Opening

“Batista’s POV

I smirked as he continued to rattle on, followed by saying, “Good luck.” . I grinned and adjusted the way I was standing again, watching his lips move and the way his blue eyes sparkled slightly. He smiled as he talked, like he knew something and was just beginning to work it all out, and thereby displaying, the cat-ate- the-canary smile. He was so cute when he got fired up.  I couldn’t help myself, I shook my head slightly. He then extended his hand. I stared at him, almost incredulously, but the expression was a fake one.  I sighed and accepted his offer. I slid my hand into his and shook it.

For a few moments, our eyes locked and he just stared at me. I gazed back at him, my dark eyes probably betraying nothing, just as I had ensured. I kept my emotions locked away from others, I always had. It worked better that way. He nodded his head and turned to walk away. The script said at that point he was supposed to walk back up the ramp with me standing in the ring with “murder in my eyes.”

Though, as he began to walk away, desire overcame me and I pulled him to me with one hard jerk of my arm. He spun around with the force and landed smack against my chest, reminding both of us, that though he was “The Showstopper,” I was still stronger than him. The desire that had raced over me, now pulsed over my skin in waves. I stared down into his serene blue eyes, and I began to feel lost. I was getting lost in his eyes. Me, the one who never lost control, felt myself beginning to slip away. I leaned my face closer to his, without much thought as to what I was doing, without much thought as to the fact that we were on live TV in front of millions of people, not to mention the ones in the crowded arena around us.

Shawn realized my intention before I had fully thought it through. He pulled away from me quickly, but,  in the moments before, I saw a flash of emotion streak across his eyes. I’d have bet anything that it was desire, but, then again, that could’ve just been wishful thinking. He pulled his hand out of mine firmly and then began walking backwards, keeping his eyes on me the whole time. He started again and I grinned, just shaking my head. As he stood there I brushed past him, my eyes staying on him. I don’t think I could’ve looked away from him even if I had wanted to. I purposely ran my shoulder into his, and he stumbled back half a step. I smiled again at how he still tried to prove himself my better when it was physically impossible when judged by sheer mass.  He didn’t look up at me, but kept his eyes on the ground. I eyed him one more time before climbing out of the ring and walking back up the ramp. My mind was flying with thoughts, and I needed to get back to the locker room before anybody else got there and I could sit in the silence and think. “

“The Golden Compass is about Atheism. It talks about killing God, therefore we should have nothing to do with it.”

    Well, you know what that means. Let’s get rid of ANYTHING that might REMOTELY have to do with another religion! Oh, gasp! We can’t show anything like that!! Don’t these people realize how stupid that sounds? Think about Atheism as you would, any other religion like, Judaism, Catholicism, Muslim, Methodism, Epischopalian(please excuse me if I completely butchered the spellings on any of those).

    Now, does it sound that bad?

    You still say yes? Simply because it talks about another religion? Or is it because it talks about killing God?

    Ok, well think about this. Being a devout Christian, like myself, I’m sure you’ve heard about the movie, Passion of the Christ, or the book called, The Bible. Now, I’m going to pretend I’m an Atheist:

“We should completely boycott Passion of the Christ!! It goes against my faith!! So does the Bible!!  We can’t allow our children to see either of these!! They could poison their minds!!”

    Now, how stupid does that sound? Pretty stupid.

    I’m sure that 90% of you have recieved emails from your church saying that this movie should not be seen. If you’re like me, you have friends, peers, and co-workers that whisper how horrible it is. I take my book with me everyday to school, and I cannot begin to explain to you how many comments I get, and how many whisperings I hear about how evil I must be to be reading such a book. Well, excuse me for forming my own opinion! Back to my original point, the emails and the talk about the horrid movie and the book. So much so that the Golden Compass has gotten a bad rap even before released. Now, I’m sure you could ask a friend of yours about it and they’ll say something like, “Oh, yeah..isn’t that book/movie, about killing God or something?”

Now, when Passion of the Christ came out, was there emails going around amongst the Atheist about how they horrible it was, or how everyone in the entire world should boycott it? The answer is no. At least, none that I know of. I never heard an ill whisper about it. Only, awe inspired gasps and sighs about how it reduced some to tears, opened others hearts, and put some on the path to salvation. That’s all good and fine, and wonderful, but why weren’t the Atheist causing a huge drama over the movie? Is it because there aren’t as many of them? Possibly. Is it because they simply didn’t care? Maybe. I think it’s because they respect that there is indeed a Christian religion, and they should not bash that movie, simply because it is not what they believe.

