A small ranch in Montana

Golden Oaks Ranch was a quiet place, peaceful, yet productive. A small white two-story house with light blue shutters and gray trimming lay planted on the flat surface of the rich soiled ground. The view from the small building out looked corralled fields of frost covered grass, and scattered cattle over the hills. Down a single dirt path led you to the stables, a large black barn with chipped paint and several stalls filled with their precious purebreds. One of the stall doors left recently open and empty. Coming up the hill in a distance, a running horse and placed firmly on it’s bare back was a girl. Light blue jeans snugged her legs along with a buttoned up denim jacket, and dark boots. Her messy honey-colored hair was braided and tossed over her petite shoulder. A grin played across her lips as the cool morning air hit off of her face giving a tingling sensation. Her thin fingers laced in the black mane of the galloping bay stallion. They finally came to a stop as they approached the stable. She threw her leg over and landed swiftly on the hardened dirt. The sun was beginning to rise, giving a water color effect painting across the sky. She led the sweaty stallion back to his stall and locked the door behind her as she made her way to the front door of the house. The door creaked open as she slipped her small body through leaving her boots by the door and quietly tip-toeing up the staircase leading to her bedroom. The room was quite small, lavender painted walls with few furniture and notebooks with drawings and doodles scattered across the cherry-wood floor. After throwing off her jacket she slipped out of her jeans tossing them across the room. Her bare feet met the cold wood as she pulled off her socks, she watched her toes curl. Lying on her bed was a white cotton nightgown; she slipped it on quickly and pulled her hair out of the messy braid letting it fall down her back like golden ribbons. The girl’s name was Savannah. She had recently turned sixteen and lived with her father on their amazing ranch. Horses were her life. Savannah crawled back into her undone bed and switched her reading lamp off, knowing she would have to wake in just a short two hours.

Westley stopped for a moment. Panting, he sat beneath a big oak tree on some farm in the middle of God-knows-where Montana. He'd been on the run for the past three days, barely stopping to rest. Westley Anderson hadn't seen the cops for the past 24 hours, but he had kept running just in case. Better safe than sorry, right? He wiped the sweat from his brow and looked up at the moon, saying a silent prayer to whatever divine being might or might not be out there. That's when he noticed the stars, which were a rare sight in the city. He decided to rest his eyes for a moment, but was careful not to fall asleep. After resting for a moment, he took his boot knife out and silently cleaned the dirt out from under his fingernails. His growled, breaking the kind silence of the night. He needed food and water, maybe shelter as well. He pulled off his practically soiled shirt and let the cool night air hit his chest. He needed to keep moving.

His eyes glanced around the farmland, his mind formulating the best way to go about things. That's when he noticed the small pond, which was a decent distance from the equally small farmhouse. They certainly made things small here. He walked quietly down to the water and got down on both knees, washing his face in the clear blue water. Silently, he looked into his reflection, which was now disturbed by small ripples going across the no longer smooth water. Then, he threw off his shoes and waded into the water, his pants clinging to his legs. The cool water helped wash the sweat off his body. Once he was completely submerged, he opened his mouth and took a big drank. He came up sputtering, having ingested a bit to much of the much needed substance.

After he had finished bathing, and drinking he got out of the cool water and dried off with his shirt. He hopped over a few horse fences and headed towards the brown barn on the property, doing his best not to startle any of the ranch animals. He liked the little farm and found it quite beautiful, it was to bad he couldn't stay. Running was the price he appeared to have to pay. Luckily, he could stay the night. He sagged into the barn and climbed the steep ladder into the hayloft. Spreading his shirt over some off the hay, he collapsed onto his makeshift cot and fell fast asleep.

A few hours had passed by, leaving the sun now peeking through the bedroom window shining onto Savannah's face. Her eyes fluttered open as she slowly began to sit up. Her head turned in the direction of her door as the noises from down stairs were somewhat a little too loud to ignore. Instantly, she swung her feet over the side of her twin-sized bed and walked across the wooden floors to her dresser pulling out a pair of faded darkwash jeans and a white tanktop. She got dressed quickly and made her way down the stairs to meet her father in the kitchen.

