Horses of Scotland Part 1

Sophia's eyes shot wide open in the dark room. Moonlight shone gently across her bedsheets and creeped up her walls like fingers. She slowly rolled over in bed, her gaze meeting the window. It was fogged up from the cool, damp night air. She could see the blurry outline of trees. She slowly sat up and slipped out from her covers, her bare feet meeting the freezing cold wooden floors. She reached for her glasses on the nightstand, hesitating for a second before sliding them over her ears and balancing them on the ridge of her nose. Everything grew clearer, and she could now make out the finer details of the trees outside. Something had woken her up. She felt drawn to the window, as if small strings were puppeteering her towards it. She stepped towards it, every footfall being monotonous. She put her hand on the glass and wiped away the condensation. The forest was dark, quiet, and still. Only a gentle wind ever so lightly swaying the tree-branches let Sophia know that time itself had not frozen. She listened carefully holding her breath. At first, she only heard the repetitive, rhythmic ticking of the clock on the dresser beside her, but then, she heard it once more. A whinny, off in the distance. It echoed lightly over the tree tops and floated into the bedroom. Sophia felt the tugging once more, tangled in her own puppet strings. She slid open the bedroom window, allowing a cold draft to flood the room. She was about to climb out when a voice came from behind her.
         "Sophia?"
         Maisy sat up in bed, her dark messy curls falling down her shoulder. Her younger cousin turned away from the window. Sophia's gray eyes seemed dulled and glazed over, and her short orange hair seemed to have lost its luster.
         "Sophia, what are yeh doing?" She asked, climbing out of bed. "Yer not supposed t' be up this late, what are you doing at the window?" Maisy said. Her 10-year-old cousin blinked slowly, and the glaze in her eyes began to go away under her glasses. Sophia looked up at her older cousin.
         "I heard a noise." Sophia said softly, hardly a mumble.
         "What noise?" Maisy asked.
         "A horse whinny. It sounded like it came from the forest. I wanted to see what it was." Sophia said calmly. Maisy squinted at her cousin in confusion.
         "A horse? No one who lives near us owns horses," Maisy mumbled. She shuffled over to the window to get a peek. The room was freezing with the window open. Maisy leaned outside and took a deep breath of the humid air, looking all around in the dark. Wind gently swayed the tree branches, but all was quiet. Maisy leaned back, still listening, but no sound came. She gave one last inquisitive look before leaning back in and shutting the window. "I don't see anythin' out there but Scottish forest, yeh must have been hearing things. Sleep paralysis or somethin' like that. Head back t' bed."
         "But it wasn't! I heard it!" Sophia insisted, looking upset.
         "We all hear things that aren't really there sometimes, it's alright. Just head back t' bed, yer mum won't be happy if she knows you were up at the wee hours of the mornin'." Maisy whispered, crawling back under her bedsheets. "Go back t' sleep." Sophia wanted to say more but held her tongue. She sighed and climbed into bed, curling the bedsheets up around her. Maisy was asleep within minutes, but Sophia could not sleep no matter how she tried. She tossed and turned restlessly as a cold draft ran over her from the partially cracked window. She could almost hear the whinnying, beckoning her to play outside as shadows danced along her older cousin's bedroom. Sophia slowly drifted off to sleep, the sound of a horse's cry still echoing faintly in the distance.
         Maisy woke up late the next morning. She sat up in bed and stretched. She glanced over at the other bed, which was empty. Sophia was up apparently. Maisy yawned and threw off the covers. As she was slipping on a pair of velvet slippers, she grew the ever-present sensation that someone was watching her. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up and she needed to turn around. She shot a glance at the open window. Nothing. The window was still covered in early morning dew, but nothing resided outside. Not feeling satisfied with this answer, she cautiously walked towards the window; sliding it open. She leaned out the window and peered round. Insects buzzed and chirped quietly from the woods, and a river sang in the distance, but no one appeared to be there. Maisy put a hand to the back of her neck. She sighed and shook her head harshly at her own stupid overreaction. Her little cousin had just been hearing things last night. That was no reason to get all jumpy and paranoid after all.
         "Maisy! Get down 'ere! Breakfast is ready!" Maisy jumped at the sound of her mother's voice. She shot one final glance at the window and turned back to the door.
         "Comin' mum!" Maisy grabbed her robe and slipped it over her shoulders as she flung herself down the stairs. Maisy's family and Sophia sat around a dining table filled to the brim with plates of pancakes. Sophia wasn't really eating; she was just pushing pieces of pancake around her plate with her fork. There were dark circles underneath Sophia's gray eyes and she just seemed a little dull this morning. Maisy felt concerned but waved it off and sat down. She was only a few bites into her meal when Sophia sat up in her chair with a sigh and an expression of deep thought on her face.
         "Aunty, are there horses around here?" Sophia asked, looking at Maisy's mother. Maisy's mother sat up at once.
         "Horses? Why do you ask?"
         "I heard one last night, way off in the distance." Sophia said, spinning her fork in her fingers. "I kept hearin' it but Maisy said it was nothing."
         Maisy rolled her eyes. "It was nothing, Sophia, you were just hearing things. There are no horses around here." Sophia slouched down in her seat a bit, sending her older cousin a scowl.
         "Maisy's right dear, there aren't any horses around, at least not here." Maisy's mother explained. "Although, I remember when your mother and I, and our brother lived here when we were younger. Our brother, your uncle, always said that he would hear horses at night, but, me and your mother couldn't ever hear anything. Then, strangely, a few days before he died, he started slipping out at night to discover the source of the noise."
         "How did he die?" Sophia asked. "Mum never told me." Maisy leaned back in her seat; Maisy's mother leaned forwards a bit.
         "Drowned in a loch. Nobody knows why he went in there. We found him a few days later."
         Maisy looked up in surprise. Sophia's eyes widened, something flashing in them for a moment. Sophia shook her head and sat back, speechless. Maisy shifted in her seat uncomfortably and shifted a piece of pancake around in her syrup. Sophia looked up again after what had seemed like ages.
         "Auntie, may I go exploring in the woods?" Sophia asked.
         "Well, I suppose you could, if Maisy went along with you." Maisy's mother answered. Maisy almost choked on her breakfast.
         "Ach! What? Why are yeh sendin' me out wit' her?" Maisy coughed, looking up at her mother. Maisy's mother shot the same expression right back.
         "Maisy, yeh cannae expect me t' let a ten-year-old girl scamper around in the forest alone. You're goin' with her and that is final."
         Maisy huffed a little bit under her breath but stuffed a piece of pancake into her scowling maul. As she looked out the window at the woods beyond, she felt a chill run down her spine, causing her to shake violently. Maisy shuddered and quickly looked away. Something about the woods just didn't look right today, and Maisy wasn't sure what it was. She'd lived by them her entire life, so why was she only now getting a bad feeling about them? She took a hard swallow and tried to ignore it. The woods were nothing to be afraid of, it was just trees and animals after all. But Maisy couldn't shake the feeling that the dense woods could easily hide something; something big.