Chapter Twenty-Five

Travis

I acted like I was surprised to see Harper again that evening, but the truth was that I’d been walking around for an hour already hoping that she was going to come out of her room. I was almost going to give up when I saw her. She smiled at me and waved shyly.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

“What you doing out here?”

“Walking. Thinking. How about you?” I asked.

“Same.”

“Want to go out for another ride?”

“I’d love to,” she said.

We didn’t talk about what had happened the other night. Instead, we climbed onto the horses and rode out into the field. Harper told me that she had spoken to Jillian and that she and her boyfriend were sorting things out. I could hear the happiness in her voice when Harper spoke about her.

“She’s lucky to have you as a friend,” I said.

“Thank you. I’m lucky to have her too. She’s one of the good ones. Not many of them in this world.”

“Why do you think I like horses so much?” I said. “They will never let you down.”

“Oh, speaking of horses… I think I’m going to buy one when I get back to the city. I found a place that keeps them too. I’m so excited. There’s absolutely no way I can go without having a horse now. It feels like I’ve been riding them my whole life. I’m not sure if that sounds stupid or not. Maybe I’m just some stupid city girl who is going to forget about them the moment I get home, but I don’t think so.”

“I don’t think so either. The connection between you and the horses, especially Thunder, is incredible. I’m glad you’re doing that, Harper.”

“Me too. I spent such a long time today just looking information up on them. I learned a lot. But there’s nothing quite like going for a ride to make you learn even quicker. Thanks for taking me out again tonight. It means a lot to me.”

“It’s a pleasure,” I said. “Although judging by those clouds out there, I don’t think we can be out here for too long.”

The clouds in the distance were very dark, and I couldn’t tell yet if they were moving towards us or away from us. I would have to keep an eye out for it because the weather could change very quickly out here. I made a conscious effort not to go too far out in case we had to hurry back. But, within no time, it was clear the weather was taking a turn for the worst. The dark clouds looked even more ominous than before, and I could see that they were now moving towards us. If we didn’t move soon, we were going to get caught in a horrible storm. As if reading my mind, Harper pointed up to the sky.

“Should we go?” she asked.

“Definitely. This looks like it’s going to be a big one. Come on, let’s go. We’ve thankfully got some time before it hits us.”

We made our way back to the barn, but I stopped when I noticed something in the distance.

“What the hell?” I said as I saw a figure on horseback dressed all in black.

“That’s hilarious. It looks like a bandit out of a movie or something. Although… wait… who is that?” she said, and I could tell that she had gone from being amused to being somewhat frightened.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, it’s not like we’re in the eighteen hundreds here. There shouldn’t be men in black riding around and snatching animals from local ranches. Although that is exactly what that person looks like. Someone is obviously trying to play a joke on us. Hey!” I called out.

“Hey!” Harper called out too. But instead of stopping the figure suddenly began to ride away from us.

“Shit. I’m going to see who it is,” I said.

“I’m coming with,” Harper said before I could stop her.

The moment the bandit saw us coming, he kicked the horse and set it off into a gallop. But he obviously didn’t know what he was doing because the horse began to panic, and we saw it throw the rider off. We rushed up to see what was going on. The man was lying on the ground. He was groaning in pain, and he seemed to have broken his arm. I couldn’t tell who it was because he was wearing a mask and when I asked him he didn’t say anything. Eventually, I climbed off the horse and pulled the mask off.

“Jackson? What the hell is going on?”

“My arm,” he says in pain.

“Forget about the arm for now. Tell me what you are doing out here? And why are you wearing this mask? Are you trying to prank us or something?” I wasn’t even sure why I was so surprised. Out of anyone, I probably should’ve known that it would be Jackson. This was just the sort of weird stunt that a guy like him would try and pull. I was starting to think more and more that there was something wrong with him.

“I’m not pranking you. I promise,” he said.

“Then what are you doing?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve… I’ve been going on night rides, from the first night we got here actually. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. I really wasn’t trying to cause any trouble. That’s why I came out at night. I didn’t want anyone to know about it. I was just… well, I was playing a sort of game. That’s all.”

“A game? What sort of game?” Harper asked. She’d also climbed off her horse and was looking down at Jackson in confusion.

“Uh. Nothing.”

