the missing horse

The Missing Horse by ♥Animalluver♥

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

I woke up with a start.  What was happening? I thought.

I rushed down the stairs and into the stable.  I found the thirty-year old stall-cleaner, Jamie Cooper, pointing at the door to the field.

“What’s wrong?” I asked Jamie frantically.

“Thief!” Jamie said.  “Thief!  He’s getting away!  Hurry!  Get him, Mina!!!”

“Whoa, whoa.  Slow down.  Tell me what happened,” I told Jamie.

Jamie explained that when she was cleaning the stalls, she saw a purple shirted man run out of the door with April, my favorite horse.

“What?!  Are you telling me that a man kidnapped my horse?” I cried.  Now it was my turn to get angry.  “Are you kidding me?!  What are you doing here?!?  Why didn’t you stop him?!?  She’s my favorite horse!!!”

I was nuts until dad came down.  He’s the chief detective of Lanewood.

“What’s wrong Junior Detective Mina?” He asked.  “April was stolen?”

“Yeah,” I answered.  “I’m going to find her!”

As I was rushing out of the door, my best friend, Surim Lee, bumped into me.

“Oh sorry,” said Surim.  “What’s the rush?”

I explained the situation to Surim.  As I explained it, her eyes widened until I thought her eyes would burst out.

“Are you kidding me?” Surim was angry.  She loved horses as much as I did.  “Who would want to steal April?  No one would, unless…  No, it’s not possible.”  Surim shook her head.

“What?  What’s not possible?” I asked anxiously.

“Well… It is possible to, you know, sell her?” Surim asked as she watched my face expression.

That was a good point!  I patted Surim on the back.

“That is possible,” I agreed.  “I thought-”

I got interrupted by dad.

“Mina!  Surim!  Come quickly!”

“I wonder what dad wants,” I said.  “Come on Surim!”

We rushed out to the stalls, where dad was.

“Look!  Footprints!” cried dad.

Sure enough, when I looked, I saw shoe prints and horse prints!  As I tracked them down, I could tell that the person was tall, and that he or she was in a hurry.

As I explained my thoughts to Surim, dad, and Julia, Surim moved closer and closer to the field door.

“Mina!  There’s more!” Surim cried excitedly.

We followed the tracks to the field, and saw more footprints leading to Minsurlia Forest.  As we trudged up the mountain, the tracks stopped.

“Where did it go?” Surim asked.  “Oh!”

“What?” I asked.  “What’s wrong?”

Surim stooped over to pick up a hair clip.  “Look!” she cried.

I looked at the hair clip.  It still had some hair in it.  I took the hair, put it in tissue paper, then put it in my pocket.

“Let’s go tell dad.”

We ran all the way to the stalls, nonstop.  There, we found the cops, Keith, dad, and Jamie.

“…Come on!  You have to believe me!”  Jamie cried.  “Keith is wearing a purple shirt!”

“Now,” said one of the officers.  “Just because Keith is wearing a purple shirt, it doesn’t mean that he stole the horse.”

“Hey dad!” I said.  “What’s happening?”

“Oh,” dad sighed.  “Jamie thinks that Keith stole April.”

“It’s true!” urged Jamie.  “I know for sure that it is Keith!”

It was possible for 40 year old Keith to steal April.  He has been eyeing the horses everyday at our farm.  Just last year, he asked to buy April!  But, what about the situation about the hair clip?

“Oh dad, Surim and I found this in the forest.”  I showed dad the hair clip.

“Hmmm… Good observation.”  Dad tucked it in his shirt pocket.

“Maybe we should lock up Keith just in case,” said one of the officers, whom Jamie calls Officer Kent.

The officers directed Keith Luu into their police car.  All this time, Keith had a blank expression.  He didn’t even try to stop the officers.

“Yes, that should do it!” Jamie said happily.  “I’m sure that Keith is the thief!”

As everyone went inside, Surim took me aside and whispered, “Do you think Keith is the thief?  It could be someone else.  Besides, we have no proof!”

“That’s a good point,” I whispered back.  “Let’s go back to Minsurlia Forest and explore some more.”

Once more, we hiked all the way up to the mountain to the spot where we found the hair clip.

“I’m tired of all this,” Surim complained.  She leaned against a rock.  “Whoooooa!!!!!”

I looked up just in time to see the rock move!

“Surim!  Are you okay?” I asked frantically.

Surim rubbed her behind.  “I guess… Hey look!  A cave!”

Sure enough, there was a small hole with a ladder!

“Let’s climb down!”  I said excitedly.

Surim climbed down first, then I followed.

Snort.  Snort.

“April?  Are you there?  April?!” I cried.

“April!  There you are!  Oh, April!”  Surim said.

April was chained in a corner, but no locks were on it.  We quickly got her free.

“So this is the thief’s hideout!”  Surim exclaimed.  “I wonder who the thief is.”

I went over to a table.  “Look, there’s a picture!”  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was Jamie!

“Jamie?  JAMIE?!  She stole April?”  Surim was surprised.

Thump.  Thump.

“Get out of my cave, now!”  Jamie peered through the hole.  “YOU!  Oh, this is all unbelievable!”

“Surim,” I screamed.  “Get April out, now!  Run to dad and tell him to come here, quickly!”

Jamie jumped into the hole and tackled Surim.

“Umph!” Surim shrieked. “Let me go!”

I jumped on Julia.  “Let her go!  You should be arrested!”  As I was pounding Julia, Surim quickly got out of the hole, and took April with her.

“No!  Come back here little brat!  You little…” Jamie snarled.

“Hurry Surim!  Get out and get dad!”  I shouted to Surim.

“Oh no you won’t!” cried Jamie.

I looked at her as I saw a fist collide into my face…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mina?  Mina?  Oh good!  She’s coming back!”
I opened my eyes to see 4 pairs of eyes looking at me.

“Unh,” I groaned.  “What happened?”

“We caught Jamie, Mina!  We caught Jamie!”  Surim answered.

It was all coming back to me.  The fight, the punch in the face…  I felt my face.  It was fine.

“How long was I knocked out for?” I mumbled.

“30 minutes.  But it was okay.  That was quite a blow!”  One officer said.

“I’m proud of you Mina!” Dad said.  “Surim came right away, and called the police.  We came as quickly as possible.”
The two officers looked at me.  I recognized one as Officer Kent.  “You deserve an award.  Tomorrow, check the newspaper!”
Officer Kent chuckled and said, “Brian, let’s go.  Give these people some rest.”

I recovered quickly, and got up soon.  Surim and I celebrated the next day, and I was sure that I would never forget this time ever again…

–

Story added on September 24, 2008

Created on September 17, 2008