Post by Tyler Haze on Aug 29, 2009 22:43:15 GMT -5
plot with Jess... here's a basic rundown of the people... then have at it:
Anthony Lovasz
22-married-jockey
Anthony Lovasz, often referred to as, "the last best man," and appropriately so. Born in Mexico with a less than kind upbringing, he moved to the States when he was 16 to train with an American racehorse trainer in order to get his jockey's license. At 20 he was in a bad accident, in which he, and his mount, were sent through the rail after winning the race by half a length, when another horse veered into them just after they had passed the finish line. Despite bleeding everywhere, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and a fractured wrist, Anthony got up and walked away, refusing help from doctors, without giving a reason as to why he wouldn't take the help. The accident mostly ended his career, as he couldn't ride for a year and when he came back, his reputation was gone, and no one would give him a mount. Being as optimistic as always, when asked what he was going to do now, his answer was "Get my own horse," and that was exactly what he did.
Shortly after he came back to Pinewood, he met a girl named Alex Chasse, whose devil of a horse had it in for him from the start and made numerous attempts on his life. Perhaps because the horse knew what was going to play out between Alex and Anthony, and he wanted nothing to do with a man that was going to take his human away. Anyway, Anthony took King's Last Stand, the blind racehorse he'd been riding on the track, out and was working him, when a large raven sailed out of the trees, right over the blind animal, and let out a screech. The horse, in a panic, leaped to the side, and crashed into the rail, throwing himself off balance, and going down, rolling over top of his rider. Normally, Anthony would have gotten up again and walked away, but the crushing weight of the horse had come down directly on top of him, and within a second, he was completely unconscious.
Next thing he knew, he was in the hospital, hooked up to a morphine IV line, after having undergone several hours of surgery to repair a broken leg, broken ribs, and a punctured lung. Sitting beside the bed looking terribly worried, was none other than Alex, who had essentially saved his life as well as getting the terrified King taken care of and into the hands of the vet. That was when a seering pain hit him, and he noticed the IV hooked up to his arm. He reached over and carefully pulled it out, pressing his thumb over where it had been in his arm to prevent a hemotoma and bleeding to death. Then he looked up to see Ale's shocked expression, and knew he had to explain. He was genetically addicted to drugs, and even something as simple as aspirin could send him into shock. The doctors up here didn't know about that though, and Anthony, being Anthony didn't want to tell them. They talked a bit more before the unconscious sleep brought on by intense injuries started coming on. Before he was completely out though, almost against his will, the words "I love you" came from his mouth, then he was out... he didn't hear her respond with "I love you too" and he didn't feel her arms around him gently.
Later, when the pain from both having had drugs and from the injuries, became unbearable, he went into shock, and the seizures started. The doctors came in, saw the disconnected IV, and figured it must have fallen out somehow, and were about to put it back in, Alex returned, and stopped them, informing them of the genetic addiction, essentially saving his life again. For the two weeks that Anthony was, in his words, "trapped in a box with sterile white walls where the air reeks of blood and death," Alex went back and forth between the stable, the vet, and the hospital, always looking after Anthony and King whenever she had the chance. It was her holding his hand through the seizures and withdrawals while the doctors ran around in a frenzy because of their inability to do anything to help him, that kept him going, that got him through. When he got out, for the next two months, the withdrawals continued, though the seizures had died down some. The pain in his leg... which he had gotten the cast off of after a week of being out of the hospital despite the doctor's advisory to keep it on since it was only partially healed, often became so intense that he could hardly move, and he had to rely on Alex.
Several months later, during the wedding of Sebastian Kings, which he was a groomsman in, he came to the conclusion that he wanted that for him and Alex, and shortly after, asked her to marry him, and not long after that, Alex Chasse became Alex Lovasz. They were, without a doubt, the perfect couple. Yes, they had their issues, just like everyone else, but there was something about the two of them being married that seemed... well, perfect.
Austin Gaines
20-dating-hacker
Austin was your typical California boy his whole life... well... for most of his life. He was adopted at birth into a family in California, and was pretty much perfectly happy with them. In middle school, he was pretty nerdy. He was tall and athletic... but he failed miserably at sports, which gave him that kind of awkward not sure what to do with himself feel. So, instead of attempting sports, he got into computers, and by freshman year, he could essentially do whatever he wanted with things involving micro chips. Also in freshman year, he did the whole long haired, pot smoking, hippie thing with the tie dye shirts and the whole shebang. Sure people thought he was strange... but he didn't really care in all honesty.
Sophomore year he went from the pot smoking hippie to the nicotine smoking science guy. He was almost constantly in some sort of lab doing some sort of experimental thing or working on some sort of computer or cell phone, and even though he still had the "nerd" status, his popularity started rising. If your phone was broken, you could bring it to him, and he'd fix it, usually free of charge. If you were out of room on your ipod but wanted to add more songs, you could bring it to him, and he'd increase the space on it, if you were having computer problems, you could bring it to him, and he'd solve them, if you got a virus, you could bring it to him, and he'd repair it. He was essentially the go-to guy for any and all technological needs.
Junior year, he got rid of the entire nerd look by getting rid of the glasses and switching to contacts, and started teaching surfing lessons. Now, most people hadn't ever seen Austin without a shirt on, but as soon as he started teaching surfing lessons... well, lets just say his popularity among the ladies increased. Despite his painful inability to do any sports aside from surfing and horseback riding, he had one hell of a body. He was eye candy for sure. The vast majority of his "students" were either girls who thought he was hot, kids whose moms thought he was hot, or gay guys who thought he was hot. At that point, Austin was no longer "weird" but among some of the most popular people around.
Senior year, he met a girl named Alex Chasse, and he was pretty well enamored with her. The two of them had a lot of fond memories out at the lake house, most of which I won't go into because of the fact that she's married now, and it would probably be a very bad idea to bring them up. After that summer, Alex "had to go back" to living with her parents, and while Austin was a bit torn up, he understood, and they parted ways on good terms. Shortly after that, he met Sebastian Kings while he was on the beach teaching his dog to surf... yes, Austin was crazy, but the ladies like it, so why not? Despite the age difference between Sebastian and Austin, the two of them were quite alike. Always sleeping around, smoking all the time, drinking almost constantly, never missing a party... you know, the whole shebang. Sure, they got into a lot of trouble, but what two guys with their habits wouldn't get into a lot of trouble?
After he graduated, he decided he needed a change of scenery... and he wanted to find his real family. So, he hacked into the FBI, found out who they were and where they lived, and moved out... of course not leaving any trace that he'd broken into the files. He was pro at covering his tracks, you had to be when you were literally a professional computer hacker. Nobody could ever trace him, and he was proud of that fact. When he got to Pinewood, he was quite surprised to find Alex there, and realized that he still had feelings for her. Of course, it didn't take long after she'd tackled him into the lake, before she got him up to date on everything that had happened since she'd seen him last, and he was informed that she was dating Anthony Lovasz quite seriously. Austin didn't let on to his disappointment, but after a month or two, it came out that he still had a thing for her.
She was getting married though, and he knew he had to move on, so as a wedding gift, he gave Alex the lake house up in California. Not too long after Alex's engagement, Austin ran into a certain, Lexi Knightly, and well... he liked her a lot. So the two of them started hanging out, and somehow came to the conclusion that Austin was the last sane man alive, and Austin took her question "so Austin Gaines, you're the last sane man alive, what have you got to say for yourself?" as an opportunity and responded with "how about dinner and a movie?" With a quick response like that, how could Lexi possibly turn down the offer? So the two of them started dating, and Lexi moved in with Austin, and shortly after that, Lexi informed Austin that she was pregnant, with his kid. After the initial shock wore off...a couple days later... he couldn't have been more excited about it.
