Against All Odds

Chapter 83

A/N:

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I would be thrilled to see some Against All Odds Fan hitting the streets with their new gear! :)  If you buy please let me know what you got!

ALSO~ The song in this chapter is Miss You by Ed Sheeran...

Chapter 83

~Cole’s POV~

Her voice swirled through the air in a ghostly whisper, something that haunted my empty heart with it’s gentle velvety tone.  She had secured a hold on my previously untouched love, making me feel things that both elated and terrified me, things that I would give anything to feel one last time.  It was like a could still hear her anguished sobs, like she was right next to me and I was the apparition hovering just out of reach.  In fact those mournful sounds seemed so real, too real to be just a memory, to be a mere figment of my imagination.  It had to be real, she had to be here, it had to be true.

I rose shakily to my feet, wobbling slightly as my legs trembled with the after-effect of last nights journey.  Brushing the straw and sawdust off of my clothes, I stumbled toward the stall door, still weary with sleep and my mind still clouded  with grief.  The latch on the door slid open with a deft quietness, the door swinging open with the same eerie silence that seemed to emanate throughout the entire barn.  I stepped out into the dusty aisle and re-latched the door before following the sounds that would either be my saving grace or the wrecking ball that crushed me for good.

Pained cries were the only sounds that appeared to break through the wall of silence that shrouded the air like a thick cloud of impending doom.  The sounds were agonized and made my blood run cold as I thought of the pain that had induced those morbid sobs.  I already knew the answer, and as much as it hurt me to admit it, I was all too aware that I was the source of pain that had caused those tears to be heard all around.  Those thoughts had me fighting back tears of my own as I continued to wander down the long row of mostly empty stalls.

As the sobs got louder my legs moved faster and my heart got heavier with a sadness I would never be able to overcome on my own.  The faster I moved the more desperate my search became.  As my eyes scanned and searched, my ears listened, and my heart hoped that maybe, just maybe my mind was no longer deceiving me.  

I could hear the soft thud of a saddle and its pad landing on the back of a horse and the sound of a bit clattering against teeth.  At that point my hastened jog became a full out sprint as I chased after the one thing it seemed I would never be able to recapture, the heart of the one person I lived and would, all too willingly, die for.  But by the time I reached the open door to the round pen, all that was left were clouds of upturned snow and an open gate swaying with its recent movement.  Somehow I had the right mind to keep from chasing after her on foot, letting Kandee fly out into the forest that backed the edge of the long barn.  Instead I turned to the multiple saddles that rest upon their steel racks, lifting a familiar set of tack for the last steel frame in the row, looping the bridle and reins over the horn of the saddle.  An air of determination surrounded me as I made my way toward Check Mate’s stall.

~Kandee’s POV~

My tears had become icy streams that stung the raw skin of my flaming cheeks, the once mild sting of the cold air gradually becoming an acidic burn.  I shifted my body in the saddle and let the reins gain a little extra slack before giving my final set of cues, a squeeze of the leg, a click of the tongue, and we were flying.  I could feel Cassie’s legs transition smoothly into a three beat canter, and then into a graceful four beat gallop.  The snow erupted and clouded below her large hooves, powdering the air with upturned snowflakes.