(And trigger warnings for mentions of abuse, homophobia, and homophobic language.)
A girl rode a horse through the jumps. "Good girl, Firefly. Let's go for another, and then you can rest, okay?" The horse stomped their hooves, agreeing with the young teen, "Good. now come on." She rode up to the jump at a canter and started a mental count down '5,4,3,2,1 Now' they jumped the hurdle and cleared it. "Woo! Good job, Sammy. I think you could make the championship this year." A young man said. Sammy wiped her brow. "You think so, Kenji? Estrella and I are going to compete. Not me and Firefly. I'm just taking care of her for Yasmina while she's out sick." Sammy replied, stroking Firefly's thick mane. "Oh yeah, sorry. I completely forgot that Yaz was out sick. I was so busy working with the new stallion I did not notice."
(in the stable)
Brooklynn was mucking out Inkspot's stall when Darius walked up to her "Hey Brooklynn." He said timidly. "You need something, Darius? If not, please go bother Sammy or Kenji." Brooklynn said, "I was going to ask if I could pet Inkspot. She seems agitated. I could calm her for you." He said; Brooklynn nodded in reply.
As Darius walked up to Inkspot, she spooked and reared up just as someone grabbed Inkspot's reigns. "Easy, easy girl, it's okay, it's okay. I won't hurt you. That's it, girl. I'll get you back to Brooklynn." He heard a new voice say to the spooked mare. "You are lucky I came by to check on my horse." The stranger reached out a hand and pulled him up. "Thanks...um, what's your name?" Darius asked.
"Yasmina, but my friends call me Yaz." The girl replied. Darius took a second to look at the person who helped him. She had a bandage covering her left eye that went down her neck. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to get Inkspot back to Brooklynn," Yasmina said to Darius, who backed away from her. The boy watched as Yasmina walked Inkspot back to her stall and talked to Brooklynn.
(In the stables)
"Hey, Brook Darius spooked Inkspot. Again." Yasmina sighed. The boy was nice, but he was not that great with the horses. "I know Yaz. I will get Roxie to talk to him soon." Brooklynn replied as she turned around. She saw the bandages on Yasmina's face and neck. She gasped. "What happened to you?" Yasmina took a breath "My father." Yasmina never had a good relationship with her father, but it never got to this point before. "Sammy is working with Firefly in the arena doing some jumping practice. If you want to talk to her about it, I know how close you are with her." Brooklynn said as she grabbed Inkspot's reigns from Yaz. "Yeah, I'll talk with her. But right now, I need to see Firefly." Yaz says, rubbing the bandage on her neck and wincing as the pressure irritates the cuts.
She walked out to the arena and saw Sammy petting Firefly as she removed the saddle from the horse "good work today, Firefly," Sammy said to the horse as Yasmina approached them. "Hey, Sammy. How has Firefly been treating you?" Sammy turned to her, and her eyes softened as she took in the bandages on her girlfriend's neck and eye. she chose not to question what happened at the moment and replied, "She was good, we did some groundwork and jumping today, and Kenji said that I could make the championship this year." Yaz smiled as she watched her girlfriend work on her horse. "That's good. I need to talk to you about something later if you don't mind." the last part was said as tears fell from Yasmina's eyes. She was scared of her father finding out that they were dating. Sammy replied, "Sure. you know you can talk to me about anything you need to; I'm here for you, mi amor."
Because of the suffering, Yasmina experienced ever since she was the age of 13 when her mother died. The wounds on her heart that felt like canyons that could never be healed started to heal ever since she met Sammy, who was her light in the darkness of her life. The others know about her father's abuse. They couldn't do much to help her but just them being there for her helped a lot.
(A/N. And that's it, folks. I don't want to start crying over this story; I don't know why I wrote this disaster of words. Please tell me what you think in the comments. this was mainly a gay angst fic with horses.)