    Does that make more sense now? As to how ridiculous it is to not give a movie a chance because it goes against your religion? If you are strong enough in your faith, it should NOT make any difference what you see, hear, or watch.

     A science teacher at my school says that it’s just a fairy tale in the movie. Not one trace of Atheism. (Might I also add, that the Golden Compass, is not the book said to have the “God-killing” in it. That would be the 3rd book, the Subtle Knife.) She says that it is another ‘good vs evil’ movie, where good wins. She says the little kids like the polar bears, and the children and their animals. So why not let them watch it? A 5 year old doesn’t know what their faith is anyway. They only know that they have to dress up on Sundays, be quiet for 1 hour, and learn about Jesus.

       The bottom line is, respect other’s religions. If you’re strong in your faith, don’t worry. Don’t go by other’s opinion, form your own opinion, READ! Finally, most importantly, the age old saying, “Don’t judge a book by  it’s cover.”

God Bless

So the story behind the title, pretty self explantory. 6 days ago, Sunday, I popped my kneecap out of place. (dislocated) It hurt like He-heck! Yeah, I screamed. Apparently, I straightned my leg instinctivly and popped it back in place. So, that was good. It didn’t hurt to much after that. It was a little achy, but eh, not much more. This had happened before on my other knee, and that one hurt when I did it, but not after, and I was fine. However, this knee was different, the next day, Monday, my Mom woke me up and I couldn’t get out of bed it hurt so bad. So, I had to stay home, but we didn’t go to the doctor, cause, since my mom’s a vet, she said maybe one day of rest would help. It did, I felt better that evening, but about 6:00pm CST my knee cramped and just overall hurt. I took a 450mg of Ibuprofen(sp?) and went to bed. It started to feel better just as I went to sleep. Unfortunatly, the same was not in the Morning, Tuesday. It hurt just about 3x as much as it did when I originally dislocated it. So, I missed school…again, but this time we went to the doctor. She told me it was swollen, which we knew. (Mom’s a vet, remember? She’d know if something was swollen xD) So, she didn’t give me any pills, just told me to keep taking the Ibuprofen. So I’m not allowed to do Athletics for a week. (So I get to start again Monday, thank God!) She also said no horseback riding. As if! I rode yesterday and I have a dressage on Sunday, two days from now.  I’m not stupid though, I wouldn’t have rode if it hurt to much. I also forgot to mention, I went home early Wednesday. =( So, I was worried if it /would/ hurt to much to ride, luckily, as I said, it wasn’t. =D So, that’s pretty much it. I’m wearing a thin knee brace, just in case. =) All good so far. I’ll talk to you later.

