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Later that night, as Jessie was fast asleep; she suddenly heard a noise outside. She glanced at the window, it was just a storm and nothing else; but before she went back to sleep, the noise came again. It sounded like a horse: scared, frightened and stuck somewhere. Jessie quietly got out of bed, grabbed her shoes, coat and a flashlight; snuck downstairs and raced outside. Racing through the woods, Jessie didn’t know what was going through her head at the time, but if there was a horse out there, she had to find it. After what felt like eternity to her, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and saw what she planned to see: a horse.
Standing five feet from her, stuck to a branch, was a horse. He was black, and had a rope tied around his neck caught between two branches. The horse snorted and tried to pull away when he saw her. Jessie knew the horse was scared and that he was caught, remembering what Jack taught her, she inched very slowly and closely to the horse. “Easy, easy boy. I’m not going to hurt you, I’m here to help” she whispered as she got close enough to reach her hand forward to the horse’s neck and touched his neck. The horse flinched for a second, and almost panicked; but he calmed as she slowly stroked his wet neck and mane. She pulled the two branches apart and pulled the rope free. The horse stood there, staring right at her. Jessie slowly turned and walked about two steps when heard the sound of heavy footsteps following her; she turned around and saw the horse following her. She knew that sign: the horse trusted her enough to follow her, because she saved him. Jessie walked to the horse, and grabbed the rope, hoping the horse would allow her to take him home. The horse followed, as if there wasn’t anything on him at all.
Once home, Jessie opened the barn door and led the horse inside. The horses all looked up at their new guest. Now inside, she took a closer look at her new companion: the horse was a purebred Arabian, black as midnight, with a fiery glaze in his eyes, and a slight curve on his ears. She led the horse to an empty stall; a stall that once belonged to Darkness, one of her dad’s favorite horses. He unfortunately had to be put down last year because of age. Pushing the memory aside, she pulled the rope off the horse and patted his soft, black muzzle. The horse gently nudged her with his nose, and as she laughed to herself at his sweet behavior, Jessie came up with the perfect name: Diablo. Jessie knew it was getting late, but she was so exhausted that she slid down to a far corner from Diablo and was fast asleep.
The next morning, Jessie woke to the sound of Diablo sniffing her hair. Jessie stretched and noticed Jack standing right there. “Morning, Jess” he said. “Hi Dad, sorry about this morning. I guess I got a little tired and fell asleep in the stall.” Jack put his hand on Diablo’s neck and Diablo nudged the side of his arm. “It’s perfectly fine. You know, this horse must have a strong sense of trust. He trusted you enough to follow you everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Jessie suddenly realized that he was right. She knew Diablo would do anything for her, and she knew Diablo trusted Jack to be close without panicking or striking out, what a wild horse would normally do. But she knew this was no ordinary horse, this was her lifelong companion and best friend. “You know Dad, you’re right about Diablo; he’s an extraordinary animal, but he’s also my best friend.”
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