Last Ride

Chapter 17

Recap: Hope and Hayley are out riding Patch and Oreo. Hayley is teaching Hope how to trot on patch. Hope did great and loved It, now Hayley and Hope are walking/ riding and talking.

Hayley's pov

It was a pretty nice day. There was a small breeze and It was quiet. All of a sudden I started to smell smoke. I was trying to remember on if my dad mentioned anything about burning stuff because he does do burn piles every couple months.

"Do you smell fire?" I ask

"Yeah I do, is your dad burning anything?" She asks

"Not that I know of." I say

I turn around and so does Hope. The sky was starting to fill with black smoke. It took me a second to realize that the smoke was coming in the direction of my parents house and the barn.

"That's in the direction of the barn and house, my dad never lights a fire that close. I say

I turn Oreo around and begin trotting back. Hope wasn't to far behind me. The closer I got the more smoke I could see. I break into a full run back towards the house. I pull Oreo to a stop and hop off quickly. The barn was on fire!

"Go get my mom!" I yell to Hope as she arrives on Patch. I run inside the barn and begin unlocking all the latches on the stalls and opening them so the horses can get out. The horses begin running out of the barn . Once all of them are out I run out of the barn coughing. I could hear the fire trucks in the distance.

"Where's your father?" Yells my mom

"I don't know I didn't see him!" I yell

"He was in the barn the last time I saw him!" She yells as she starts yelling his name and she and Hope check  the garden and other places to see if he's there.

Without hesitation I run back into the barn. The flames are getting closer and bigger. I pull my shirt up and cover my mouth.

"Dad!" I yell as loud as I can

"Dad are you in here?!" I yell again and cough into my shirt. The smoke was making my eyes water. I see something on the ground and realize It was my dads legs.

"Dad!" I yell as I run over to him. I grab him by his legs and begin pulling him out of the barn. Once Hope sees me pulling him out , she gets the attention of the firefighters and paramedics who were talking to my mom , two firefighters run over, one of them tells me to let go and they both pick him up moving him farther away from the barn and Hope comes over to me patting my back and I coughed a lot.

Paramedics take my dad and my mom goes with them. Another paramedic comes to check me. They tried getting me to to go the hospital but I refused and told them I was fine.

"Babe you took in a lot of smoke. At least let them check you out." Says Hope

"Okay okay." I say

We head over to the ambulance and I take a seat inside the truck. The paramedics starts running some tests and she has me hold an oxygen mask to my face to see if It will help with my coughing.

"Where are the horses?" I ask Hope still holding the mask to my face taking deep breaths.

"Your neighbor round them up and put them in the front pasture, he says they all seem to be okay and uninjured." Says Hope and I let out a sigh of relief. I'm glad I got them out as soon as I did.

"Your airway and vitals look good, I don't think you need to go to the hospital. If you have any type of shortness of breath or any pain in your chest please go to the ER." Says the paramedic and I nod my head.

The firefighters put the fire and the inside of the barn was completely destroyed from the fire. The neighbor was nice enough to let the horses stay in his barn while we get something figured out, that way they aren't in the pasture and sitting ducks for any wild animals that might be around.

Hope and I headed to the hospital, my dad was okay. He had a small cut on his head. They think he fell and hit his head. The firefighters think The fire started by some electrical outlets. They said someone would be out to investigate It in the morning. I don't think we we're to worried about It. My dads health is more important than anything else right now.

The hospital wanted to keep my dad for a few hours to make sure he was okay and to give him some oxygen and breathing treatment. Once my dad was able to be released, he signed the papers and we all piled into my truck and headed home. After making sure my parents are okay Hope and I head to my house. I hopped in the shower since I smelled like smoke. We both headed to my room to go to bed.

"You scared the hell out of me tonight." She says

"I'm sorry." I say

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad everyone is safe and okay but going back in was so reckless. I'm not mad because I probably would have done the same thing if that was my dad in the fire, but the first time you went it It wasn't to bad, the second time you went in was bad. You could have gotten hit with falling stuff or you could have been trapped inside." She says

"You're right, that was reckless of me. I wasn't thinking and I'm sorry." I say

"It's okay, you're okay and that's all that matters" she says

I kiss her softly and she kisses me back. We talk for a bit more before Hope falls asleep. I stay up for a while longer just thinking about everything that happened today.

I was so proud of Hope when she didn't back out of riding and learning to trot. I was excited that she wanted to learn to ride and that she's already so good at It. I can't wait until she learns more and more.

I was also trying to figure out how my dad fell, the paramedics and the doctors at the hospital said they had no idea why he would have passed out. They think he was passed out before the fire started. They ran some tests and we should get those test results in the next couple days.

After a while I'm finally able to fall asleep.

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Thanks for reading! Might be posting a new book tonight so if you want something new to read make sure to be on the lookout for It and It would mean a lot to me if you guys check It out! You might end up liking It! Hope y'all had a good weekend!

Updates might be a bit slow this week but I'll try to work on chapters as much as I can!