“Arrooo,” the howl rang out over the snow-covered forest. Amber narrowed his eyes, there was no reply. His brothers had brought him hunting on this cool, crisp night, so where were they? Amber lifted his head to howl again, but stopped, he pricked his ears, yes! There it was! His brother, Onyx, was returning his call. Amber wagged his tail in excitement, or was it relief? This was his first time hunting, and the fear that he had gotten separated from his brothers was still evident in the wild beat of his heart. Suddenly, Amber was snapped out of his thoughts by another howl, this one from his other brother, Topaz. Every hair on Amber’s pelt prickled. Topaz’s howl was not one of assurance, nor one of positioning, but a desperate cry for help.
            Amber’s heart started going a mile-a-minute again What was happening to his brother? Onyx’s bark cut across the night, a command, on telling Amber to get to Topaz as fast as he could. Amber didn’t hesitate, he jumped off the large boulder he’d been using as a platform, and started running as soon as his paws met hard-packed, snow. He thundered across the ground, fluffs of snow coming loose with every step. As his claws dug in, to get traction, and then pushed out, freeing the soft snow from the top layer of ice. Amber’s mind raced with all the horrible things that could have possibly happened to Topaz, changing with the beat of his heart.
            A sharp, musky smell entered his nostrils, Topaz! Amber extended his stride, claws out-stretched. With one tremendous leap he landed in the clearing where Topaz lay. Amber bit back a yelp, the scene before him would have him wailing to the moon if he wasn’t careful. His brother’s legs were twisted in all sorts of odd angles, and a pool of blood stained the snow around him. Amber padded forward quietly, tears brimming his eyes. “Topaz?” he whimpered. Topaz flicked an ear to show he had heard him. Amber’s heart had slowed down to a normal pace, but now it felt like it was slowly coming apart. His stomach twisted in a mix of fear, concern, and…regret. Regret for not being with his brother, to protect him. Amber hastily pushed away the though, he was younger than Topaz and he was here now, and Onyx would be soon. He strode over to Topaz’s body, his older brother’s golden brown pelt stained with a dark crimson tint, and his sides barely rising and falling with every intake of air. Amber took a deep breath, “Topaz, what happened?” he asked, his voice barely a murmur. Topaz lifted his head, slowly, painfully, “Amber? Grizzly bear…tried…kill…couldn’t,” he gasped and his words nothing but a formed pant of air. Amber rushed forward, creating a pillow for his brother’s head as he laid it back down. “Don’t worry Topaz! Onyx will be here soon!” he said, with a confidence even he didn’t feel. Topaz numbly shook his head, “No, I won’t make it till then. Amber, please-“ he didn’t finish because he was cut off by Amber. “Stop!” he screamed, “Don’t say that!” the tears now running down his long in hot streaks. Amber licked his brother’s head repeatedly, but Topaz only opened his eyes one final time, “Amber tell Mother, Father, and Onyx I love them, and you dear brother, I will watch over you from the stars…” with that, he closed his eyes, forever.             “Topaz! Topaz!!!!” Amber howled, his tears running from his eyes, down his neck, melting the snow, pooling around his paws. A rustling in the bushes announced Onyx’s presence. The dark-pelted form of his brother came around to the opposite side of Topaz’s body. “We have to carry his body back to the cave,” Onyx’s gruff tones cut through the air, like a sparrow in flight, across the small clearing. Amber nodded numbly, still grieving for the fallen Topaz. He lowered his head to the ground, lifting his brother onto his back, Onyx beside him. Together they carried their beloved brother back to their cave.
            Amber barked when they were outside of the cave, his mother, Sapphire, and his father, Thor, padded out. Upon seeing her dead son’s golden pelt, Sapphire wailed an eerie, and mournful cry to the moon, one that only a grieving mother could make, as she rushed forward. Thor came forward more slowly, not speaking. He locked eyes with Onyx, “What happened?” he demanded, in a closely controlled voice, keeping his emotions in check. Onyx grunted and pointed, with his nose, at Amber. Thor looked at his youngest son. Amber understood immediately and he dropped to his knees, Onyx did the same, letting Topaz’s body fall gently to the snow.
            Then Amber climbed to his paws and padded to his father. “What happened?” he repeated, using the same controlled tone. Amber felt a shudder run through his body. “From what I could make out, Father, it was a grizzly bear,” he murmured, eyes low. Thor nodded, “I see, I will have to warn the main pack about this,” he grumbled, lightly, not looking forward to the journey. Amber’s head barely moved up and down in understanding. He knew of the main pack, they had his mother and father to explore potential territory ten years ago. His “pack,” consisted of Thor and Sapphire, his father and mother, and his brothers, Onyx and…Amber’s eyes started to tear up again, but he forced them away, he only had one older brother left, Onyx. Suddenly, Amber was snapped out of his reverie, his father was saying his name, “Amber!!” Thor barked again. “Y-yes sir?” Amber managed to stammer. Thor’s eyes looked up and down his youngest son. “Onyx and I will be leaving immediately. You and your mother will stay here. Alright?” Amber was still trying to get over the shock of what his father had told him. While they were gone, he would be the only male left, he would be in charge of defending pack lands. Finally, Amber managed a small nod, “Yes, Father. I promise to make you proud!” Thor snorted approvingly, “Very well.” Then he turned and padded over to Onyx. Amber could only hear small murmurings, before his father and brother turned as one, nodded curtly, and jumped down to the snow, vanishing into the distance.