Charlie Parker
22- "dating"- mounted policeman
They talk about irony all the time, but usually in relation to some movie or T.V show. It doesn’t really happen in real life does it? Well, occasionally it does. There are small ironies, like dreaming about something that later happens, or talking about someone and then they walk up, or meeting someone in the last place both of you ever thought you would see the other. Then there are the ironies that are rare and far between. The ironies that happen only once or twice in a life time. The ironies that change life as you know it. Such irony had been fate’s twisted sense of humor in Charlie's life, none of them had been in any way pleasant, and all of them had nearly destroyed him, until now.
Charlie had been your typical teenage guy, full of himself, thought he was invincible and all that good stuff. Graduating at the age of 16 didn’t help any of that at all. He was smart, athletic, and popular. He was the kid that everyone wanted to be, and he took it all for granted. He took it for granted that is, until fate’s first irony hit. After high school he’d trained to be a policeman. In his off time, he would hit all the clubs. Unfortunately, on the job one night, he had to go to one of the clubs he went to regularly, and make an arrest. Someone who knew him, and was exceedingly drunk, got mad at him for “betraying them.” Just as Charlie cuffed the guy he was arresting he turned around to take him out to the patrol car that had just arrived and BAM! A bullet to the chest. How was that for a thank you for arresting an armed and dangerous man who was wanted for three counts of first degree murder and possibly saving our lives?
Next irony to hit. He was deathly allergic to morphine which happened to be the only drugs the medics had on hand. Turns out it was the only drug anyone had on hand, and he would have to wait 24 hours before anyone could get anything he could actually take. Imagine getting shot and having to deal with the pain for 24 hours with no meds to ease it a bit. It was more than pain, it was like walking through hell and barely making it out alive. At one point it got so bad he wished that bullet would have been three inches down and four inches to the left…his heart. He wished he could just die so that the pain would go away.
When he had joined the mounted police, he had wanted to do something dangerous that involved horses, and this seemed like the best way to get that. Unfortunately, fate decided to turn that on him as well. While riding down the street one night on the late shift, they stopped to check out a car that had the plates pulled off. As they’d expected, it was stolen. Also as expected, the guy who’d stolen it had run out of gas, parked it on the side of the street, and was passed out on the back seat as drunk as anyone could possibly get and still be alive. While Charlie’s partner called it in, Charlie was over by the car attempting to get the guy to stand up long enough for him to get cuffs on him and keep him awake long enough to explain his rights…not an easy task. That was when he heard the screech of tires. He turned around just in time to see a van come roaring around the corner and head directly for his partner and his waiting horse. Before he could say even so much as a word, both of them were lying on the cold hard ground. The man was dead, the horse dying.
In one night, the two things he had wanted most were taken from him. The danger had killed his partner, his close friend. The danger had killed his horse, his closest companion. Every time he heard a gunshot now he could see the barrel of that gun against Brigadier’s head, he could see the blood everywhere on the street. He couldn’t take it, everything he had joined for no longer brought him pride, no longer thrilled him. In fact, it only haunted him day in and day out. He left the force, never intending to return, though the possibility was still there.
Yet another irony struck him, and this irony was not one he considered one of those cruel twists of fate. This one he considered more of an act of fate to make up for all those others that life had thrown at him...but it wouldn't stay that way. Hayley had asked him several times...when she was high...to marry her, and he had always just shrugged it off. Now though, it didn't seem quite so ridiculous. Sure, nothing like that would be happen for a long while, but it was still feasible in the future. So if he thought that, why not just marry her right then? As before mentioned, Charlie was the sort of guy who wanted to make sure he had found the one. He was pretty sure he had, but only time could tell. Besides, she was still only 19, and in his opinion, that was pretty young to be getting married. Unfortunately, this is where the cruel part comes in. After two years of trying to deal with her drug addictions, her constant screaming, her eating disorders, her cutting, her bipolar disorder, the numerous break-ups, and drinking, he simply couldn't handle it anymore, and finally informed her of that. It was about the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, telling her that things weren't going to work out between them. Then she left him, and their kids and sort of disappeared for a while. Now Charlie was a single dad of two, and worked full time as a cop, not to mention the number of times he had to go help Anthony sort out issues with Sebastian.
Then his cousin moved in with him until she was 18 and could live on her own, and that became another cruel twist of fate. He was already stressed to the max, and then when she started sleeping around with Anthony's little brother, he was about ready to kill someone, and Andrew was the unfortunate one who pushed Charlie over the edge and so became the one who was the victim of his anger. Of course, Andrew deserved it, and he'd had it coming ever since he'd arrived here, he was just very unlucky that Charlie was the one who did it...and that everyone there knew better than to stand between Charlie and his prey. If Sebastian hadn't stopped him eventually though, he probably would have killed him...he was just that far gone.
Yes, fate had it in for Charlie, and he was looking forward to the day when it finally threw him something decent that wasn't going to make him want to shoot the next person that did so much as one thing to irritate him. Although he wasn't out into the clear blue again, he had met someone that he could see himself spending forever with. They made their relationship official, but hadn't gone very far with it. Charlie was desperately hoping that this relationship would work out for him, but he had a bad feeling that there were going to be a few more curve balls thrown at him before his life would be considered normal again.
Derrick Tanner
20-single- long rider/ranch hand
There's really no sob story to tell like what most people have these days. He was born on a farm in Kentucky where his dad trained thoroughbred racehorses. He loved those animals and worked with them whenever he could. He was mostly sort of a substitute for his dad's exercise riders from the age of 13 to 15 before he got too tall to ride the light framed racers. It was unhealthy for them to carry the weight of a guy over 6' tall.
When he turned 16, his dad, who was quite well off from the racing industry, bought him a thoroughbred quarter horse paint yearling by the name Big John. The horse had been given some ground work and such, though had never been broken to saddle and bridle. That was Derrick's job. He set to work almost immediately, and started training the horse for cutting and team roping/penning. The horse, much like Derrick himself, didn't stop growing at the expected height, but grew to be quite large. At 17 hands, though, he was the perfect height for his rather tall rider.
The pair mostly competed in local shows and the county fair, though after winning a county competition, they went to state, and then on to nationals. The team didn't fare too well in nationals, considering that we were competing against the best in the country and were just a small town team with no impressive history to speak of. After graduation, Derrick moved out to a ranch in Colorado where he worked with the cattle for a year. After that year, the owner of the ranch got into financial trouble and he was laid off along with a good many other men.
From there he started competing again, and eventually made my way out to West Virginia to a little town called Pinewood. He got a job at a local ranch, which started out as the perfect job, but turned south in a hurry. Rick, the ranch owner, started taking advantage of Derrick's need for the job and was making him play the part of babysitter for his two bratty kids. For that reason, and a few others, he really wanted to find a different job, but none of the other ranches were hiring, so he only had two options... hang in their and hope things got better, or quit, and have no job.
He tried the first option for a while, but as things continued slipping downhill, he quickly came to the realization that this was not going to work. He was going to end up killing those kids and his boss if he didn't do something soon. So after looking for another job in vain for some time, he gave up, and just quit his job. Now, he couldn't afford to pay for his house and Johnny's board, and he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do now...at least until he happened upon the "Long Rider's Guild," comprised of people who rode around the country on horse back living off of the generosity of the people on the road. He was inspired, to say the least, and before long, Big Bad John, Badger, Be a Jubilee, and Derrick Tanner had taken to the road, leaving Pinewood behind them.
Two years, and 6,500 miles later, the quartet arrived back at their starting destination in Pinewood West Virginia, their trip having taken them up to the Canadian Border, along that to Washington, down the coast to California, and then across the mid United States back to West Virginia. Derrick hadn't really told anyone he was leaving, and hadn't really kept in contact with anyone in Pinweood, despite having known several people there quite well. He was a traveler, and everyone knew it. He had rarely ever stayed in one place for too long, and so his disappearance was nothing they hadn't expected. What took them by surprise though was the article in the newspaper announcing the return of Pinewood's Long Rider, Derrick Tanner, and his team comprising of two red paints and a Burmese mountain dog.
