The next morning, Moriah woke up to steel walls around her. For a moment, she was confused and slightly nervous, but then felt soft fur on her back and saw Layla pressed up against her, snoring softly. She looked up and found that everybody else was still asleep. She checked her watch: 5:21 a.m. With a jolt, she remembered what was going on: the camping trip, and the fact that she wasn’t allowed to go exploring without her parents. She inwardly groaned in silent frustration; her parents tended to sleep in until at least 9:45 when they didn’t have to go to work. Her legs itched with the temptation to leave the trailer to explore, but she stopped herself, deciding to read in bed until everybody was awake or she got bored. Moriah also remembered that it was her and Autumn’s thirteenth birthday the next day. She didn’t want to make a big deal of it, though; she didn’t like a fuss being made over her, and generally preferred other events over her birthday. By nine a.m., the light had finally snaked its way through the curtains and into the eyes of the Stone family, which finally woke them up. “Good morning,” Autumn said, stifling a yawn. “Morning,” Moriah replied, much more awake than Autumn. “Good morning, Moriah and Autumn!” her mom called across the trailer, “I have a surprise for you!” “What is it?” Autumn asked, her voice ringing with curiosity. “If it arrived on time, it should be waiting outside the door.” Immediately, Moriah and Autumn jumped out of bed and pulled the trailer door open. Moriah let out a gasp. Standing across the field were five majestic horses tethered to trees, who were grazing and swishing their tails to keep flies away. Moriah loved horses. She had wanted to take riding lessons for years, but her parents couldn’t afford it. “Surprise! I rented horses for our family for the entire afternoon, and we will learn the basics of riding from Mr. Boston,” her mom said, excitement in her dark blue eyes. Moriah looked at her mom, joy and gratitude in her eyes, and quickly stepped out of the trailer, struggling to contain her excitement. She glanced at Autumn who had the same expression of overflowing excitement. “Hi, I am Mr. Boston. I will be your trail guide this morning. I will also be teaching the basics of horseback riding,” Mr. Boston called in a friendly tone, “what is your name?” “M-Moriah Stone,” Moriah stuttered, unprepared to speak with anybody. Mr. Boston gestured to the horse that was standing to the far right, “This is Liberty. He will be your horse for today, if he likes you. He is rather selective when it comes to his rider, so don’t be offended if he doesn’t. He also used to take part in barrel racing, so he tends to be very antsy and energetic.” Liberty was a beautiful dusky brown gelding with a star on his forehead that was partially obscured by his forelock. He also had one white sockette on his left foreleg. Moriah nodded silently and, after picking some grass for him, walked over to the horse, taking a deep breath. “Hey, boy…,” she murmured softly, holding out an arm. Liberty looked up and whickered curiously, sniffing her hand. He then began nibbling the grass hungrily, lipping Moriah’s hand after to make sure there wasn’t any grass left. Moriah gently stroked Liberty’s face, taking a breath and trying to hold back her excitement. A few minutes later, her family had gotten dressed and come out of the trailer. Autumn, trembling with excitement, had been paired with a palomino mare named Caper, Mrs. Stone was riding a dapple grey named Tundra, and Mr. Stone was riding a white gelding named Shiloh. Mr. Boston was riding a white and dark brown paint horse, which he called Chief. They brought Layla outside and placed her in Mrs. Stone’s enormous saddle bag that she had rented for this occasion. Layla curled up inside and stuck her head out of the top. While the Stone family got to know their horses, Mr. Boston demonstrated how to mount and control the horses. After about twenty minutes, they were finally ready to mount. Moriah took a deep breath, put her leg in the stirrup, and got on Liberty. She gathered her reins and took a deep breath, trying to keep her excitement from taking over. “Okay, whenever you’re ready, put your hands forward for your horse to go. If they don’t move, give them a click and a light kick. Moriah took a deep breath and brought her hands to around the base of Liberty’s neck. He quickly began to move at a fast walk, trying to go to the front of the group.
