defended himself histericaly as I got snapped back into sad reality. All I did was laugh and started feeding the rest of the horses some brown oats. Doing just feeding the horses took 25 minutes at least. It's because there were different parts of the barn. One stall area on one side, one on the completley oppsite side. The stable had all of this: a lounge that overlooked the indoor arena that is also heated with a little black TV in the corner, a little kitchen that included just a black and white fridge and seemingly high - tech microwave, a little round pen for beginner lessons and for the lunge line for horses, a lesson pen that was seperate from any of the pastures, two restrooms, a wash stall and little outdoor places to wash off some horses, a fairly large tack room, a room where all the jumps and stuff are kept which is sometimes hard to get to, and six indivual turnouts that could hold 13 horses each. We had tons of room though on the property, I could build something more if I wanted to, but for now it's just a grassy, empty field just sitting there. Nothing is probably going to happen to it for a long time.
Soon enough, every horse was thankfully, fully fed the darkish brown oats. I took out faboulos Cooper and majestic Summertime, two beautiful Quarter Horses in my two freezing hands. "Come on, guys." Zayn murmered as he grabbed two more strong horses, Sunset and Skylark, and had them follow out behind me, from the wood chip smelling barn to the lush green turnout. "Run free!" I spoke softly as I unclipped their loose leads. Cooper took off, galloping around with Summertime. His mucles bunched and released majestically under his great brown coat. Cooper head his head proudly as his silky jet black mane and tail flowed in the high winds. The red roan Summertime chased him. "Hopefully he won't jump the fence again..." Zayn winked as I elbowed him slightly. "You can not get that off your mind can you? That was like 5 months ago!" I reminded him, giggling uncontrollably. "Well horses don't forget." Zayn replied back innocently, not really knowing if he was right or not. "Says the wise guy who also said that horses skipped." I rolled my eyes sarcastically while chuckling. A lot of people think I'm actually being rude to him, but I'm not. Zayn is the one person I am truly comfortable to say what I want around, and joke with without worry of being slammed or anything. But as we were joking, we barely travled 5 small steps towards the barn again to turn out more nice horses. "Walk faster!" I grabbed his sleeve-covered arm, pulling him along. Then we were finally back at the old barn as the sunlight shone in through the minuature windows in each gigantic stall. "Come on Midnight... let's go Storm." I talked yet again to the horses, clipping their leads on to their red halters and walking them out to the same pasture that the other horses were in, playing some sort of horse game. I could tell Zayn shook his head with dark black hair from behind me because he decided to state, "you know Nicole, you don't need to talk every time to the horses." he chuckled, clealry kidding. I just shook my head, stifling the laughs. I finally found out the horses he decided to lead out, which were old Frankie and Nemo, who was a beautiful paint horse.

"Only four more to go... one more trip." I huffed, already out of breath. I was walking the horses so much! "Well at least we're getting our exercise..." Zayn teased. "Oh please, I get my exercise trying to catch Molly when she doesn't want the lunge line clipped on." I hit him lightly on the shoulder while shaking my head with closed eyes.
A half of an hour later, I was done with turning the horses out. All were out except Shooting Star, the very shy but gorgeous paint horse mare. "Oh... little one... wanna go on a trail ride?" I cooed after Zayn had gone into the house probably to get something to eat. I was getting out the black english saddle, the white soft saddle pad, and black bridle with white fake diamonds bridle. The woolish pad seemed perfect for the 35F chilly degree weather at 8 am in the morning today. I put the lined with wool pad on, then got the lovely english saddle on. I grabbed the girth, tying it in the saddle. Soon enough, I was done with the saddle. I got the black bridle with the fake diamonds and put it on, slipping the bit into its mouth, repeating the words mentally what my childhood instructor said: ~They don't MEAN to take your finger off, it was just because you weren't putting the bridle on right!~. Little did that very nice instructor know, that has stuck with me gratefully through the 8 years that she told that to me. "We're all ready! Let's go practice jumping!" I declared proudly. I took her out to the arena, letting her warm up with walking and trotting over some poles. I could tell Star's mucsles were being worked nicely. "Okay Star, you can do this." I worked her over the one foot jumps, going into the two foot jumps, then the three foot red and blue high jumps. Star was my best horse for jumping and is always entered by the kids for lessons in showjumping. The little sweet mare is also really good for beginners, but so is the brown horse Cooper, so she has a little bit of competition. I cantered her around the arena, checking myself to make sure my heels were down, I was sitting up straight, my shoulders were down, and I was in good position. I was. I soon signaled her to gallop as she followed instructions, moving her legs faster to move gaits. The gallop seemed to let me race away at top speed from all the worries in my seemingly at times miserable life. "Whoa." I pulled back on the reins and Star slowed to a trot, then to a walk, my arm throbbing. I stretched, and it instantly felt better. "Okay Star, great job today. Remember, lesson in a few hours with a little one! Be careful, which I know you will." I patted her and swung my left leg to my right, slipped it out of the sturrip, and pushed off, grabbing the reins to lead her to the turnout. But when my back was turned, I heard claps. My heart stopped, ready to jump and run with Star.

