It wasn’t until after dark that there came a change. Uneasiness began to settle in with the herd as a ripple of alarm passed silently from one paddock to the next. A menacing presence had arrived on the ranch and was slipping through the shadows and toward the house where Jessie lived. Once the presence had passed the pens, an eerie quiet hung over the entire ranch until it was shattered by the sound of voices up by the house. The voices got louder and were soon mixed with screams, the sound of wood cracking and glass breaking. All the horses ran as far from the sound as they could—all of them except the gray colt. The gray colt ran to the gate of the paddock and looked helplessly toward the house. He nickered softly.

It seemed like forever before the sounds from the house finally stopped and the presence the horses had been feeling stepped out of the house and into the dim light of the porch. Even though the house was at least one hundred yards away, the colt immediately recognized the presence as human. Not only was the presence human, it was a human he knew and was afraid of. The colt snorted a warning and ran to join the others at the bottom of the paddock, turning only after he had hid himself behind one of the older geldings and looked back up the hill, waiting for the presence to pass.

The horses could hear the presence talking to itself as it passed their paddock and headed in the direction of the round pen. There was more talking coming from the direction of the round pen, and then suddenly, the presence appeared at the gate of the paddock, a rifle in its hand. It stayed at the gate for a short time before moving on to the next one, and the next one after that. Then, as quickly as the presence had come, it disappeared and was gone from the ranch.

An eerie quiet once again returned to the ranch. As the horses curiously eased their way up to the gates of their pens, a soft, almost inaudible sobbing began to emanate from the house. It was Jessie, lying on the upstairs bathroom floor, bloodied, bruised and racked with pain from the horrendous beating she had tried to fight off. Her mind was trying to remember what happened, and how, but the pieces weren’t fitting together. Images floated aimlessly through her consciousness, but none stayed in focus long enough for her to recognize any of them. Then, all went black as she lost consciousness for the second time.

She awoke a few minutes later, groggy, but with a very clear vision of the entire ordeal. It ran as effortlessly through her mind as if she were watching a movie. She had been in the kitchen, checking on the roast she had in the oven, and then went to the dining room to set the table. She had placed the two plates across the table from one another, stood back and looked at them, then went back to move them so they were next to each other. She laid out the silverware next to the plates, the glasses and coffee cups, and as a final touch, put two long yellow candles in the middle of the table. She thought about lighting them, but decided to wait. There was no telling how long it would be before Henry would be back.