"You don't have to do this Sarah." "Of course I do, I told Regina I'd help Wildfire and I intent to keep that promise." "Alright, just please be careful." "I will. I promise Will." Sarah squeezes Will's hand then turns around to go back to Wildfire. He hasn't told Sarah yet, but he had a nervous feeling when he awoke that morning. A feeling that matched the way he felt when he saw the sky the day Sarah got hurt.
Sarah starts lunging Wildfire, the young stallion is nervous, keeping his distance from Sarah, and his head up. "Hey boy, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you and your not gonna hurt me." Wildfire flickers his ears towards her, but is still extremely nervous.
"Hmm...Will could you come here a minute?" Will immediately walks over to Sarah who slows Wildfire down. "Is everything okay?" "Yeah I just want to try something. Keep lunging him and see if you can get him to relax." Sarah hands Will the lunge line and walks away. Immediately Wildfire's muscles relax and he drops his head, licking and chewing. "Good boy." says Will encouragingly. to Wildfire.
"Will, I'm sending Regina out to takeover." Will nods his head and slows Wildfire down and brings him to the middle. Regina appears beside Will and a hands her the lunge line. He walks back to Sarah and they watch Regina lunge Wildfire.
At first he is nervous, but eventually calms down. "Notice anything?" asks Will. "Yeah, he's just nervous when I'm around...like he's...afraid...that...he's gonna hurt me again!" Sarah exclaims with realization. "So how do you plan to fix that?" "Umm...I got it! I'll be right back, tell Regina to give Wildfire a break." And with that Sarah runs to the barn. "Hey Regina! Give him a break, Sarah's orders!" calls Will.
Regina slows Wildfire and walks him over to the fence where a trough of fresh water is. Wildfire dips his nose in it as Regina tethers him to the fence. "Where did Sarah go?" she asks Will. "I'm not sure, she just ran into the barn."
A few seconds later, Sarah emerges from the barn leading Scarlet. "What are you planning?" asks Will. "I need to show Wildfire that he can trust me and that what happened is a thing of the past." Sarah leads Scarlet into the arena, and Wildfire's head shoots up, his body goes as stiff as a statue.
"Hey boy." Sarah says. "You can trust me, I won't hurt you and you won't hurt me." Wildfire eyes Scarlet warily. "Scarlet." whispers Sarah. "Tell Wildfire he can trust us." Scarlet snorts and nickers at Wildfire, stepping closer.
"Wildfire, I'm sorry I snapped at you the other day, but Sarah's right you can trust us. And you won't hurt Sarah by trusting her either." Wildfire's gaze goes from Scarlet, to the encouraging expression on Sarah's face and back to Scarlet's. He visibly relaxes and steps forward.
YOU ARE READING
In the Air Tonight
Short StoryWill loves Sarah. He desperately wants to tell her how he feels, but doesn't want everyone else to know, nor knows how to tell how he feels. But when Sarah gets hurt in a freak accident, he will need the strength of his friends and the horses at Ho...