A couple days later, Derrick, Johnny, Jubilee, and Badger came walking up the drive of Pinewood Stable, looking about the same as they had when they left, though perhaps a bit more lean and weathered than before... but what else would you expect from them after a trip like the one they had made. There was no greeting party waiting at the stable though, which Derrick was glad of... he'd never been very fond of being the center of attention, and Jubilee could be a bit of a ditz around crowds, and the last thing Derrick needed was for someone to get hurt on account of his horse. He couldn't help but smile though, at the sight of the familiar stables as he pulled Johnny to a stop. It had been two years since he'd seen anything that he recognized, and it was nice to finally be home.
Dustin Kurucz
19-"dating"-street trash
No, he actually hadn’t shot that cop, what fifteen year old boy in their right mind could shoot anyone, let alone a cop? But it hadn’t mattered what he had or hadn’t done. The Mexican government in that area was corrupt, if you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time; you went to jail, no trial, nothing. Of course, when you went to jail, you were given the promise of a trial at a later date, but more than often it was a much, much later date.
Wondering what actually went down? Well, here it is in short. His parents were catholic missionaries in Mexico when he was born, and because they were still U.S citizens, he was granted dual citizenship in the U.S and Mexico. For the first five years of his life, everything was perfectly normal…as normal as a missionary kid’s life could be anyway. But the years after that were pure torture. Something happened that he couldn’t understand in his five-year-old mind.
His father basically gave up on the whole missionary thing, and started drinking and getting into drugs and all that good stuff. Shortly after that he would come home drunk almost every night and beat both him and his mother. For almost ten years this routine was carried out. Finally giving up on trying to stop his dad from beating him, Dustin, then fifteen, took his father’s gun and stepped out into the street, having every intention of ending it all right then and there. He was interrupted though, but a policeman, one of his dad’s more recent drinking buddies. The man was drunk, and when he saw the gun in Dustin’s hand, he took out his own weapon, aimed it, rather unsteadily, and fired. A few moments after the bullet tore into Dustin’s shoulder, the cop shot himself.
They hadn’t cared about forensics or any of that, the kid had a gun, and the cop was dead. He had to have done it right? Had this been in the U.S, he would not have been tried as an adult, but since it was in corrupted Mexico, he was brought straight away to prison. They said he would get a trial soon, but apparently soon was a long time away. It was during his time there that he first really truly hated government and the law.
After two years in prison, Dustin’s court date finally arrived. The trial hardly lasted an hour. They admitted that they had looked into the evidence, and he was not to blame. That same day he was released. You would expect that he would be given something for having been forced to waste those years in prison, but all he got was a ‘sorry.’
He returned home, only to find out that his parents were divorced, his mother had practically disowned him, not wanting to be affiliated with a murderer, and she was now living with another man, with whom she had a two-year-old daughter. It was then and there that he came to the realization that he was on his own. He started working a few odd jobs here and there, and was finally settling into a “normal” life once again when the news was brought to him.
His mother’s boyfriend had shot and killed her, then disappeared, leaving the little girl without parents or anyone to take care of her. Dustin was the only living relative, so naturally, she fell into his care. Not knowing anything about how to take care of a toddler, and barely making enough to sustain himself, he decided to drop his Mexican citizenship and move to the States.
Hardly a year after moving up there, the social services somehow managed to find the record of his murdering the policeman down in Mexico. Apparently they had forgotten to discard that record. Anyway, they ruled him to be too dangerous to be taking care of a child that young, and took her from him. Her new parents allowed him to have visitation rights, which he was able to utilize once a week. Although he didn't see her all that often, she always raced out of the house to meet him when he came, joyful glee lighting up her three-year-old face.
One day, July 9th at 2:00 pm, Dustin stepped out of his car and was met by a tearful little girl. There was a bruise across her face that looked fairly new. Through the sobs, she managed to tell him that her “new daddy” was hurting her. Dustin, of course, was outraged. He wasn’t going to let her have the same life he had been forced into. He promised to make everything better, and contacted the social services. They said they would look into it, though didn’t really believe him. After all, he was a criminal. Finally, a week later, they decided to investigate and check up on things, but it was too late.
It was an accident, they said, she had fallen down the stairs and fractured her skull. Dustin didn’t really care if they said it was an accident, he knew he had killed her. At the funeral as they lowered the tiny casket into her grave, he could hardly hear the words the pastor said. He hardly heard the people as they apologized for his loss. All he saw and heard was the man who had killed his little sister. All he saw was the mock sadness, the pretend pain and tears. All he heard were the well rehearsed, empty expressions of sorrow that flowed from his mouth in a stream of vile poison.
For a month he fumed over it internally, though never let on to a single soul what he was thinking. Exactly thirty days after the little girl’s death, Dustin pulled out the gun…the same one that had sent him to prison for possessing…and took a drive over to his house. He parked his car several blocks away, and walked to the house. It was late, and his wife was out working her job, leaving him in the house alone. Dustin walked up to the door, which was unlocked and stepped in.
He found the man in the living room watching a game on TV and drinking a can of beer. He hadn’t heard Dustin’s entry. He did however, hear the sound of the gun being thingyeded, and turned around. “Dustin?” He said, sounding worried as he looked at the gun pointed steadily at him. “What’s going on?” Silence resonated between them for some time, finally broken by Dustin’s reply. “You killed her didn’t you?” He asked, but continued on without giving him a chance to make up an excuse. “You killed an innocent three-year-old girl who only wanted to please you. She couldn’t do anything right in your eyes could she? So you killed her. I know you did it, she told me only days before that you had hurt her. Intentionally, blatantly, you killed her.” He paused once again, hardly able to keep the gun leveled steadily at him as he fought the urge to shoot the man right there. "And why? He continued yet again, "Because you were too selfish to see past your own nose and into the eyes of a little girl who never knew a father's love, and now never will." By this point, it was pretty obvious that he was fighting back the tears that attempted to well up and spill over as he reopened never fully healed wounds with each word.
The man’s look of worry changed to terrible realization. He had thought he would get away with it. He had thought no one would ever know, and here now it was all falling apart around him. “Look Dustin,” He said, trying to convince him that he hadn’t done it, though he wasn’t very good at lying at that end of the gun. “I know you’re upset, but I loved her like…” He was cut off as Dustin took hold of him and slammed him against the wall, rage and hatred filling his normally calm eyes. “Loved her like a what? A father?" He practically laughed at the seeming insanity of this suggestion. "You never loved her. What father would abuse his child? What father would kill his child? You were no more a father to her than some stranger on the other side of the world.” Dustin said, his voice almost a hiss as he pressed the gun against the man’s head. “She deserved better.”
He turned and started to walk away, leaving the man relieved, though still worried, he could easily go to the police. A slight smirk crawled across the man’s face as Dustin walked away. “They’ll never take your word over mine.” He said, stopping Dustin in his tracks, “What’s stopping me from calling the police and telling them about this?” Dustin turned slowly, looking the man in the eyes. It seemed like an eternity, though it was only a few moments, and Dustin slowly brought the gun back to the level of the man’s head. He said nothing, not a single word, but pulled the trigger.
The gunshot resonated though the streets, and a few lights popped on, curious neighbors stepped out onto their front porches. Several people phoned the police, then watched as the red and blue lights swarmed around the house. By the time anyone arrived though, the killer was gone, leaving behind not even so much as a finger print as evidence to who had murdered the man.
