The Haunter (part 1)

by Summer
(PMB South Africa)

Note from the author: This is the first part of the two-part story I’ve written. I haven’t gone over the story properly so it’s still raw and not well-written. Comment if you like it.
“The Haunter” is a story of a girl, Chelsea, who moves with her family to a farm deep in the hills of the Free State. Accidently, Chelsea comes upon a mare living out in the hills. She finds that she is able to understand what the mare says. But she soon finds that this mare is not a normal one and has a mission to complete……….



As soon as I laid sight on the farm, I fell in love with it. So did Mom, Dad, my older sister Brittany and my older brother Kevin. It was set on a tall, gently-sloping hill, surrounded by trees, big rocks and small bushes that dotted the hillside. All around there where rolling hills as far as your eye could see, and down below in the valley a crystal-clear stream flowed. It was like a heaven on earth.
I turned to look at my parents. They where standing silently, holding hands, a blissful contented look on their faces as if they’d slaved for years to buy the farm and now all the land they could see was theirs. I could tell, that very instant that we where going to have the farm. The owner of the farm had warned that the land was not good for growing crops, but Dad had said we could raise goats and chickens here and sell them.
Whatever, I thought. So long as we get to live here.
“This place is beautiful,” Mom broke the silence. “It’s so …….peaceful. I just love it here.”
“Then,” Dad said “we’ll buy this farm.”
I did nothing but smile but inside my heart leaped with joy. Yes, we where going to live here! On a farm with fresh clean air. Away from the stale, polluted city air. Away from the cars and the noise, the buildings and shops and everything else that I hate about the city. I’m a country girl, I belong in the country and that is where I am going to stay.
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It’s amazing how, when your parents really want to do something, they do it so quickly. It was less then a month before everything was sorted out and we where now living on the farm. I’d been so busy unpacking for the past few days that I had not got a chance to explore the farm. Besides, winter had come in the weather was freezing. But I managed to bundle myself in some warm clothes and escape out into the cold wintery air.
I was busy exploring the hill opposite the one our house was on when I spotted a movement in the corner of my eye. A big white animal, the size of a cow or even bigger, moved swiftly across the hillside. I spun round but the creature had gone. I stared at the spot where I had seen it moving but there was nothing there. And yet I was sure that I had seen it. I decided to go and investigate. But when I got to the spot where I had seen it, there was nothing but a few pine trees, standing sadly and silently, with all their power they would not be able to tell me what had moved before them only a few minutes ago.
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A week later, it snowed. When I woke up, a thick blanket of snow covered the ground and draped itself over every object and plant in the landscape. After breakfast, I asked Mom if I could take Skye and Eskimo our two Alaskan Malamutes for a long walk. As soon as I let them out of the back door, they went crazy, chasing each other, gambolling like puppies and digging holes in the snow. It was not hard to see that it was their natural habitat and they where completely at home in it.
I decided to go and explore the opposite hill. Sky and Eskimo trotted happily besides me as I trudged through the deep snow. When I got to the other hill, I noticed the dogs where sniffing furiously in the snow. I looked down to see a trail of fresh hoof prints. They looked like horses ones. Sky and Eskimo ran along them, their noses glued to the ground as they tracked down the animal. I ran after them, wondering all the while who the owner of the hoof prints where. Then, as we came round a clump of bushes, there not far away from us stood a snow white horse. It was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Like a mythical unicorn, only without a horn, the horse stood looking down on the valley. It swished its tail, not as if there was flies but as if in deep thought.
As soon as they saw the horse the horses dashed after it.
“Sky! Eskimo! Come back!,” I shouted. But they ignored me. My shout startled the horse who wheeled round and at the sight of two big black-and-white Alaskan Malamutes, it turned and smartly trotted away over the snow with the dogs in hot pursuit. I tried running after them but they where too quick and soon disappeared round the hillside. Tired, I sat down on a rock to catch my breath back. I wondered whether I should go after the dogs or go home. I decided I’d sit and wait for a while. It wasn’t too long before Sky and Eskimo returned. With their ashamed looks you could see they where ready for my scolding.
“You bad boys!,’ I almost shouted at them. “Why did you run of like that? You scared the poor horse.”
At once the dogs dropped their tails and heads in shame and gave me a look of pure misery.. But I didn’t fall for their trick by petting them and saying I was sorry as they wanted me to do. I turned round and headed back home and the two dogs slunk silently behind me. But by the time we’d reached the house they’d forgotten I’d scolded them and where trotting merrily by my side.
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“Dad, are there any wild horses living around here?” I asked my father that night.
“Wild horses? Of course not,” Dad laughed. “Where ever did you get that idea from?”
“I saw a horse today,” I said. “I was walking the dogs out in the hills today and I saw it. First I saw it’s hoof prints in the snow and the dogs followed the scent till we came to a horse. It was a grey one standing all alone on the hillside. Sky and Eskimo chased it away. Whose horse do you think it is?”
Dad frowned. “Are you sure you saw a horse? Our nearest neighbour is a guy called William Warner and he doesn’t have any horses. Maybe the horse is lost or something.”
Maybe, I thought. But it was something about the way I’d seen it scan the valley with an almost human-like air of concentration that convinced me it wasn’t just any lost horse.
It seemed like a mystery, albeit a silly one, but I decided to leave it for tomorrow.
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For the next few days I saw nothing of the mysterious horse. I almost gave up looking for it. Then one night the snow fell thicker than ever and in the morning I decided to climb the hill opposite our house and take a picture of the snow covered house. Trudging through the thick snow was hard but finally I got to the top. I’d been so busy taking photos that I didn’t realize a silent figure standing not far away from me. It was only when I turned to my left did I notice the horse. Standing there quietly, its eyes showing cool calmness the horse gazed placidly at me. It was so white it had blended perfectly with the snow all around it, which was probably the reason why I had not noticed it at first. Standing so close to it I could see it was a mare. From her small beautiful body, big black eyes, neatly carved ears that where pricked forward and her delicate legs it was clear, even to those who know little about horses, that she was an Arab. She was such a dainty creature that I dared not move in case I scared her. Kneeling in a photographer position, I stared at her and she stared back.
Suddenly, as if struck by lightening, I realized that I could understand what she was trying to tell me. It came as such a shock that my mind went completely blank. I was dreaming, right? I mean even a horse whisperer couldn’t understand every word a horse said. But here I was, before this mare who was looking directly at me, asking me with her heart.
“What about me amazes you so?”
I heard her voice clearly in my brain. I knew I couldn’t be imagining it, but I was too astounded to reply. Again the mare looked at me and asked “Why do you stare at me like that?”
I just stared at her goggle-eyed. The mare took a step forward “You are not a statue, are you?”
I cringed back, terrified of this ghost-like creature that spoke to me in her own language. Seeing me scared, the mare took a step back and with a glint of amusement in her eye, asked “You are afraid of me. Why?”
Finally, after a lot of struggling, I managed to say the words in my heart. “You…….can speak?”
“Does that surprise you?”
“Yes,” I stammered. “I never knew I could ever understand horse-language.”
“Well, you can understand me,” said the mare. (I shall use the word “said” although the mare did not speak with her tongue but with her heart)
“Why?” I asked
“Because I am different”
“What do you mean?”
“I,” declared the mare with a tint of pride in her eyes “am a ghost”