No Dreams Left

~Chapter 3~

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Again Laura rolled out of bed and onto the floor as her alarm made her jump out of her skin. Today was double as exciting as it was cross country day - the most exciting and impressive sport in the whole equestrian world. It wasn't only physically challenging, but mentally too, you'd have to think about every turn, every pace, every second that passed as you galloped through a tough and technical course. But that was for later, now Laura had to get ready for the day.

Laura repeated her usual morning routine, but this time she made her own lunch so she wouldn't have to walk all the way back to the shops. Just as she was about to leave, Maisy came down, obviously Laura didn't want to be rude, so she delayed her journey to to Burghley and talked to her sister. "Hey Maisy, feeling less tired?"

"A little bit less, yeh. Are you going to watch the cross country today then?" For once Maisy seemed to actually be interested in her sisters life.

"Yes I am, why are you asking? You're acting a little bit strange Maisy..." Towards the end of her sentence Laura looked suspiciously at her sister.

"It's just that today, you know how mum and dad are going out, well they expect the house to be super clean when they're back and," Maisy was interrupted abruptly.

"So you want to spend time with your lovely sister all day so you don't have to be alone." Laura smiled and laughed.

"Exactly!" They both laughed and started to talk about how they could get Maisy in without a ticket. After a little discussion they decided that Maisy should go up the hills and cut round up near fence 16 and 17a. Unfortunately Maisy wasn't ready for the day yet, so Laura had to wait another half an hour before they could set off.                                                                                                                 Once they were both on their way, Laura on the roads and Maisy up the hills, Laura called her sister to make sure she knew where she was going, after all, it had been 8 years since Maisy has trudged up the horsey hill, as Laura calls it. 

The minute that Laura arrived at the gates, she rushed up to fence 16 where her sister was sitting on the grass. Luckily no one else was all the way up here quite yet so they had some time to talk about their plan. "Glad you found your way."

"Can we meet back here at lunch or something I wanna shop." Laura was not expecting this from her sister. "Er yeh sure. But meet at fence 5, just ask someone."

"Ok see you there in," Maisy looked at her phone, " 3 hours?"

"Yup see you there." Laura waved, but Maisy was already rushing down the hill towards the shops. Laura laughed and walked along to jump 18 were a grey mare flew over a huge brush fence. She sighed, sat down, got out her flask and relaxed. Over the course of three hours, she moved onto 9 other fences, one of which was a water complex which was thoroughly entertaining. The duo that she was most looking forward to seeing was her favourites for this weekend who she loved in the dressage the day before: Roger Finash with his trusty steed Cruel's Gold. Through the water complex, he looked like an absolute dream, he scooped over the first fence, rode a punchy canter through the water, then cleared the double in the water and afterwards galloped towards the final jump in this section and missed the jump be miles. He was such an impressive horse, he must have jumped the last jump at 1.75m or something crazy. 

Walking over towards the shops, she noticed a very small girl ,carrying more than her own weight in bags full of goodies: Maisy obviously. "Oh my goodness. I don't think I have ever seen a 14 year old dressed in bags, how very stylish." Laura clamped her hand over her to stop her from laughing. "Oh sush, now where do you think I can leave them, it's so so heavy." Laura knew exactly where she could leave them but she found it rather entertaining seeing her sister struggle, so instead she said this, "No, sorry, I can grab some if you like. Did you get yourself some lunch? I've got some in my bag if you don't."

"Yeh I had a burger, can I not leave these in a forrest or something?" She wasn't giving up.

"Like I said before, no. But I think I know somewhere where you could put them down while we watch something really cool, follow me."

"Ugh, I bet it's something really boring." Maisy complained.

The two sisters walked over to fence 9 and took a sharp left into some trees. The trees seemed to darken their surroundings, but eventually they made it to a gate. Laura dumped the bags and vaulted the 7 bar gate with no run up, on its own this was impressive, but after this she reached over to grab her load of bags and she swept them over the gate. "C'mon then Mais, just like I did." It was just how Laura did it, but 5 minutes longer. "What are we even doing here? This isn't part of the campus is it?"  Laura just smiled and walked further down the path. "Seriously I'm going to leave if you don't tell me where we are going!" Maisy said loudly. She was just about to turn around and leave when she saw it. A car park... "Look how awesome this is Mais! This is probably the best part of being here!" Laura said in an excited voice.         

"Oh wow yes! A car park! What fun you must have here watching strangers drive cars!" Maisy said sarcastically followed by revolted face.               

"No, it's not just any car park...it's the car park for the competitors! You get to see their preparations for competing and what they do afterwards too." She smiled and sat close to the hedge so she wouldn't be seen.  The two sisters sat there for a while, 15 minutes or so, watching the grooms and riders pamper their horses. Laura even spotted her favourites Roger Finash with, who she believed was his trainer. They were walking across to another wagon where Matthew Parkers, an up and coming 25 year old eventer, currently in top spot, was tying up a dapple grey roan. As Finash reached the horse, he ran his hand over its body and looked as if he was checking it for anything bad, Parkers started talking to his opposition and walked back around the horses bum. The two men laughed and as Parkers strode around the horse in a self involved manner, the horse started to freak. Bucking and kicking, the poor thing was terrified, but the competitors simple laughed and shook hands.

Naturally Laura got up from the ground and marched into the car park. Everyone saw her, watching her intently, but Laura's confidence and air of ownership made everybody nervous. She could tell they were all looking at her, but she didn't care, the only thing she cared about was the horse. Behind her she heard her sister slyly jogging up to her, Maisy was desperately trying to pull Laura away from a dangerous situation, but she just turned and said "Maisy. Stay or go, it's up to you. But this is important, I'm not going to be stupid Mais." She spoke to her sister as if she she didn't matter at all, and in that moment in time, she didn't one bit. Not wanting to embarrass herself by walking back, Maisy stuck to her sister until they reached the faces of two glaring men. "Now I might be wrong, but I don't believe that you are a competitor here, are you?" Finash spoke authoritatively and down to the two sisters.

"Excuse you. No. But we don't really care I'm afraid. You see the only thing I care about right now is how you're treating that horse. Now who does he belong to?" Laura spoke right back to him, it was clear to see that she wasn't backing down. Not today. Not now.