Story #37: Natasha's Day Out

Natasha's Day Out

     Natasha always grew up around horses. Her parents owned a horse trail rides and

so she was always around them, whether she liked it or not. From a very young age

she always loved them. Her parents were very protective of Natasha since she was

their only child since it was very hard for Natasha’s mom to get pregnant. It took 5

years for their little girl Natasha to come along. It was a up and down battle but in the

end they were really happy that they got Natasha; she was truly a miracle.

     From the young age of six, she started riding horses. And all the time! After school,

she’d go straight for her favorite horse named Roxie. It was a black mustang and as

much as people thought that that mustang would be wild, which normally it was, when

it got around Natasha, it was calm. In a state of relaxation. No one knew how she did it;

everyone just could see that they had a connection and that no one could take that

away from them. She rode Roxie every single day and for at least an hour a day.

Although Roxie was a mustang, she wasn’t all healthy. She was born premature and

didn’t grow up just right. Her bones were healthy but she was just a little to small for

her age.

     “Now Natasha, I tell you everyday that when you ride Roxie you need to wear that

helmet that me and dad bought you. Its a brand new one and its the best you can buy!

Now you run along now and ride that horse of yours and wear that helmet!” said

Natasha’s mom. Even though Natasha was ten now her mom was still very protective

of her. She didn’t want her going out with her friends while there was going to be boys

there. Even though, the party had supervision and it was over at eight.

     At school, Natasha didn’t really have friends. Sure she went to parties and stuff like

that but when the whole school was invited. She had her group of friends but never

really felt like she belonged. She only felt wanted when she was with her mom and her

horse. Her dad, who was also an alcoholic, didn’t really care for her she thought. She

always knew that her dad loved her but they didn’t really have the connection she has

with her mom. Her dad worked all the time anyway so its not like she cared anymore.

     “Mom?!” said Natasha.

     “Yes sweetie? I’m in the kitchen.”

     “Can I please please please please take Roxie out tonight?”

     “You know how I feel about riding when the sun isn’t hundred percent daylight. Its

almost seven o’clock and the sun will be setting any time now. Plus, I already have

dinner cooking and your fathers going to be on his way home any minute. Run along,

go wash up for dinner.” said Natasha’s mom.

     Natasha was almost eleven now and still felt like she was being treated like a kid.

She wanted to ride at sunset! It’s beautiful that kind of time and she just wanted to

have a little more freedom.

     So after dinner it was 7:45. She carefully put her dishes in the sink and said she was

going to lay down and read a book. After she got into her room, she opened up her

squeaky window and grabbed her jacket, and bolted out, leaving the window open.

She walked her way to the barn and went straight to Roxie’s stall that had just been

cleaned right before dinner. She got the reins and everything ready. She was too short

to reach the saddle so she just decided to ride bareback. Even though she had ridden

bareback before, her mom told her not too because nothing is one hundred percent.

She got the reins tied on and she hopped on the small mustang. They were off. It

was getting darker and darker as the seconds went one. She had never felt more free.

The wind blowing through her long blonde hair and just seeing the trails at night meant

that she had more freedom and no one could hold her back now.

     Roxie was being a little feisty and wouldn’t go on the trail that Natasha wanted to go

on. But it didn’t matter to her because she knew these woods like the back of her hand

and she could never get lost even if they weren’t on a trail.

     All of sudden, something spooked Roxie. She started jolting up and down and

nothing could stop her. Natasha looked down and saw that there was a family of

snakes! It looked like there were hundreds of them! Natasha had no clue what to do!

Nothing Natasha could do could calm Roxie down, she was never seen this little

mustang have so much anger in her towards those snakes.

     Roxie still jolting up and down, gave one last hard buck and bucked Natasha right

off into the brush of dead trees and fallen leaves. She laid there, no feeling in the lower

half of her body. She cried and cried as she watched her only true friend, Roxie, run off

into the distance. She thought to herself, maybe Roxie wanted to be free like I did.

     Maybe I was holding Roxie back to her free and to be herself.

     And as all those thoughts ran into her head, she dosed off laying into the brush. No

one around, just herself and the snakes that had disappeared after Roxie ran away.

“Natasha!! Natasha!! If you hear me please talk back! Hunny!” said her parents.

Finally, Natasha’s parents had found her after hours of searching. They carried her

back to the barn and called 911. The medics soon showed up and they told her

parents that they were going to have to fly her to Iowa City which is like an hour and

half away. They said that they think she is paralyzed from the hips down and that she

might never be able to walk again!

     Both of her parents bawled the whole way down their in the helicopter. Her dad

promised himself that he wasn’t ever going to drink again and if he did he told his wife

to shoot him because he thinks its better to be dead then to live like that ever again.

After they got their, they found out that Natasha was going to have to be in a

wheelchair the rest of her life because she is paralyzed from the hips down. Of course,

their little angel was still their little angel but they are just blessed that she is still with

them. And Johnson family was brought even closer together and they felt like a family

again.