We had been like sisters since like forever. She was my best friend. We had many things in common, one of them including horses. We rode down the back trails, which connected our houses, every day. We galloped through the strawberry fields laughing at our red – stained faces until we fell off the ponies. It was more than a little girl phase. It was our life. We lived and breathed horses.

We were both eleven years old, when Raina and I were cantering through the woods the day after a storm. We were dripping with the water that had fallen from the huge pine trees. Mud covered our legs and we excitedly planned the water fight we were sure to have with the horses in order to clean off. Of course, the teams were Raina and I against Sugar and Spice, our little bay ponies. We came trotting around the bend when in front of us, loomed a huge fallen tree trunk. Raina had quickly gathered her reins and urged Spice forward.
“I don’t know Rai! It seems too wet and slippery!” I had called as she trotted up to it.
“Oh stop being such a worry-wart Phoebe! I’ve been practicing all summer! I’m fine!” She had called over her shoulder. I couldn’t help but think that “all summer” had been dry and warm. However, she ignored my protests and galloped on, Her white blonde hair streaming behind her like a white flag.

Maybe they would have been all right, despite the wetness. But, in those last, final moments before the jump, a rabbit leaped from the dark ferns and streaked under Spice’s hooves. Had Raina been riding Sugar, they would have been fine. But Spice was high strung and skittish. He reared up in surprise. But the ground was too wet. It was in slow motion as his small hooves flailed out, and he crashed to the ground. Under him was tiny little Raina.

Sobbing, I had leaped down from Sugar and tried in vain to heave the 2,000-pound horse off my best friend. Tears spilled from my eyes.
“Please Spice! Please get up! Oh Raina! Raina!”
It was my last call that did it.
“HELLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!” I screamed. Nearby, a family was camping out. The Father came running down the hill toward us, closely followed by two big teenager boys.
“Please!” I cried to them
“Spice fell on her! Oh neither of them is moving! She won’t talk to me! Please save her! Please!” I sobbed.
A woman ran up to us.
“John? Boys? What’s wrong?” She called before she could see us.
As she neared the tree trunk, she gasped.
“Oh sweetie! Did your horse fall? Don’t worry will get him up!” She told me.
John turned to her.
“Beth, the little girl’s friend is stuck under the horse. The horse fell on her.” He told her gravely.
Beth burst into tears.
Blocking Spice and Raina from my view, the three guys lifted Spice up. Spice was ok; he stood shakily on his legs.
“Beth?” John said, his voice trembling.
“Take the little girl to the tent.”
“NO!” I screamed. My heart was being ripped from my chest.
“Where is Raina?”
NO answer.

“WHERE IS SHE?!” I screamed in despair.
I flung myself at the backs of them.
“Give her to me! Give her back!”
One of the boys turned.
His face was paper white, like he had just seen a dead bod-
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Oh God NO! Please not Raina! Please tell me she’s ok! Oh god NOO!” My shriek startled birds from a nearby tree.
“Beth, call the girls parents!”
There was no need. On either side of the woods stood our houses. My cries had brought our parents running.
The woods were filled with cries and sobs. At last, I saw Raina.
Her beautiful little face was dead white. Her head lay at a wrong angle, as did her legs. She was gone. My best friend, my sister, was gone. And than it all went black.



The doctor who had pronounced her dead said that her spinal cord in her neck and lower back had broken, killing her instantly.

The funeral was small and quiet. I slowly walked up to the casket, laid my head on its smooth wood, and cried. It wasn’t like the funerals you see in movies, where it is dark and rainy. No-it was a perfectly sunny beautiful day; I knew if Raina were alive, we would have been riding right now. But we would never ride again. I would never ride again. I had forced my parents to sell Sugar, and Raina’s parents gave Spice away. I didn’t say goodbye to either of them. I didn’t even watch. I stayed in my room, ripping down every poster, picture and award about horses. I destroyed everything that had to do with the thing that had killed my Raina. I wasn’t ever the same. I didn’t smile, I lost a lot of weight, and I wasn’t happy anymore. That was how my life was for four long years.