"Morning Daddy" She smiled innocently and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Savannah and her father has always been close, very different, but close. She put her hair into a high ponytail and pulled on her boots reaching for the doorknob. "Savannah-" Her father started making her turn around before she could reach it. "Yeah?" She asked in responce knowing what was coming. He sat forward a bit in his kitchen chair and took a small sip of his coffee before finishing "Chores before riding" He commanded making her automatically nod her head. "Of course, Daddy-" She replied but to once again be cut off. "I know you've been eyeing that new stallion from the day he arrived. I don't want you riding off the ranch today, got it?" He asked as she sighed intently and nodded once more "Yes sir".

As she walked outside, she inhaled the crisp morning air and smiled to herself as she made her way to the barn. The perfect morning for riding, but she knew better. The barn doors quickly swung open as she stepped in and grinned hugely. "Who wants to go running?" She asked looking around from horse to horse as if they would talk back. One horse in particular stood out, the bay stallion she had been riding since the minute he arrived just a short two weeks back. She walked over to the stall he was placed in and stuck her hand halfway through just enough to touch her fingertips to his nose. "After chores, I promise" She whispered so quietly it was almost impossible to hear. Sighing, she grabbed a saddle from one of the racks by the door and began unloading the saddles to the fence outside one by one airing them out before a wash. This whole time, completely oblivious to the fact that she had not been alone in the barn.

Westley awoke to the sound of the barn doors opening. He was no longer alone. He quickly ducked down behind some hay bales and put a hand over his mouth, making sure not to make any noise. Cautiously, he peeked around the hay to see what was going on, and there stood a pretty blond girl, who was probably not much younger than him. All of the horses stirred when she walked in, and his heart stopped. He thought for a moment that they might have been trying to alert her to his presence, but then he realized how ridiculous that sounded. She seemed oblivious to his presence, so it was okay. Silently, he waited for her to leave. Careful not to make any noise or sudden movement that might alert her to his presence. Eventually, she left the barn.

After waiting a little while longer to make sure she had left, he stood up and slipped his shirt on. He brushed the hay off his shirt and hopped down from the loft. Doing his best not to startle the horses. Unfortunately, his best wasn't enough. One of the horses started freaking out. Whinnying and bucking all around. He did his best to comfort it, and eventually it calmed down. Westley wiped the sweat from his brow and decided it was time to move on. Looking around the barn, he spotted an old plastic water battle. He grabbed it, and opened the barn door just a crack. Enough so that he could fir his body all the way through. He turned around and heard a click. The click of a gun.

"Stay where you are." said a masculine voice behind him. Westley flinched, his run was up. He'd been caught. He put his hands behind his head. "Damn." He thought. "You have one chance to explain why you're in my barn, on my property." said the voice, which he assumed now belonged to the farmer who owned the property. The property that he now had been caught trespassing on, illegally. That was a big crime, and that gave this man, the farmer, permission to practically do whatever he needed to do to get me off. Westley thought on his feet, "I apologize, sir. I am but a poor man in need of rest. If I have offended you in any way, I am truly sorry. I'll just be on my way now." He walked off towards the pond, but only managed to take a couple steps before he heard the man say, "What's your name, son?"

"Westley. Westley Anderson." he replied...

The sun beat down on Savannah as she stood up the hill from the barn with her jeans rolled up, bootless. She bent down and grabbed a cloth beginning to scrub the saddle nearest her with the leather conditioner. Hearing the voices coming from the barn she shaded her eyes with her hand from the light and squinted trying to catch a glimpse of who her father might have been talking to. She got back to work and decided to ignore it, he was probably just talking to the horses again... she thought to herself. Once she had finished all of the tack she left everything to dry on the fence and pulled on her boots fixing her jeans. Time to go riding she smiled brightly grabbing a halter off the fence and took off towards the pasture full of her precious babies out grazing.

Quietly, trying her best not to frighten the animals she slipped through the fence and jogged over to a paint mare. "Hey there girl...lets go for a run" She pulled the halter on and tied the loose rope around making it bridle then leading her to the gate holding it open as they walked through, locking it behind them. Taking note of the coast was clear she threw her leg over the mare's back and hopped on beginning at a slow jog and working their way up to a full gallop, they passed through the hills and were off the ranch before she could think twice.

They halted to a sudden stop by a small creek just a ranch over, hidden by trees and far enough away for no one to notice you. She slid off the mares bare back and let her continue to graze as she walked up to the creek and sat along the edge leaning her back against an old rotting fallen tree. After spending about an hour here she finally got to her feet and sighed quietly walking back to the mare. "We can't hide forever" She laughed.