Taming the Wild

Chapter 4

It is dark outside by the time I finally climb the ladder and leave the barn. I make my way past the lone horse but I stop as I watch it run to this side of the field. I watch its legs move, one in front of the other, it’s mane and tail whipping behind it in the wind; the way it moves mesmerizes me for a brief second.

I move closer to the fence as the horse slows to a trot, then a walk, and eventually to stop only feet away from me. Stretching out my hand, the horse sniffs my hand before pressing his nose against it. Slowly, I graze my hand against his nose. It feels like velvet against my freezing cold finders. Making my way up the horse’s face, my fingers run over a hard, bumpy spot. Looking at where my fingers are, I notice there is a big scar slashed from right above the eye to an inch under the eye.

“Scar,” I breathe almost silently as his eye meets mine and we read into each other.

It seems like only seconds have gone by before Scar’s eyes open wide in alarm and he takes off in the opposite direction. I just watch as his tail swings back and forth while he runs. Everything about this horse mesmerizes me making me barely hear the crunching of footsteps against rocks beside me. I look to my right and see Chad.

“Scar really seems to like you.”

“Why is that?”

“He never comes to anyone. When we have to bring him inside, it takes more than one person to catch him. He’s not very trusting, he doesn’t trust anyone.”

“So, what’s your point? Now that I am here, what? Are you guys just going to use me to train the horse? What’s so important about him anyways?” I ask angrily.

“No, it’s nothing like that, but that horse, that horse is amazing. Look at his build, his colouring, everything about him, even his gaits are perfect.”

“Okay then,” I roll my eyes at him and lean on my arms on the top of the fence. Chad leans his back against the fence and crosses his arms across his chest.

“Anyways,” Chad sighs. “I have to go; we have an early day tomorrow. Bye, see you later.”

I watch as he walks away and disappears into a big black pickup truck. Once I see the red brake lights fade into the darkness, I take one last glimpse at Scar before heading inside.

Pushing open the door, I see a plate of food covered in Saran Wrap on the counter in the small kitchen. I plop the plate into the microwave and turn it on before turning and heading to the door to take off my boots and hang up my hat.

I listen as the beep on the microwave goes off letting me know my food is ready. Getting my food, I sit down on the couch and turn on the TV. Flicking through the channels, I notice nothing is on so I search through the movies. I plop in “The Notebook”, one of my favourite movies, and start eating.

My eyes get drowsy and slowly start to shut as my favourite part comes on. It is at the end when the girl realizes that the book was about her. The last thing I see is the old woman smiling, and then I am out like a light. I just pass out with the plate on the ground and TV blasting.

I am woken up when the door swings open, than bangs shut. Heavy footsteps are on the ground, leading towards the couch, where I am laying. I hear low chuckles before the TV is clicked off and a blanket is placed over me. The footsteps go into the kitchen and a few minutes later, head back towards the door and eventually outside.

Listening, I hear my uncle yelling for someone and then telling them to do something. I hear two sets of footsteps as they come inside. They are talking and stop right behind the couch. It sounds like my uncle for sure.

“I would have moved her myself, but I’m getting old and you’re probably stronger than me.” I hear my uncle tell someone.

“That’s fine; I bet she’s light anyways. Where do you want her?” I identify the voice as Chad.

“In the guest room where she’s staying.”

Without another word, I feel myself being lifted up with a pair of strong arms around me. I hear him mutter a few things under his breath as he walks down the hall and kicks open my bedroom door. Carefully, he lays me down on my bed and I feel him sit on the edge of the bed. He pushes my hair back from my face and his hand lingers in my hair a few more seconds before he takes it away and sighs.

“You used to be so sweet and innocent, now look at you,” I hear Chad whisper as he runs a hand through my hair again. “Last time I saw you, you were so happy. Now look at you,” I hear him sigh. “You don’t fool me, I know the old you is still in there somewhere.”

I listen as he gets up, shuts the door and walks down the hall. Scanning my memories, I barely remember the summer I came here. My mom and dad both came; they wanted me to meet my uncle. I remember meeting Chad at the end of the summer party. He was almost six, I was five, I vaguely remember him, but I knew I recognized him from somewhere.

I remember how shy we were at first, and then minutes later we were chasing each other and pretending to be best friends. From what I can remember, Chad was a good-looking kid, and is still good looking.

Sighing, I push myself off my bed and change into my pyjamas. Once in my pyjamas, I crawl into bed and slowly fall asleep. It takes me a few minutes of tossing and turning before I find a comfortable way to sleep. In this position, I start to doze off, and eventually fall asleep. I do not dream, I stay in a deep, peaceful state of mind.

“Dylan, get up!” I hear Chad yell as he pushes my door open.

“Ugh, what do you want?” I ask him groggily as I stretch and yawn.

“Get dressed I have to go into town and you’re coming with me seeing as you haven’t done a thing all day.”

“Why can’t you get someone else to do it?” I whine and roll over, covering my head with a pillow.

“Because, now get up and get dressed,” Chad says before shutting my door and walking out of the house.

Getting up, I drag my feet along the hardwood floor to my closet. I pull open the closet door and stare at the little clothes I have. Sighing, I finally grab a pair of light jeans, a purple tank top and a pair of grey slip-on shoes. Getting dressed, I slip on the clothes before adding a quick coat of mascara and brushing my bellybutton long, black, wavy hair. I grab my cowboy hat before walking out of the house to find Chad.

As I push open the front door, I see Chad sitting on the porch steps waiting. He turns around to look at me at the sound of my footsteps and the door opening. Chad just motions for me to follow him before walking down the driveway a bit towards his truck. I slide into the passenger seat of his truck as he starts it and turns on the radio. As soon as he turns it on, country music blares from the speakers.

“Turn that off, it’s terrible,” I yell over the music. Noticing Chad did not hear me; I push the button and turn off the horrid music.

“Hey, what was that for?” Chad asks.

“That’s not even music; it was making my ears bleed. Listening to a dying cat would be better to listen to than that shit,” I point out.

“No, that is pure awesome music, the best kind out there.”

“Ha, no, it’s terrible; you can’t even call it music. All it is is depressing people writing sad love songs. It’s crap,” I state.

“You need to get your ears checked because country music is pure gold.”

“No, it’s not; don’t even start arguing with me.”

“I wasn’t arguing, I was being right while you disagreed and continued being wrong.”

“Whatever you say, but I still say that’s not music, not even close to it.”

“Alright, fine, but you’ll like it one day and when you do, I’ll be rubbing it in your face that I was right and you were wrong.”

“Now I may like a lot of things, but never will I ever like country music.”

“Mhm, we’ll see about that,” Chad grins at me.

“Whatever, how much longer?”

“Just a few more minutes.”