            Amber sighed, letting his tail droop. He padded over to his mother, her tears rolled down her face, darkening her blue, black fur. Amber pressed against his mother, and finally, he let himself grieve properly for his fallen brother. They stayed like that, Amber and his mother, pressed against each other crying over Topaz’s body, for the rest of the night, the moon shining a singular beam down on them, their shadows stretching into oblivion.
            Many moons passed, and Amber hunted and fought to protect  the pack lands as he’d sworn to his father. Sapphire watched her son grow, and she knew he would be a strong wolf, valuable to the pack.
            Amber awoke one morning to a bright sun, and fingers of purple, orange, and yellow streaked across the sky, making the mountains glow. He breathed in deeply padding over to his mother, Sapphire. He bent down and gingerly licked her ear, waking her. “Good morning, Mother,” he smiled, “Would you like to go hunting with me this fine morning?” he asked her. Sapphire blinked, “Of course I would! I’ve felt very useless with all the prey you’ve been brining in!” she stated, smiling. Amber perked his ears at the happy note in his mother’s voice, “Great!  Let’s go!” Amber sprinted into the forest, closely followed by Sapphire.   
            Amber pulled up after a few minutes of thundering through the no-longer snow covered forest floor. His nose shot up, and the smell of deer wafted into his nostrils. His eyes met his mother’s Her eyes were soft, and the color of the bluest sky, those were the first eyes he’d seen when he was born, and his little eyelids flickered open. Amber blinked and the blue eyes vanished momentarily, then they were there again, but now they showed concern. Sapphire took a step towards Amber, “Are you feeling alright, love?” she asked, taking another step. Amber smiled and nodded, “Yes, Mom, I’m fine. It’s just…I love you so much and I can’t even begin to express how glad I am that you’re my mother.” Sapphire’s worried gaze instantly switched to one filled with the brim with love. “I love you to,” Sapphire spoke softly, “but we should get hunting!” That said, the two wolves, mother and son, went in opposite directions in search of food. Amber tracked down the deer he had scented earlier, it was small, so he brought it down with ease. He looked at the deer, though it was small, it could feed him and his mother, he decided to go find her, save her the trouble of killing something. Amber stalked back through the forest, tracking his mother’s scent. The scent got stronger and so did Amber’s feeling of foreboding. Suddenly the source of his fear became known. Sapphire’s body lay on the ground, but she was not dead. She twisted and convulsed as tremors ran through her. Amber shook his head, unable to believe this was true. “Mother?” he asked, his voice shaky and unsure. Sapphire very lightly lifted her head, “Yes love, it’s me,” her voice was small and it seemed like she was fighting to keep the out of it. Amber took a few steps and he was standing beside her. “What happened? How could this happen?” he asked, his vision becoming blurry because of his tears. Sapphire pulled her paws under her with obvious effort. “Amber, my love, it was the humans. The rabbit I caught and ate was poisoned with their filth. I will not live much longer. So I have one last request of you. Will you protect our land until your father and brother return?” Sapphire looked up at him with hope in her eyes, even as they were beginning to cloud. Amber nodded his head. How could he not? This was his mother’s dying wish, he had to do it. “Mother, what about you?” he asked, his voice trembling again. Sapphire smiled weakly, “Don’t worry about me. Young one, life and love will go on…” with her last breath used, Sapphire slid back down onto the ground, her eyes closing. “I love you Mother!” Amber whispered emotionally. “I love you to Amber,” she croaked, and then her chest stopped moving as the poison took control. She was gone.
            Amber cried in anguish, first Topaz, now his mother. Why was fate being so cruel to him?! He turned and ran for no place in particular, he just wanted to get away from this place where death hung like a cloud. Amber stopped after running for what seemed like hours, but was only a matter of minutes. He looked around, he recognized this place. He padded over to the large boulder he’d used as a platform many, many moons ago. It was from this place that he had howled and Topaz had returned his howl with one filled of desperation. Amber looked up into the sky that was now dark and star-speckled. He stared closer at a group of stars that were a golden color and his eyes were warm. Amber’s eyes scanned the “night blanket” and he saw another wolf, this one with a beautiful face and blue-tinted fur. Her eyes were the color of the blues sky.  “Mother? Topaz?” Amber whispered. His mother and brother hadn’t lied, they would watch over him for all the moons he lived. Amber lifted his head and opened his mouth. A single, crisp howl pierced the night, a sound filled with the pain of losing a loved one, the warmth of a mother’s touch, and the understanding of what one is destined to do. Amber let the howl die out and he took a deep breath. He would protect this land until not one drop of blood remained in him. Until he joined his mother and Topaz among the stars…

