Hope

Chapter 5

The only thing that kept me sane for the next few days was horses. My Mum was unbearable. She hardly talked to me and when she did she just moaned about how my Dad had signed me up for horse riding lessons again. She didn't talk to me Dad either apart from when they argued about me going riding again. This happened for one week and I the time I went riding was the only happy moment that I had. I rode Hope again and this time I didn't fall off her. We worked on transitions which was perfect because Hope is brilliant at transitions.

After a week my Mum realised that she couldn't stop me going riding so she started talking to me and Dad again. Slowly things started  getting back to normal until my birthday. It was the 28th June and I thought that I would have a happy day with my friends and then have dinner in the evening. Something completely different happened.

When I woke up I went downstairs and found my Dad in the kitchen eating breakfast.

"Hello Marnie. Happy birthday!" Dad said.

"Hello Dad. Thanks. I can't believe that I'm 11."

"I know. I can't believe that it was 11 years ago that you were born. It seems like only yesterday."

"Do you want do have breakfast? We need to leave soon."

"Where are going. Is Mum coming with us?"

"No, Mum's not coming."

"OK, but where are we going?"

"That's a surprise. Now sit down and have breakfast."

So I sat down and had breakfast. Then I got ready to go out. We both got in the car and Dad started driving but I had no idea where we going until I started seeing countryside. I suddenly realised we were going to the stables.

"Dad, are we going to the stables?"

Dad smiled and I knew that I was right. 5 minutes later we had parked the car in the stables car park.

"Why are we here Dad?" I asked as we got out of the car.

"You'll see in a minute darling." Dad replied, smiling.

As we started walking through the stables I wondered if Dad had signed me up for a surprise private lesson. I turned to go into the hut to see what horse I was riding in the private lesson when Dad took hold of my hand and led me away from the hut, down the mud track and into one of the paddocks.

"Dad what are we doing here?" I asked, confused.

It was then that I realised that Hope was in the paddock.

"Dad why are we in the same paddock as Hope?" I asked.

"Happy birthday Helena." Dad said, smiling.

It was then that I realised what was going on.

"Is Hope my birthday present?" 

"Yes, I decided to surprise you darling."

I couldn't believe it. I actually owned a Hope. For a second I was so happy that I couldn't believe it. Then something dawned on me.

"Dad?" I asked.

"Yes, darling." Dad said.

"Does Mum know that I own Hope?"

"No. I need to talk to you about that. You can't tell Mum about this because if you do I don't think you will be able to own Hope anymore. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

"I'm sorry but this was the only way I could let you own Hope."

"It's OK Dad. I'm just so happy that I own Hope."

"I'm so glad that you own Hope darling."

"So am I Dad, so am I."

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The next 3 years were amazing. Each day after school I walked to the stables. I told Mum that I was joining a modelling club. She was so happy that I had told her I was starting to get interested in modelling that she ask to many questions about the club. Luckily I was at the stables so much that Mum didn't have time to talk to me about what I was doing at the club.

The time I spent with Hope was amazing. I even got to spend lots of time with at the weekend as I told my Mum that the modelling club also had extra weekend sessions. Mum was so happy that I was doing extra modelling sessions that she didn't question me about this either.

As I spent more time with Hope I got to love her more. I got to ride her 4 times a week and each lesson we became more of a team. We even managed to jump without me falling off Hope which was an added bonus. Every time I went to get Hope from her paddock she would run over to me the minute she saw me. She trusted me and I trusted her.

Dad never came to the stables because he thought it would make it too suspicious if he told Mum he was going to watch my modelling club. I would have liked my Dad to come to the stables sometimes because I knew he liked horses a bit. Still, everyday when I came home I told him about everything that had happened at the stables. Even though it was sometimes the same things 2 days in a row Dad still seemed genuinely interested about what I was saying.

Basically everything was brilliant until the day Mum found out that I owned Hope.

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Everything seemed normal at first. After school I walked down to the stables to see Hope. I went and got changed out of my school uniform into jeggings, a top and riding boots. Then I put my school stuff in a locker before going to see Hope. As I walked down the path to the paddock I felt as if something was wrong. I brushed the feeling off quickly and carried on walking down the path.

As I approached the path I noticed that Hope wasn't in the paddock. At first I didn't panic because I thought she was being used in a lesson someone had booked today. It was then that I noticed white piece of paper held down by a stone on the fence. When I picked it up it said

Helena,

Come home now. I have something to tell you.

Mum.

Panic started rising through my body as I ran out of the home. When I got home Mum was in the kitchen reading a work document.

"Mum, what does this mean? What do you have to tell me?" I asked.

Mum slowly looked up from the document she was reading.

"I sold Hope." she said before going back to reading her document.

Author's Note

Cliff-hanger! What do you think is going to happen? Please comment below. What did you think of the chapter. It was actually long for once. Hope you are all having a good summer holiday! The weather is turning summery now which I'm really happy about.

Goodbye everyone!