But luckily it was just Zayn, who takes pleasure in spooking me and sometimes my horse when I'm least expecting it. "Oh my gosh... don't give me a heart attack again, okay?" I felt my heart, which was beating fast now, slow. "No promises." he smirked as I just facepalmed, getting ready to walk again. I led her to the last turnout. I unclipped her halter as she instantly started galloping again because there was less horses in that turnout, therefore having more room to be happy go lucky and carefree. Zayn tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a carrot, as the deep orange caught Star's beautiful dark brown quarter shaped eye. She trotted over. I handed it to her as she chewed slowly, the orange being crunched up inside her mouth by her powerful teeth. I patted her, then when she was done chewing, I started running at top speed around the pasture as she chased me, whinnying alone the way. A lot of people ask why I do that and risk my precious life, just running around with my horse. I say becasue I do happen trust my life with a 1500 pound animal and wouldn't ever doubt that. Seems crazy, but crazy and disorganized is the defination of my life. Some people just don't understand that!
I walked back to the great big but old stable, panting for breath, as I grabbed the hose and refilled the waterbuckets for the horses that needed it. I saw the bright silver car pull in the gravel driveway from the front barn. *Oh! That's Christiana.* I thought, remembering the beaming face of the ten year old when I told her that she was a fantastic rider and should lease a horse. Sadly, her family does not have the money to buy or lease one. But I let her pretend lease blue roan Midnight in some times; if she has a fantastic lesson, doing everything perfectly, the next lesson I add a half hour where I just watch her do everything as if Midnight was her own horse free of charge for her mother. "Zayn, that's Christiana... get Midnight out and tie him to the crossties, quick!" I instructed rushely, walking to get the tack to tack him up. I tacked up the quickest ever, and he was ready for her to ride. "Hi" Christiana said shyly. "Hey Chrissy! We'll be riding in the outdoor today -- there are some two footers out there that you can practice." I grinned, handing Christiana the reins to lead him out. I rushed ahead of her, unlocking the 6 foot green gate that usually gives me a hard time, to the outdoor arena. She led her horse in, and mounted fantastic. "Okay, I would like you to walk around left." I instructed. "Zayn, take over for a minute. Cooper's lesson is next and I have to groom him. The kid is five and so clumsy!" I announced giggling, walking to the back stables while Zayn opened the gate and stood in the middle of the arena. "How's school going?" he questioned. I could just hear him as I got the glove and silver curry comb, currying the horse's fur. That took a good five minutes. "Oh shoot." I said, looking at my watch. *Her lesson is in 10 minutes! I gotta hurry.* I pushed myself through the whisk brush, the mane and tail brush, and hoofpicking. I also had to clean out his eyes and nose from the chilly outdoor weather. By that time, it was time for the lesson of Christiana's to end. I frowned... I didn't get to spend time with her! "I'm sorry Christiana, you have to dismount... the lesson is over. Tell ya what, tomorrow, we can pretend that you are leasing Midnight again." I decided as I leaned over the gate, having Zayn help her dismount. "How'd she do, Zayn? Which jumps did you let her jump?" I asked him, thinking he probably did the wrong ones yet again. He nodded his head. "Great! Was a real showjumper. Oh, and she jumped the red and blue bar jumps." Zayn answered. "Oh Zayn, no! The red and blue jumps are three feet! The yellow barred jumps are the two feet ones!" I was laughing but worried at the same time. "Oh... whoops..." Zayn realized, his brown highlighted eyes as wide as ever. I facepalmed. "Sometimes I think you shoud go back to first grade to learn feet again." I joked. I could see such a difference in the jumps. I mean... two feet and three feet are way different! "And I think you should really look at them. They're like an inch away from each other!" Zayn replied, stifling laughs. "I rest my case." I giggled, putting my hands to my thighs and my head down. "Okay, now time for actually serious things. Sorry about Zayn, Christiana, he makes a lot of mistakes." I mumbled to her, clearly joking.

The five year old wasn't showing up. She did not show up for any part of her lesson. "Wonder where she is..." I wondered out loud. "But I'm going to get the horses in again. They have spent enough time in the pasture now." I rose to my feet with Zayn following. We both led all of the horse in, which did take a long time. Well, time we now had because the five year old blew us off!
Though when I entered the barn this time. Nothing seemed right. My physic/medium skills were kicking in. There is something in the barn -- energy. There was a ghost in the barn, at my house, that was not there 10 minutes ago. And who knows how it got there. What was I to do?