A Falling Ember

So Close And Yet So Far

I changed my mind. I need to escape this prison now. I am used to full out sprinting every day, hearing the wind in my mane, and smelling the sun in the grass. Here all I hear is George shamelessly flirting with me, and all I can smell is terrible humans and hay.
"Fanta," I blurt out. "I'm wild. I need to get out."
"Ember, the stable hands put us out to pasture soon. You can run around....well, I'm not sure you can run with that leg, but you can have some fresh air."
I snort. I need a whole lot more than fresh air. This is an entirely new experience for me, and I don't like it. Humans aren't supposed to have horses as pets. We are meant to be wild. I've only spent one night and part of the morning here, and I hate it. This is almost exactly how I felt in the wild horse prison. Maybe it's worse, because the other horses seem to like it.
Finally I can't stand it anymore. My fidgeting gets worse and worse.
"Aaaaaaah!" I neigh in frustration. I rear and crash my hooves onto the door of my stall. It splinters.
"Ember! What are you doing?" Fanta cries. I glare at her and turn around. With effort, I manage to buck at the door. My casted leg aches, but I hear a satisfying crunch. I whip around and calmly trot over the pieces of wood that used to be my stall door.
"You can tell old Sam thank you for healing my leg," I say to Fanta's wide eyes. "But I'm on a journey home!"
Then I sprint awkwardly toward the door. It opens before I get there! Four humans walk in and shout as I skid past them. Finally out! I stop and look back once more at the barn. The humans are rushing into stalls and putting weird things on some horses backs. I look ahead again. The forest from which I came is dark and foreboding in the pale morning light. That is not the way to go. I turn and begin to run the opposite way, past the barn and past the seeming miles and miles of grassy fields ringed with fences. Far to my left is a narrow strip of road. Far to my right is a yellow wooden house. That must be where old Sam lives. I hear a neigh and a whoop from behind me. There, catching up at an alarming rate, are four humans. And they're riding the horses! I put on a new burst of speed. My lungs ache and my casted leg clumps along. The rolling hills in front of me seem to call me home.
If I can just get over the first hill, maybe they'll give up. I wheeze and puff with every breath.
I can't.
I stop abruptly, gasping for breath as I hang my head to the ground. My legs are splayed like a new born foal.
I was stupid to think that I could escape. My body is in no condition to run. I feel a rope tighten around my neck. Now the security around me will be stronger. I've doomed myself.
The rope yanks and I lift my head. I look into the eyes of one of the humans. To my surprise, in their gaze I don't see anger. I see pity. I plod along behind a tall brown horse until we reach the barn.
Instead of going in, the riders lead me into a small pasture. Then a human dismounts and takes the rope off my neck. I shy away from his touch. To my relief, the humans and horses leave, but not before one of the horses says "You're not wild anymore! Don't act like it!"
I feel rage rising in my chest, but I let it out in a sigh of exhaustion. It's no use.
"I am still free.....just......." I walk away from the fence and toward a tree in the middle of the field. The gel on my front leg has soaked into my fur, an the scrapes are fading. The white stuff on my flank came off in my run for it and I can see the bite mark of the wolf. It looks better too. All that's left is my broken leg.
I glance at the far fence again and catch my breath. Old Sam and two other men are entering the paddock. I run to the other end of the pasture and look back again. They are at the tree now, and old Sam is carrying something long and shiny. Suddenly the two men who are with him sprint forward. Before I can run (stupid cast) they both have lassos around my neck.
The men stay a safe distance away from my biting head and striking hooves, but old Sam keeps calmly walking forward.
"Sam, I wouldn't-" one of the men warns.
"Josh, just keep holding her. I'll be fine," old Sam says. The man called Josh tightens his grip on the rope.
I almost scream when I see what old Sam is holding. It's a metal blade, with spikes all around it. A saw.
He's going to kill me! Well I won't go down without a fight. I buck and pull at the ropes around my neck, but the men hold tight.
Then I look into old Sam's dark brown eyes. Thy twinkle with a kind light. His bearded face has a stern expression, but there are smile wrinkles around the corners of his eyes. I feel myself relaxing, putting my guard down. Old Sam steps toward me, still wielding the saw.
It's okay, his eyes seem to say. I snort nervously, but stop pulling. Old Sam gently kneels down next to my back legs. The saw begins to whir, making a loud buzzing noise. I lay my ears back but don't move. Old Sam presses the saw against my cast. Ten seconds later, the cast falls to the ground with a thud. My leg is thinner than the rest of them. The fur is matted and dirty. But it's free. I neigh in triumph, and the men laugh. I bare my teeth at them just to make sure they know who is boss.
"She's lucky it was just a sprain!" old Sam mutters. "It healed remarkably quickly." The men un-lasso my neck and I immediately trot away. My back legs seem like they're floating after the heavy weight of the cast was removed. I travel all the way to a small structure in the corner of the pasture. It's a shed, with straw on the floor and a water bucket. I gulp down some water as I watch the men walk out of the field. Old Sam comes toward me. Remarkably, I'm not scared of him. He's unlike any human I've ever met. (Though all of the humans I've met so far are terrible, violent, people) old Sam stands in the doorway of the shed. I back up against the wall, but he keeps walking to me. He holds out a wrinkled hand.
Tentatively, I reach out my muzzle. His touch is soft and warm. He scratches my forelock.
"Little wild filly......are you going somewhere?"
Yes! I'm getting out of here! I want to say, but I can't.
"I'll come back in the morning," old Sam whispers. I nicker softly. Then he leaves. Once he is gone, I go back out into the open. In the next field over, all of the horses in the barn are grazing and romping. Just looking at them makes me miss my family even more.
I call out to them and a white horse trots up to the fence.
"Ember! I thought you ran away!" It's Fanta.
"I got caught."
"Oh...." Fanta whickers.
"Fanta......what do you do here? I mean, besides eat and go to pasture?"
"Kids come and ride us," she replies.
"Kids?"
"Baby humans."
"Oh. Well, good bye, Fanta," I nicker and canter back toward my tree. The clouds are dark grey and a light snow is falling. Mist blankets the fields and forest. Tears trickle slowly out of my eyes. I pine for my herd. I wonder if they are standing in the same snowfall as me.
As I gaze out at the snow covered hills that are the way home, I can almost make out the misty shapes of my herd, running free without me. I am so close and yet so far away. My journey is not even close to the end.

Wow! Long chapter! Sorry for it being so sad 😭
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