About 20 miles out of town, he disposed of the gun in a muddy river, knowing that no one would ever find it, and even if they did and happened to report it to the police, the gun had come from Mexico, and therefore there was no registration where the owner's name could be found. He never went back there, and the police never suspected that he had done it. Sure, they considered him a criminal, but was he capable of killing a man in cold blood? Several people he had known around town had testified that he would never do such a thing. They were, every one of them, wrong.
He made Pinewood West Virginia his home, no one would look for him there if they found out he’d done it. But he was a changed man. He became the criminal everyone believed him to be. The streets became his home. It was here that he ran into the infamous and legendary Tyler Haze who was rumored to be the best there was. He wanted to learn from Tyler, but quickly discovered it was impossible. The man could disappear into thin air in the blink of an eye. So it was up to him to learn on his own. After a year, he was now 19, he had mastered the technique. Sure, he was no match for the original most wanted, Tyler, but he was pretty damn close. He became one of Pinewood’s most wanted. He became one of the best. He became the night. He became inhuman…immortal. He had blood on his hands, and stood in defiance of the law. Anyone who dared to attempt and thaw this frozen heart, tame this wild ambition, corral this train wreck headed for more disaster…would have a task ahead of them indeed.
Then he met Riley Hartmann, and she was definitely the one who did the taming... only problem was, Dustin was afraid to fall in love, and he left her, fearing that he would only end up hurting her worse if he stayed. So Riley devised a plan to get him back... she found him, and told him that she was pregnant with his baby, and Dustin, finding no reason to not believe her, took her word for it, and went back to her. Riley would have to tell him eventually... and when that day came he would be crushed and would probably end up leaving her again, heart broken and betrayed... but for now, they still had a lot of problems to work out.
Sydney Montgomery
18-pregnant & sort of dating-rodeo rider
Unlike most histories, this one isn't going to start with "Sydney was born..." because well... obviously she was born otherwise there would be no Sydney to write a history about. No, this history is going to start with the first thing she herself can recall. It was a hot Sunday afternoon, and five-year-old Sydney was sitting on the railing of the corral watching her dad's ranch hands branding the calves. They were covered in dirt and sweat. Sydney couldn't count how many times she'd asked her dad if she could help with the branding, but he always said no, she wasn't big enough yet. While she sat there, her dad pulled up with the truck and stock trailer, which wasn't an unusual sight, it usually meant he'd went and found a new bull or something of that sort. But today, it was no cow that was unloaded from that trailer... it was the prettiest sorrel quarter horse Sydney had ever seen, and from the way her dad was smiling at her, she knew it was for her.
After that she became obsessed with riding. Everything she did somehow involved horses... almost everything that is. The older she got the better she got. She practically lived at the rodeo grounds when she wasn't out helping on the ranch. She competed in almost ever western event in existence. Roping, cutting, penning, barrel racing, pole bending... you name it she probably did it, and she was good at it too. The talent was natural for her, and she almost always got a good score and ended up in at least the top five. She lost her "v-card" when she was 15 to a 19 year old guy on the rodeo circuit, and it was smooth sailing from there.
When she turned 16 she started to notice "special attention" from one of her dad's ranch hands. She blew it off though, nothing could come of it...right? Wrong. The more she tried to ignore it, the more persistent it became. It got to the point where he would "subtly" grab her ass or her chest as he walked by. She didn't say anything to her dad about it though, and just did her best to avoid him...which wasn't always easy considering they both worked on the ranch and always ended up running into each other.
It was a saturday evening, and she was in the tack room in the barn cleaning up her tack after a long evening, and who would show up but the one man she was trying to stay away from. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, he of course started making sexual advances on her, and she being only 16 didn't really know what to do except to try to ignore him. When he tried to kiss her though, she acted on impulse and b.itch slapped the man. That of course pissed him off, and he grabbed her and shoved her back against the wall forcefully, and held her there despite her struggles to get away.
He muffled her scream by kissing her, hard, as he ripped open her button down shirt. I won't go into anymore detail, but you all know what happened from there. When it was all over he told Sydney that if she ever told anyone that he would kill her, and of course, she being a 16 year old girl who was already terrified out of her mind, believed that he would, and so said nothing. If only to make things worse, as he walked out, leaving Sydney huddled in the corner, he looked over his shoulder and said "enjoy it next time, it'll make things easier for both of us."
After that Sydney couldn't stay there anymore. Home wasn't safe... she knew he would come for her again, and she had already found out that she wasn't strong enough to get away from him. So she got emancipated from her dad and moved out. Of course she couldn't tell her dad why, so she told him that she was joining the rodeo circuit, and he believed her and let her go, giving her access to the huge bank account the ranch had built up over the past decade, knowing that she was a sensible girl and wouldn't drain it.
So Sydney left Texas and moved from town to town, a different guy in bed with her every night. She convinced herself that if she had sex enough the rape would become just another fuck and she would forget about it. There were times it worked, but she still never told anyone about it. Finally after two years, she ended up in Pinewood West Virginia... how long she'll stay there, nobody knows. She's currently pregnant with Andrew Lovasz's baby, and might have a bit of a thing for Ryan Wesley, but who knows what's going to happen? After all, it's not easy to tame wild ones like Sydney.
Tristan Morgan
18-single-apprentice jockey
Horses had always been his passion. From the time he was little up until now, he's always been a horse person. But he wasn't like most people who were into horses. He first showed interest in the equine world when he went to the races in London at age five. Something about the powerful horses intrigued him, and even in his childish mind he was enthralled by the way the animals moved, the way their legs curled and stretched, propelling them forwards, the way their muscles rippled beneath their smooth coats, the way they held themselves, everything about them. IT was like a whole new level of life that he hadn't ever seen before. Yes, he had seen tour horses and whatnot, but these were different.
When he was 16 his parents bought him a two year old thoroughbred colt by the name Media Puzzle. They never expected him to really go anywhere with it though, just as a horse to ride, that was all. But Tristan was determined to get into the racing world. Most jockeys started training around fourteen, and here he was at 16 and never having even been on a horse before. His older brother Jason had been riding as a jockey for four years, and he agreed to help Tristan when he could. Tristan wasn't about to let anything put a stop to his dream though, and it wasn't long before he had Puzzle out at the track and was training the horse and himself to race. He didn't have any idea if he was any good at it, he didn't even know if he was fast, but that didn't make any difference to him. They worked long and hard out on that track, often times being the first ones there and the last ones to go, but it really paid off in the end.
By the time he was a three year old and he was 17, he was ready to race, in Tristan's opinion, and Jason agreed. Of course, Tristan couldn't get a license to ride until he was 18, so Jason was going to be the one to ride him. However, a week before Puzzle's race, Jason was in an accident on the track when his horse went down on top of him, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. The tragedy hit the family hard, his dad started working more, and his mom went into depression. Still unwilling to give up, Tristan forged a jockey's license under the name Damien Oliver. They were the underdogs for sure, no one had ever heard of Media Puzzle or Damien Oliver, but once again, Tristan wasn't going to let that put a stop to his dreams. He told them that he was Jason's brother whom had been away for a while, but came back to run this race in memory of him.
The Melbourne Cup wasn't the sort of race most people would use as the maiden, but it was the one Jason had selected as the best chance he had of winning. They were boxed in the middle of the pack through the race up until the home turn where they got just enough opening to power through. They won that race by a good margin, and in the interview afterward he had a hard time holding it together, but managed. Now naturally, the racing world started looking into Damien Oliver more closely after that race, and Tristan knew he and Puzzle had to get out of London before someone found out that there was no Damien Oliver.
So he and Puzzle ended up in the States where they were discovered by a certain Mr. Fently who took an interest in both horse and rider. Due to being a very high level trainer, Fently didn't really have time to train a new horse and a new rider, so he sent them to Pinewood West Virginia, to be in an apprenticeship under Anthony Lovasz, a formerly world renowned jockey that Fently had trained several years ago. He figured that Anthony and the low key town would do Tristan some good, so off they went..