“Easy…,” she murmured, running her hands through Liberty’s silky mane. Liberty slowed down slightly, now at the head of the group, and instinctively followed the well-trodden path that led away from the campsite. Moriah glances back, letting Liberty continue forward. Autumn had begun to urge her horse on to catch up with Moriah. “Hi,” Autumn called over to Moriah, now at her heels, “isn’t this amazing?” “Yeah,” Moriah breathed, focusing on Liberty’s smooth movements. She had picked up on the necessary movements to ride a horse pretty quickly and was now riding at a smooth trot. She was amazed; she had dreamed of this for so long and now it had become a reality. Moriah and Autumn rode side by side in silence for quite a while, their parents a few meters behind and Mr. Boston taking up the rear. Moriah started to drift into her thoughts, thinking of all the times she had spent thinking about her sister. Flashback Moriah scratched her pencil on canvas, lightly outlining the figure of a dragon. She decided to give it the element of water; in one of the book series she had read, there had been dragons that had breathed underwater, and she figured she would do something similar. After the basic sketch, she added details; small claws and fins running down the dragon’s back, a small eye that made the dragon look full of life, the pattern of scales running down the dragon’s neck, back, and tail, and small webs between each talon. After placing her watercolour and acrylic paints beside her, Moriah grabbed a paintbrush and started on the background. She drew the figure of seaweed and a small school of fish swimming just above the dragon. For the dragon, she used a cloudy light blue, carefully outlining the scales in a very slightly darker colour. Moriah then filled in the fins with a pearlescent pink, the eye black with a slight hint of blue in the iris, and, finally, used a charcoal black acrylic paint for the talons and neatly crafted her signature in the same colour. Moriah gazed down at the dragon. I’ll give this to Autumn, she thought. Moriah and Autumn’s shared birthday was coming up soon, and Moriah had wanted to make her something. Moriah carefully scrawled a note in neat cursive and, on top of it, added the new acrylic set that she had planned to give Autumn for months. She finally placed the painting and the acrylic set together in her box of sketchbooks, figuring that nobody would find them in there. I hope Autumn likes this… As the hours went by, the Stone family stopped to eat a quick lunch. After getting off of their horses and tying them up to graze, they pulled out a few sandwiches and began to eat. “This is amazing…,” Moriah said quietly to Autumn, stroking Liberty’s neck while slowly eating her sandwich. Autumn glanced over from her horse, who was tied next to Liberty, “Yeah, definitely. It feels like you’re flying, riding a horse.” Moriah nodded, making small circles on Liberty’s fur with her fingers. She leaned gently onto his neck and sighed, spacing out. “Time to mount up!” Mr. Boston called after about fifteen minutes, “We have almost an hour left before we have to head back to camp. Moriah eagerly got ready to mount again, getting onto a fallen log so she wouldn’t need a leg up. After everyone got ready, she mounted, going at a quick trot and ahead of the group. Autumn rode up beside her, and they talked for a few minutes. Moriah looked forward. She could see through a gap in the trees they were approaching a field. She slowed down, weaving through the thick underbrush until she was finally in the field. Once she was, she went into a smooth canter for the first time, leaving everybody except Autumn, who was still following beside her, behind. She and Autumn laughed joyfully as their horses went faster and faster, now almost at a gallop. Moriah moved with the horse, which made it not too difficult to stay on. After about a minute, Moriah heard somebody calling them. “Hey!” the gruff voice shouted angrily, “this is private property! Get out of here before I grab my gun!” A jolt of complete and utter fear coursed through Moriah. She stopped to a standstill for a moment, then took off after Autumn as quickly as she could. She could hear bangs in the distance, likely the man shooting the air, trying to spook the horses and get them to go faster. As they finally exited the property and halted to catch their breath, Moriah became aware that she and Liberty were both trembling with fear and exhaustion. Sweat covered Liberty, and his heavy breathing echoed through the trees. The two girls soon became aware of their parents calling them. “Moriah! Autumn! Where are you!?” she heard her dad bellow. “Over here!” Autumn called back, glancing anxiously at her sister. Chapter 2 part 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/413919484/