“Jackson, you might as well tell us. Anyway, the quicker we get out of here, the better. Tell us so that we can be done with this,” I said.

He sighed.  “I was planning to stage a mock raid on the ranch, and I was going to steal one of your dairy cows. I thought it would be fun. I mean… I would’ve put the cow back, of course. I wasn’t going to actually put anyone in danger. That’s not what this whole thing is about. I’m not really a bad person. I was just acting out.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Jackson was a little eccentric, but this was taking it a little too far, even for him. I could feel the anger welling up inside me. “Jackson… what the hell were you thinking? How could do that? How could you even consider doing that? Have you lost your mind? You can’t just steal a cow! That’s crazy.”

“I promise I wasn’t going to hurt anyone or the cow. You can see… I’m not even armed. I just wanted to live every part of the cowboy experience. I wanted to fully immerse myself in the characters. I wanted to be the good guy and the bad guy. That’s why I’m all in black now and why I was all in white during the day. I wanted to see what it was like to play both sides. That’s all. There was no harm in it.”

“Well, you’ve managed to break your arm. So there is harm in it. And you could’ve hurt the horse. He was so panicked when you tried to make him gallop. And all this extra riding is not good for him. He’s an old horse, Jackson. In fact, we’ve been worried about him because he’s been looking so tired. We thought he might be sick; now I see that it’s because you’ve been forcing the poor old guy to go out every night.”

“Oh. I didn’t know he was old.”

“And that’s exactly why you shouldn’t be taking the horses out without consent. You clearly don’t know them well enough. Look, there he is. Thank goodness he’s all right. Come on, let’s get you back. I’ll help you onto the horse slowly. We need to get back before the storm.”

We managed to get Jackson back on his horse and the three of us rode very slowly back. Jackson spent the entire time apologizing to us and whining about his arm, which he claimed to be getting worse by the minute. I no longer felt any sympathy towards the guy. In a way, I was glad that his arm was hurting.

“Jackson, you were taking some big risks out there, you know. You shouldn’t be going on night rides. That’s why we are all here. We do rides during the day to keep you safe.”

“Oh yeah? Well, how come you and Harper can go out and ride at night and it’s okay? Why is it only bad if I’m doing it?”

“I took Harper out with me, and we went slowly. Also, I’ve been riding a horse since as long as I can remember, so Harper was safe. I also wasn’t galloping around like an idiot and frightening the poor horse. I know you want the whole experience, but this is getting a little out of hand.” I sighed. I felt bad shouting at him, but it wasn’t good that he was putting himself and the animals in danger. “How’s your arm?”

“Not good,” he said quietly, and I could tell that he meant it.

Eventually, I decided that it was better to take Jackson to the hospital. We secured the horses into the barn and then made our way back to the house to find Mike. When Mike came out, he looked concerned, but I explained to him what happened. I could see that Mike was moving from being amused to being disappointed, which was exactly how I felt too.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take him,” Mike said. “No point us all going.”

“Thanks, Mike. I can’t believe this,” I said to him.

“Yeah, it’s crazy. Well, I’ve told Jackson that he can continue staying with us, but if he tries any more stunts with stealing the horses, even for a few hours, then we’ll call the cops. I can’t have him putting everyone in danger like this. He’s taken the whole thing a bit too far. Thankfully you were out there though. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t caught him. Especially with this big storm coming.”

I nodded. “I know. Thank goodness. Well, the horses are secured in the stable and everything is locked. Hopefully the storm isn’t as bad as we think it’s going to be.”

“I hope not. I better get going so that I can be here before it hits. You guys better get back inside too.” I knew Mike wanted to say something about Harper, but she was standing right there, so he decided not to. But I knew this was going to be a conversation for the next day.

When they were gone, I looked at Harper and chuckled.

“Well, you can’t say we don’t provide the guests with entertainment, hey.”

“Entertainment is putting it mildly. That guy is insane.”

“He is. Well, I’m glad we caught him.”

“Me too. Uh… so… I guess I better head back. Uh, could you drive me? I don’t really want to be walking out there right now.”

“Ah, shit. Mike has the car. Well… never mind. You can come and wait out the storm in my room. I mean… if you don’t mind.”

Harper grinned. “I don’t mind at all.”