22-married-jockey
Anthony Lovasz, often referred to as, "the last best man," and appropriately so. Born in Mexico with a less than kind upbringing, he moved to the States when he was 16 to train with an American racehorse trainer in order to get his jockey's license. At 20 he was in a bad accident, in which he, and his mount, were sent through the rail after winning the race by half a length, when another horse veered into them just after they had passed the finish line. Despite bleeding everywhere, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and a fractured wrist, Anthony got up and walked away, refusing help from doctors, without giving a reason as to why he wouldn't take the help. The accident mostly ended his career, as he couldn't ride for a year and when he came back, his reputation was gone, and no one would give him a mount. Being as optimistic as always, when asked what he was going to do now, his answer was "Get my own horse," and that was exactly what he did.
Shortly after he came back to Pinewood, he met a girl named Alex Chasse, whose devil of a horse had it in for him from the start and made numerous attempts on his life. Perhaps because the horse knew what was going to play out between Alex and Anthony, and he wanted nothing to do with a man that was going to take his human away. Anyway, Anthony took King's Last Stand, the blind racehorse he'd been riding on the track, out and was working him, when a large raven sailed out of the trees, right over the blind animal, and let out a screech. The horse, in a panic, leaped to the side, and crashed into the rail, throwing himself off balance, and going down, rolling over top of his rider. Normally, Anthony would have gotten up again and walked away, but the crushing weight of the horse had come down directly on top of him, and within a second, he was completely unconscious.
Next thing he knew, he was in the hospital, hooked up to a morphine IV line, after having undergone several hours of surgery to repair a broken leg, broken ribs, and a punctured lung. Sitting beside the bed looking terribly worried, was none other than Alex, who had essentially saved his life as well as getting the terrified King taken care of and into the hands of the vet. That was when a seering pain hit him, and he noticed the IV hooked up to his arm. He reached over and carefully pulled it out, pressing his thumb over where it had been in his arm to prevent a hemotoma and bleeding to death. Then he looked up to see Ale's shocked expression, and knew he had to explain. He was genetically addicted to drugs, and even something as simple as aspirin could send him into shock. The doctors up here didn't know about that though, and Anthony, being Anthony didn't want to tell them. They talked a bit more before the unconscious sleep brought on by intense injuries started coming on. Before he was completely out though, almost against his will, the words "I love you" came from his mouth, then he was out... he didn't hear her respond with "I love you too" and he didn't feel her arms around him gently.
Later, when the pain from both having had drugs and from the injuries, became unbearable, he went into shock, and the seizures started. The doctors came in, saw the disconnected IV, and figured it must have fallen out somehow, and were about to put it back in, Alex returned, and stopped them, informing them of the genetic addiction, essentially saving his life again. For the two weeks that Anthony was, in his words, "trapped in a box with sterile white walls where the air reeks of blood and death," Alex went back and forth between the stable, the vet, and the hospital, always looking after Anthony and King whenever she had the chance. It was her holding his hand through the seizures and withdrawals while the doctors ran around in a frenzy because of their inability to do anything to help him, that kept him going, that got him through. When he got out, for the next two months, the withdrawals continued, though the seizures had died down some. The pain in his leg... which he had gotten the cast off of after a week of being out of the hospital despite the doctor's advisory to keep it on since it was only partially healed, often became so intense that he could hardly move, and he had to rely on Alex.
Several months later, during the wedding of Sebastian Kings, which he was a groomsman in, he came to the conclusion that he wanted that for him and Alex, and shortly after, asked her to marry him, and not long after that, Alex Chasse became Alex Lovasz. They were, without a doubt, the perfect couple. Yes, they had their issues, just like everyone else, but there was something about the two of them being married that seemed... well, perfect.
Austin Gaines
20-dating-hacker
Austin was your typical California boy his whole life... well... for most of his life. He was adopted at birth into a family in California, and was pretty much perfectly happy with them. In middle school, he was pretty nerdy. He was tall and athletic... but he failed miserably at sports, which gave him that kind of awkward not sure what to do with himself feel. So, instead of attempting sports, he got into computers, and by freshman year, he could essentially do whatever he wanted with things involving micro chips. Also in freshman year, he did the whole long haired, pot smoking, hippie thing with the tie dye shirts and the whole shebang. Sure people thought he was strange... but he didn't really care in all honesty.
Sophomore year he went from the pot smoking hippie to the nicotine smoking science guy. He was almost constantly in some sort of lab doing some sort of experimental thing or working on some sort of computer or cell phone, and even though he still had the "nerd" status, his popularity started rising. If your phone was broken, you could bring it to him, and he'd fix it, usually free of charge. If you were out of room on your ipod but wanted to add more songs, you could bring it to him, and he'd increase the space on it, if you were having computer problems, you could bring it to him, and he'd solve them, if you got a virus, you could bring it to him, and he'd repair it. He was essentially the go-to guy for any and all technological needs.
Junior year, he got rid of the entire nerd look by getting rid of the glasses and switching to contacts, and started teaching surfing lessons. Now, most people hadn't ever seen Austin without a shirt on, but as soon as he started teaching surfing lessons... well, lets just say his popularity among the ladies increased. Despite his painful inability to do any sports aside from surfing and horseback riding, he had one hell of a body. He was eye candy for sure. The vast majority of his "students" were either girls who thought he was hot, kids whose moms thought he was hot, or gay guys who thought he was hot. At that point, Austin was no longer "weird" but among some of the most popular people around.
Senior year, he met a girl named Alex Chasse, and he was pretty well enamored with her. The two of them had a lot of fond memories out at the lake house, most of which I won't go into because of the fact that she's married now, and it would probably be a very bad idea to bring them up. After that summer, Alex "had to go back" to living with her parents, and while Austin was a bit torn up, he understood, and they parted ways on good terms. Shortly after that, he met Sebastian Kings while he was on the beach teaching his dog to surf... yes, Austin was crazy, but the ladies like it, so why not? Despite the age difference between Sebastian and Austin, the two of them were quite alike. Always sleeping around, smoking all the time, drinking almost constantly, never missing a party... you know, the whole shebang. Sure, they got into a lot of trouble, but what two guys with their habits wouldn't get into a lot of trouble?
After he graduated, he decided he needed a change of scenery... and he wanted to find his real family. So, he hacked into the FBI, found out who they were and where they lived, and moved out... of course not leaving any trace that he'd broken into the files. He was pro at covering his tracks, you had to be when you were literally a professional computer hacker. Nobody could ever trace him, and he was proud of that fact. When he got to Pinewood, he was quite surprised to find Alex there, and realized that he still had feelings for her. Of course, it didn't take long after she'd tackled him into the lake, before she got him up to date on everything that had happened since she'd seen him last, and he was informed that she was dating Anthony Lovasz quite seriously. Austin didn't let on to his disappointment, but after a month or two, it came out that he still had a thing for her.
She was getting married though, and he knew he had to move on, so as a wedding gift, he gave Alex the lake house up in California. Not too long after Alex's engagement, Austin ran into a certain, Lexi Knightly, and well... he liked her a lot. So the two of them started hanging out, and somehow came to the conclusion that Austin was the last sane man alive, and Austin took her question "so Austin Gaines, you're the last sane man alive, what have you got to say for yourself?" as an opportunity and responded with "how about dinner and a movie?" With a quick response like that, how could Lexi possibly turn down the offer? So the two of them started dating, and Lexi moved in with Austin, and shortly after that, Lexi informed Austin that she was pregnant, with his kid. After the initial shock wore off...a couple days later... he couldn't have been more excited about it.