Anyways, the title is that for a reason. Today, a friend of mine, from my barn, C, {as said before, not her real name, but not going to post her name all over the internet} said that she was “upset” because she wasn’t progressing as fast a girl named J at our barn. Now, J, has a PERFECT horse! I mean it! He will do absolutely ANYTHING for her! If J points him at a jump, he’ll jump with all his might, even if he just goes right through it. Now, C and I, have horses that are a lot more challenging. Shadow, for instance will ‘rush’ jumps, in the true sense of the word. She’ll run at them and leap as if they’re 6ft tall, even if it’s a pole…on the ground. C’s horse, will not jump without a WHOLE lot of motivation. So I have to pull Shadow back, C has to kick her horse to oblivion! Of course, C is a passive rider, so she won’t. -.- The horse that C rides belongs to a girl who has a inoperable brain tumor and she’s not doing well. C is leasing the horse to keep him in shape. So now, C has decided that she’s fed up that she’s not progressing as fast as J, so now she’s going to:

1) Stop leasing the horse she is riding, so that the horse will go back to a “not-so-great” barn, and probably have a less active life. Poor thing…=(

2) Take two months off from riding to decide if it’s something she “really wants to do.” -.- Whatever!

So, that’s what I have to write today, I know, sad. xD As I’ve said…

To Ride or Not to Ride?  WHAT A STUPID QUESTION! -.-

~Shadow

I sat down, as I usually do, and set out my food, hanging my purse on the back of my chair. Then I turned around and steepled my hands together, dipped my head and said a silent prayer thanking God for my meal. I look up and about 10-20 feet away I see this round table of sevvies(seventh graders, I’m in eighth) pointing at me. One girl nudges another girl named A{not her real name, but I won’t be so cruel as to post her name all over the internet}, who is in my Academy English class, she looked around at me, confused, but her friend nudged her again and she immediantly started laughing.

This is such a common problem these days in schools.  Whether those girls know it or not, I could sue them, for harrassment, public humilation and so on. Of course, I won’t, and even if I did, I don’t have any recorded proof. I wish people could see past their shallow prejudices and just appreciate everyone for their race, gender, age, religion, health, and so on. It’s a sad, sad world we live in. I point to Kid Nation, the new ABC show. That is our future? Another generation of kids’s influenced by their parent’s prejudices. Again I say, it is sad. I can only hope that by the end of the school year, and by the end of the show’s season, the children, and the students at my school, can see past those prejudices and learn to work together for the greater good.

~Shadow

I lied.

She’s not /my/ horse. I share-board her, so I can essentially ride her whenever I want, but she’s not legally mine. Today  we went and talked to Shadow’s sweet owner. Actually, the lady we talked to was the mother of Shadow’s owner,
(or mother-in-law, not sure), but anyway, me and my mom went to talk to her. She’s says the lowest she can go is $6,500. That’s coming down from the original asking price of $10,000. So, my WONDERFUL mother is going to see if the bank will let her take out *cough* another *cough* loan. So, we’ll see. Right now, I’m checking out Shadow’s bloodlines. She’s a descendant of Doc Bar! Pretty cool, eh? (The lady whose daughter/daughter-in-law owns Shadow, has a horse named Doc’s Best, we call him Doc, who is Doc Bar’s FIRST SON! =O That’s REALLY COOL! I’ll post developing updates here. Also, today there will be a few more posts. I just like to seperate them into different subjects.

 Anyway, Shadow is the name of my horse, a dapple grey, QH*, Mare. I have a /very/ old picture of me and her that I’ve posted. She looks really cute. =) We’ve competed in many shows and have done pretty good. We got Grand Champion at our last show, at least, in our devision. Of course, at that same show I fell off of her as we went over one of one of the jumps. It hurt, but eh, you got fall off at one point. I’ve gotten bucked off of Shadow to. In her defence she hadn’t veen ridden in about 18 months. (This was at the time before I started riding her) She was really hyper, so it was my own fault for not lunging her first. Anyways, more things coming later.

 I’m not sure what I’ll write here, probably updates on how me and Shadow are doing. Maybe some pointless things I just need to vent about. I don’t know. You’ll just have to check in and see. Well, that’s all for now. Bye!

*(QH=Quarter Horse)

EDIT: Sorry, the pic’s too big. =(   I’ll find a way to make it fit. PROMISE!