Phantom Horse Read Online Free Page A

appeared that the vets were right—there wasn’t a thing wrong with Moonshine. As far as Colin and everyone who knew him were concerned, he had the perfect horse.”
    Troy’s voice grew even quieter and slower, forcing his listeners to lean forward to hear. “I guess young Colin was lucky in that he was allowed a few years of happiness before the phantom made its appearance. One cold autumn night Colin was working late at the stable, cleaning up some stalls to help pay Mr. Janssen back for Moonshine’s keep—the same way a lot of you do here at Pine Hollow. After he’d finished he ambled on back to Moonshine’s stall to say good night. At least that’s what others at the stable assumed later, because they knew it was the boy’s habit. Nobody knows for sure, of course. What I’m telling you is the best guess at what happened next.
    “When Colin got to the stall, it was empty. He must have panicked, thinking some horse thief had come along and taken his beloved Moonshine. But as he turned around to go for help, he saw his horse standing in the stable aisle behind him. For just a second poor Colin may have felt only relief, but once that second passed he surely realized something was wrong, terribly wrong. Colin had never been truly afraid of any horse in his life, but now he must have felt real fear as he looked at the horse he had loved and thought he knew.Moonshine was still the tall, handsome horse he’d always been, but now there was something odd about him, something not quite right about the eyes and face. Moonshine started to snort and paw at the floor. And as he did, his eyes, which had always been beautiful and liquid brown, began to glow. Soon they were as red as the flames of hell, and Moonshine’s red gaze was directed straight at young Colin. The creature bared its teeth like a mad dog, and its mane and tail danced in the air, although there wasn’t a breath of wind in the stable that night. I’d wager that at this point the terrified Colin was frozen to the spot, not knowing what to do. Moonshine was blocking his exit from the building, and there was nobody around to help him. Finally Colin must have decided the only thing he could do was run into the empty stall that had been Moonshine’s, barricade himself in, and try to climb out the tiny window. But he’d barely gotten himself turned around before the beast came at him. He heard the terrible shriek, like no real horse has ever made in this world, and he looked over his shoulder in time to see the flashing hooves coming at him. He threw up his arms to try to protect his face, but it was too late. The phantom horse had laid claim to yet another victim.”
    Troy paused for a moment, then went on. “The next day, Mr. Janssen was the one to find what was left of young Colin. When the stable owner told the story to some of the older folks around town, he learned something chilling. Thirteen years before, the same thing had happened in astable in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And thirteen years before that, in one down toward New Orleans. One old-timer who’d lived out West in his younger days remembered hearing of the phantom horse showing up on a dude ranch thirteen years before
that.
Among them they managed to piece together what Colin’s last moments must have been like as the phantom horse made its horrible appearance. Nobody knows where it comes from, or where it goes between bodies, but everybody who knows about it knows one thing: It always comes back, every thirteen years, to do its worst to unsuspecting horse people.” Troy paused again. “Come to think of it, seems to me it’s about time for it to come around again. So next time a horse you
think
you know starts acting a little odd, it could be the weather or a change in its feed. But then again, it could be possessed by a phantom that’s biding its time … waiting to spill a river of blood.”

S TEVIE WAS THE first to speak. “Wow. Great story, Troy,” she said admiringly. She