Charlie Parker
22- "dating"- mounted policeman
They talk about irony all the time, but usually in relation to some movie or T.V show. It doesn’t really happen in real life does it? Well, occasionally it does. There are small ironies, like dreaming about something that later happens, or talking about someone and then they walk up, or meeting someone in the last place both of you ever thought you would see the other. Then there are the ironies that are rare and far between. The ironies that happen only once or twice in a life time. The ironies that change life as you know it. Such irony had been fate’s twisted sense of humor in Charlie's life, none of them had been in any way pleasant, and all of them had nearly destroyed him, until now.
Charlie had been your typical teenage guy, full of himself, thought he was invincible and all that good stuff. Graduating at the age of 16 didn’t help any of that at all. He was smart, athletic, and popular. He was the kid that everyone wanted to be, and he took it all for granted. He took it for granted that is, until fate’s first irony hit. After high school he’d trained to be a policeman. In his off time, he would hit all the clubs. Unfortunately, on the job one night, he had to go to one of the clubs he went to regularly, and make an arrest. Someone who knew him, and was exceedingly drunk, got mad at him for “betraying them.” Just as Charlie cuffed the guy he was arresting he turned around to take him out to the patrol car that had just arrived and BAM! A bullet to the chest. How was that for a thank you for arresting an armed and dangerous man who was wanted for three counts of first degree murder and possibly saving our lives?
Next irony to hit. He was deathly allergic to morphine which happened to be the only drugs the medics had on hand. Turns out it was the only drug anyone had on hand, and he would have to wait 24 hours before anyone could get anything he could actually take. Imagine getting shot and having to deal with the pain for 24 hours with no meds to ease it a bit. It was more than pain, it was like walking through hell and barely making it out alive. At one point it got so bad he wished that bullet would have been three inches down and four inches to the left…his heart. He wished he could just die so that the pain would go away.
When he had joined the mounted police, he had wanted to do something dangerous that involved horses, and this seemed like the best way to get that. Unfortunately, fate decided to turn that on him as well. While riding down the street one night on the late shift, they stopped to check out a car that had the plates pulled off. As they’d expected, it was stolen. Also as expected, the guy who’d stolen it had run out of gas, parked it on the side of the street, and was passed out on the back seat as drunk as anyone could possibly get and still be alive. While Charlie’s partner called it in, Charlie was over by the car attempting to get the guy to stand up long enough for him to get cuffs on him and keep him awake long enough to explain his rights…not an easy task. That was when he heard the screech of tires. He turned around just in time to see a van come roaring around the corner and head directly for his partner and his waiting horse. Before he could say even so much as a word, both of them were lying on the cold hard ground. The man was dead, the horse dying.
In one night, the two things he had wanted most were taken from him. The danger had killed his partner, his close friend. The danger had killed his horse, his closest companion. Every time he heard a gunshot now he could see the barrel of that gun against Brigadier’s head, he could see the blood everywhere on the street. He couldn’t take it, everything he had joined for no longer brought him pride, no longer thrilled him. In fact, it only haunted him day in and day out. He left the force, never intending to return, though the possibility was still there.
Yet another irony struck him, and this irony was not one he considered one of those cruel twists of fate. This one he considered more of an act of fate to make up for all those others that life had thrown at him...but it wouldn't stay that way. Hayley had asked him several times...when she was high...to marry her, and he had always just shrugged it off. Now though, it didn't seem quite so ridiculous. Sure, nothing like that would be happen for a long while, but it was still feasible in the future. So if he thought that, why not just marry her right then? As before mentioned, Charlie was the sort of guy who wanted to make sure he had found the one. He was pretty sure he had, but only time could tell. Besides, she was still only 19, and in his opinion, that was pretty young to be getting married. Unfortunately, this is where the cruel part comes in. After two years of trying to deal with her drug addictions, her constant screaming, her eating disorders, her cutting, her bipolar disorder, the numerous break-ups, and drinking, he simply couldn't handle it anymore, and finally informed her of that. It was about the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, telling her that things weren't going to work out between them. Then she left him, and their kids and sort of disappeared for a while. Now Charlie was a single dad of two, and worked full time as a cop, not to mention the number of times he had to go help Anthony sort out issues with Sebastian.
Then his cousin moved in with him until she was 18 and could live on her own, and that became another cruel twist of fate. He was already stressed to the max, and then when she started sleeping around with Anthony's little brother, he was about ready to kill someone, and Andrew was the unfortunate one who pushed Charlie over the edge and so became the one who was the victim of his anger. Of course, Andrew deserved it, and he'd had it coming ever since he'd arrived here, he was just very unlucky that Charlie was the one who did it...and that everyone there knew better than to stand between Charlie and his prey. If Sebastian hadn't stopped him eventually though, he probably would have killed him...he was just that far gone.
Yes, fate had it in for Charlie, and he was looking forward to the day when it finally threw him something decent that wasn't going to make him want to shoot the next person that did so much as one thing to irritate him. Although he wasn't out into the clear blue again, he had met someone that he could see himself spending forever with. They made their relationship official, but hadn't gone very far with it. Charlie was desperately hoping that this relationship would work out for him, but he had a bad feeling that there were going to be a few more curve balls thrown at him before his life would be considered normal again.
Derrick Tanner
20-single- long rider/ranch hand
There's really no sob story to tell like what most people have these days. He was born on a farm in Kentucky where his dad trained thoroughbred racehorses. He loved those animals and worked with them whenever he could. He was mostly sort of a substitute for his dad's exercise riders from the age of 13 to 15 before he got too tall to ride the light framed racers. It was unhealthy for them to carry the weight of a guy over 6' tall.
When he turned 16, his dad, who was quite well off from the racing industry, bought him a thoroughbred quarter horse paint yearling by the name Big John. The horse had been given some ground work and such, though had never been broken to saddle and bridle. That was Derrick's job. He set to work almost immediately, and started training the horse for cutting and team roping/penning. The horse, much like Derrick himself, didn't stop growing at the expected height, but grew to be quite large. At 17 hands, though, he was the perfect height for his rather tall rider.
The pair mostly competed in local shows and the county fair, though after winning a county competition, they went to state, and then on to nationals. The team didn't fare too well in nationals, considering that we were competing against the best in the country and were just a small town team with no impressive history to speak of. After graduation, Derrick moved out to a ranch in Colorado where he worked with the cattle for a year. After that year, the owner of the ranch got into financial trouble and he was laid off along with a good many other men.
From there he started competing again, and eventually made my way out to West Virginia to a little town called Pinewood. He got a job at a local ranch, which started out as the perfect job, but turned south in a hurry. Rick, the ranch owner, started taking advantage of Derrick's need for the job and was making him play the part of babysitter for his two bratty kids. For that reason, and a few others, he really wanted to find a different job, but none of the other ranches were hiring, so he only had two options... hang in their and hope things got better, or quit, and have no job.
He tried the first option for a while, but as things continued slipping downhill, he quickly came to the realization that this was not going to work. He was going to end up killing those kids and his boss if he didn't do something soon. So after looking for another job in vain for some time, he gave up, and just quit his job. Now, he couldn't afford to pay for his house and Johnny's board, and he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do now...at least until he happened upon the "Long Rider's Guild," comprised of people who rode around the country on horse back living off of the generosity of the people on the road. He was inspired, to say the least, and before long, Big Bad John, Badger, Be a Jubilee, and Derrick Tanner had taken to the road, leaving Pinewood behind them.
Two years, and 6,500 miles later, the quartet arrived back at their starting destination in Pinewood West Virginia, their trip having taken them up to the Canadian Border, along that to Washington, down the coast to California, and then across the mid United States back to West Virginia. Derrick hadn't really told anyone he was leaving, and hadn't really kept in contact with anyone in Pinweood, despite having known several people there quite well. He was a traveler, and everyone knew it. He had rarely ever stayed in one place for too long, and so his disappearance was nothing they hadn't expected. What took them by surprise though was the article in the newspaper announcing the return of Pinewood's Long Rider, Derrick Tanner, and his team comprising of two red paints and a Burmese mountain dog.
A couple days later, Derrick, Johnny, Jubilee, and Badger came walking up the drive of Pinewood Stable, looking about the same as they had when they left, though perhaps a bit more lean and weathered than before... but what else would you expect from them after a trip like the one they had made. There was no greeting party waiting at the stable though, which Derrick was glad of... he'd never been very fond of being the center of attention, and Jubilee could be a bit of a ditz around crowds, and the last thing Derrick needed was for someone to get hurt on account of his horse. He couldn't help but smile though, at the sight of the familiar stables as he pulled Johnny to a stop. It had been two years since he'd seen anything that he recognized, and it was nice to finally be home.
Dustin Kurucz
19-"dating"-street trash
No, he actually hadn’t shot that cop, what fifteen year old boy in their right mind could shoot anyone, let alone a cop? But it hadn’t mattered what he had or hadn’t done. The Mexican government in that area was corrupt, if you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time; you went to jail, no trial, nothing. Of course, when you went to jail, you were given the promise of a trial at a later date, but more than often it was a much, much later date.
Wondering what actually went down? Well, here it is in short. His parents were catholic missionaries in Mexico when he was born, and because they were still U.S citizens, he was granted dual citizenship in the U.S and Mexico. For the first five years of his life, everything was perfectly normal…as normal as a missionary kid’s life could be anyway. But the years after that were pure torture. Something happened that he couldn’t understand in his five-year-old mind.
His father basically gave up on the whole missionary thing, and started drinking and getting into drugs and all that good stuff. Shortly after that he would come home drunk almost every night and beat both him and his mother. For almost ten years this routine was carried out. Finally giving up on trying to stop his dad from beating him, Dustin, then fifteen, took his father’s gun and stepped out into the street, having every intention of ending it all right then and there. He was interrupted though, but a policeman, one of his dad’s more recent drinking buddies. The man was drunk, and when he saw the gun in Dustin’s hand, he took out his own weapon, aimed it, rather unsteadily, and fired. A few moments after the bullet tore into Dustin’s shoulder, the cop shot himself.
They hadn’t cared about forensics or any of that, the kid had a gun, and the cop was dead. He had to have done it right? Had this been in the U.S, he would not have been tried as an adult, but since it was in corrupted Mexico, he was brought straight away to prison. They said he would get a trial soon, but apparently soon was a long time away. It was during his time there that he first really truly hated government and the law.
After two years in prison, Dustin’s court date finally arrived. The trial hardly lasted an hour. They admitted that they had looked into the evidence, and he was not to blame. That same day he was released. You would expect that he would be given something for having been forced to waste those years in prison, but all he got was a ‘sorry.’
He returned home, only to find out that his parents were divorced, his mother had practically disowned him, not wanting to be affiliated with a murderer, and she was now living with another man, with whom she had a two-year-old daughter. It was then and there that he came to the realization that he was on his own. He started working a few odd jobs here and there, and was finally settling into a “normal” life once again when the news was brought to him.
His mother’s boyfriend had shot and killed her, then disappeared, leaving the little girl without parents or anyone to take care of her. Dustin was the only living relative, so naturally, she fell into his care. Not knowing anything about how to take care of a toddler, and barely making enough to sustain himself, he decided to drop his Mexican citizenship and move to the States.
Hardly a year after moving up there, the social services somehow managed to find the record of his murdering the policeman down in Mexico. Apparently they had forgotten to discard that record. Anyway, they ruled him to be too dangerous to be taking care of a child that young, and took her from him. Her new parents allowed him to have visitation rights, which he was able to utilize once a week. Although he didn't see her all that often, she always raced out of the house to meet him when he came, joyful glee lighting up her three-year-old face.
One day, July 9th at 2:00 pm, Dustin stepped out of his car and was met by a tearful little girl. There was a bruise across her face that looked fairly new. Through the sobs, she managed to tell him that her “new daddy” was hurting her. Dustin, of course, was outraged. He wasn’t going to let her have the same life he had been forced into. He promised to make everything better, and contacted the social services. They said they would look into it, though didn’t really believe him. After all, he was a criminal. Finally, a week later, they decided to investigate and check up on things, but it was too late.
It was an accident, they said, she had fallen down the stairs and fractured her skull. Dustin didn’t really care if they said it was an accident, he knew he had killed her. At the funeral as they lowered the tiny casket into her grave, he could hardly hear the words the pastor said. He hardly heard the people as they apologized for his loss. All he saw and heard was the man who had killed his little sister. All he saw was the mock sadness, the pretend pain and tears. All he heard were the well rehearsed, empty expressions of sorrow that flowed from his mouth in a stream of vile poison.
For a month he fumed over it internally, though never let on to a single soul what he was thinking. Exactly thirty days after the little girl’s death, Dustin pulled out the gun…the same one that had sent him to prison for possessing…and took a drive over to his house. He parked his car several blocks away, and walked to the house. It was late, and his wife was out working her job, leaving him in the house alone. Dustin walked up to the door, which was unlocked and stepped in.
He found the man in the living room watching a game on TV and drinking a can of beer. He hadn’t heard Dustin’s entry. He did however, hear the sound of the gun being thingyeded, and turned around. “Dustin?” He said, sounding worried as he looked at the gun pointed steadily at him. “What’s going on?” Silence resonated between them for some time, finally broken by Dustin’s reply. “You killed her didn’t you?” He asked, but continued on without giving him a chance to make up an excuse. “You killed an innocent three-year-old girl who only wanted to please you. She couldn’t do anything right in your eyes could she? So you killed her. I know you did it, she told me only days before that you had hurt her. Intentionally, blatantly, you killed her.” He paused once again, hardly able to keep the gun leveled steadily at him as he fought the urge to shoot the man right there. "And why? He continued yet again, "Because you were too selfish to see past your own nose and into the eyes of a little girl who never knew a father's love, and now never will." By this point, it was pretty obvious that he was fighting back the tears that attempted to well up and spill over as he reopened never fully healed wounds with each word.
The man’s look of worry changed to terrible realization. He had thought he would get away with it. He had thought no one would ever know, and here now it was all falling apart around him. “Look Dustin,” He said, trying to convince him that he hadn’t done it, though he wasn’t very good at lying at that end of the gun. “I know you’re upset, but I loved her like…” He was cut off as Dustin took hold of him and slammed him against the wall, rage and hatred filling his normally calm eyes. “Loved her like a what? A father?" He practically laughed at the seeming insanity of this suggestion. "You never loved her. What father would abuse his child? What father would kill his child? You were no more a father to her than some stranger on the other side of the world.” Dustin said, his voice almost a hiss as he pressed the gun against the man’s head. “She deserved better.”
He turned and started to walk away, leaving the man relieved, though still worried, he could easily go to the police. A slight smirk crawled across the man’s face as Dustin walked away. “They’ll never take your word over mine.” He said, stopping Dustin in his tracks, “What’s stopping me from calling the police and telling them about this?” Dustin turned slowly, looking the man in the eyes. It seemed like an eternity, though it was only a few moments, and Dustin slowly brought the gun back to the level of the man’s head. He said nothing, not a single word, but pulled the trigger.
The gunshot resonated though the streets, and a few lights popped on, curious neighbors stepped out onto their front porches. Several people phoned the police, then watched as the red and blue lights swarmed around the house. By the time anyone arrived though, the killer was gone, leaving behind not even so much as a finger print as evidence to who had murdered the man.
About 20 miles out of town, he disposed of the gun in a muddy river, knowing that no one would ever find it, and even if they did and happened to report it to the police, the gun had come from Mexico, and therefore there was no registration where the owner's name could be found. He never went back there, and the police never suspected that he had done it. Sure, they considered him a criminal, but was he capable of killing a man in cold blood? Several people he had known around town had testified that he would never do such a thing. They were, every one of them, wrong.
He made Pinewood West Virginia his home, no one would look for him there if they found out he’d done it. But he was a changed man. He became the criminal everyone believed him to be. The streets became his home. It was here that he ran into the infamous and legendary Tyler Haze who was rumored to be the best there was. He wanted to learn from Tyler, but quickly discovered it was impossible. The man could disappear into thin air in the blink of an eye. So it was up to him to learn on his own. After a year, he was now 19, he had mastered the technique. Sure, he was no match for the original most wanted, Tyler, but he was pretty damn close. He became one of Pinewood’s most wanted. He became one of the best. He became the night. He became inhuman…immortal. He had blood on his hands, and stood in defiance of the law. Anyone who dared to attempt and thaw this frozen heart, tame this wild ambition, corral this train wreck headed for more disaster…would have a task ahead of them indeed.
Then he met Riley Hartmann, and she was definitely the one who did the taming... only problem was, Dustin was afraid to fall in love, and he left her, fearing that he would only end up hurting her worse if he stayed. So Riley devised a plan to get him back... she found him, and told him that she was pregnant with his baby, and Dustin, finding no reason to not believe her, took her word for it, and went back to her. Riley would have to tell him eventually... and when that day came he would be crushed and would probably end up leaving her again, heart broken and betrayed... but for now, they still had a lot of problems to work out.
Sydney Montgomery
18-pregnant & sort of dating-rodeo rider
Unlike most histories, this one isn't going to start with "Sydney was born..." because well... obviously she was born otherwise there would be no Sydney to write a history about. No, this history is going to start with the first thing she herself can recall. It was a hot Sunday afternoon, and five-year-old Sydney was sitting on the railing of the corral watching her dad's ranch hands branding the calves. They were covered in dirt and sweat. Sydney couldn't count how many times she'd asked her dad if she could help with the branding, but he always said no, she wasn't big enough yet. While she sat there, her dad pulled up with the truck and stock trailer, which wasn't an unusual sight, it usually meant he'd went and found a new bull or something of that sort. But today, it was no cow that was unloaded from that trailer... it was the prettiest sorrel quarter horse Sydney had ever seen, and from the way her dad was smiling at her, she knew it was for her.
After that she became obsessed with riding. Everything she did somehow involved horses... almost everything that is. The older she got the better she got. She practically lived at the rodeo grounds when she wasn't out helping on the ranch. She competed in almost ever western event in existence. Roping, cutting, penning, barrel racing, pole bending... you name it she probably did it, and she was good at it too. The talent was natural for her, and she almost always got a good score and ended up in at least the top five. She lost her "v-card" when she was 15 to a 19 year old guy on the rodeo circuit, and it was smooth sailing from there.
When she turned 16 she started to notice "special attention" from one of her dad's ranch hands. She blew it off though, nothing could come of it...right? Wrong. The more she tried to ignore it, the more persistent it became. It got to the point where he would "subtly" grab her ass or her chest as he walked by. She didn't say anything to her dad about it though, and just did her best to avoid him...which wasn't always easy considering they both worked on the ranch and always ended up running into each other.
It was a saturday evening, and she was in the tack room in the barn cleaning up her tack after a long evening, and who would show up but the one man she was trying to stay away from. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, he of course started making sexual advances on her, and she being only 16 didn't really know what to do except to try to ignore him. When he tried to kiss her though, she acted on impulse and b.itch slapped the man. That of course pissed him off, and he grabbed her and shoved her back against the wall forcefully, and held her there despite her struggles to get away.
He muffled her scream by kissing her, hard, as he ripped open her button down shirt. I won't go into anymore detail, but you all know what happened from there. When it was all over he told Sydney that if she ever told anyone that he would kill her, and of course, she being a 16 year old girl who was already terrified out of her mind, believed that he would, and so said nothing. If only to make things worse, as he walked out, leaving Sydney huddled in the corner, he looked over his shoulder and said "enjoy it next time, it'll make things easier for both of us."
After that Sydney couldn't stay there anymore. Home wasn't safe... she knew he would come for her again, and she had already found out that she wasn't strong enough to get away from him. So she got emancipated from her dad and moved out. Of course she couldn't tell her dad why, so she told him that she was joining the rodeo circuit, and he believed her and let her go, giving her access to the huge bank account the ranch had built up over the past decade, knowing that she was a sensible girl and wouldn't drain it.
So Sydney left Texas and moved from town to town, a different guy in bed with her every night. She convinced herself that if she had sex enough the rape would become just another fuck and she would forget about it. There were times it worked, but she still never told anyone about it. Finally after two years, she ended up in Pinewood West Virginia... how long she'll stay there, nobody knows. She's currently pregnant with Andrew Lovasz's baby, and might have a bit of a thing for Ryan Wesley, but who knows what's going to happen? After all, it's not easy to tame wild ones like Sydney.
Tristan Morgan
18-single-apprentice jockey
Horses had always been his passion. From the time he was little up until now, he's always been a horse person. But he wasn't like most people who were into horses. He first showed interest in the equine world when he went to the races in London at age five. Something about the powerful horses intrigued him, and even in his childish mind he was enthralled by the way the animals moved, the way their legs curled and stretched, propelling them forwards, the way their muscles rippled beneath their smooth coats, the way they held themselves, everything about them. IT was like a whole new level of life that he hadn't ever seen before. Yes, he had seen tour horses and whatnot, but these were different.
When he was 16 his parents bought him a two year old thoroughbred colt by the name Media Puzzle. They never expected him to really go anywhere with it though, just as a horse to ride, that was all. But Tristan was determined to get into the racing world. Most jockeys started training around fourteen, and here he was at 16 and never having even been on a horse before. His older brother Jason had been riding as a jockey for four years, and he agreed to help Tristan when he could. Tristan wasn't about to let anything put a stop to his dream though, and it wasn't long before he had Puzzle out at the track and was training the horse and himself to race. He didn't have any idea if he was any good at it, he didn't even know if he was fast, but that didn't make any difference to him. They worked long and hard out on that track, often times being the first ones there and the last ones to go, but it really paid off in the end.
By the time he was a three year old and he was 17, he was ready to race, in Tristan's opinion, and Jason agreed. Of course, Tristan couldn't get a license to ride until he was 18, so Jason was going to be the one to ride him. However, a week before Puzzle's race, Jason was in an accident on the track when his horse went down on top of him, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. The tragedy hit the family hard, his dad started working more, and his mom went into depression. Still unwilling to give up, Tristan forged a jockey's license under the name Damien Oliver. They were the underdogs for sure, no one had ever heard of Media Puzzle or Damien Oliver, but once again, Tristan wasn't going to let that put a stop to his dreams. He told them that he was Jason's brother whom had been away for a while, but came back to run this race in memory of him.
The Melbourne Cup wasn't the sort of race most people would use as the maiden, but it was the one Jason had selected as the best chance he had of winning. They were boxed in the middle of the pack through the race up until the home turn where they got just enough opening to power through. They won that race by a good margin, and in the interview afterward he had a hard time holding it together, but managed. Now naturally, the racing world started looking into Damien Oliver more closely after that race, and Tristan knew he and Puzzle had to get out of London before someone found out that there was no Damien Oliver.
So he and Puzzle ended up in the States where they were discovered by a certain Mr. Fently who took an interest in both horse and rider. Due to being a very high level trainer, Fently didn't really have time to train a new horse and a new rider, so he sent them to Pinewood West Virginia, to be in an apprenticeship under Anthony Lovasz, a formerly world renowned jockey that Fently had trained several years ago. He figured that Anthony and the low key town would do Tristan some good, so off they went..
