A second chance

Chapter 2

I smile as I walk up the path that leads to the riding stables. I love this place so much ; it's my favourite place in the entire world and most of all I love the horse Lightning. I think he's the best horse in the entire world.

I first meet Lightning when I came here on a visit to see if I wanted to join the school. I had been walking round the school with my parents and the head teacher about 1/2 an hour and I was depressed. We had just moved house after the accident happened and I missed my old house, my friends and most of all my brother Jack.  So by the time we came to the stables I just wanted to leave, but when we arrived at the stables and meet the lady who ran it my feelings suddenly changed. For the first time since the accident had happened I felt truly happy.

The lady who ran the stables, Louise, showed us around the stables. I didn't understand what she was talking about because I hadn't ridden before but I loved everything about the stables; the tack room, the outdoor ring, the indoor ring and the horses. Then we came up to a field with three horses; a palomino, a bay and a grey.

"Here are the fields where the horses stay, we have 54 horses here at Oakwood riding stables." Louise told us.

" What's the white horse over there called?" I asked Lucy.

" We call white horses greys and the grey over there is called Lightning. He's four years old. We bought him two months ago. He's a brilliant horse, great with beginners." Lucy replied.

" I think he's fantastic." I said in awe.

That was 10 months ago and since then my love for Lightning has always stayed the same. I go and see him every day and ride him as often as I can.

Just as I was approaching Lightning's field Molly comes up to me.

"Are you OK now Marnie?" Molly asks me.

I nod, smiling.

" You know, you don't have to suffer alone. You have friends, family and people who can help you." Molly tells me.

" Yeh,  but my friends don't understand, other people don't care and my family can't help me, they need the help themselves." I say, trying not to cry.

"Marnie, I don't want to be rude, but is everything OK at home?" Molly asks me.

I shake my head and give up fighting the tears back and let them fall down my face.

" Mum and Dad are always upset, just like I am. They said that if we moved away from are old house then getting over Jack's death would be easier, but it hasn't made it easier at all. I still miss him so much and I feel guilty for his death everyday. " I cry.

"Marnie, it is not your fault that Jack died. He died in a car accident. Why do you think it was your fault." Molly asks.

I don't speak because I'm too choked up. 

" Look, we can talk about this later, but for now we have a trail ride to go on. So go and get Lightning, groom him and tack him up while I go and get Neptune, OK?" Molly says.

I nod, glad that Molly doesn't ask me anymore questions about the car accident. That's the thing that I really like about Molly, whenever I get upset about something she'll talk to me and then get me to do something to take my mind off whatever is making me upset. To make it even better she usually gets me to do things that involve horses!

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Half an hour later I've groomed and tacked up Lightning and I'm just about to get mounted, ready for the trail ride. Molly comes up behind me with Neptune.

"Are you ready? I was thinking we could go through the forest, out into the fields and out the beach. Then we could come back through the other fields that lead back to the stables. What do you think?" Molly asks.

I nod, smiling. Molly knows my favourite route and exactly how to cheer me up when I'm upset.

"So, did anything fun happen in school today?" asks Molly.

" No, to be honest it was quite a boring day. I just learnt about algebra, stranger danger and photosynthesis." I say.

" Sounds like my day was a lot more fun. I spent my day looking after horses and teaching Oakwood School students. Although that was interesting because one of them fell off. " Molly tells me.

"What happened?" I ask.

"The girl was cantering towards a jump and she lost her balance a flew over the jump while the horse halted in front of the jump. She's Ok now, apart from I think she's embarrassed about what happened. I tried to talk to her after the lesson but she left really quickly." Molly says.

"Maybe I could talk to her. She might listen to me more because I'm not her riding instructor trying to cheer her up." I suggest.

"Maybe, but then you'd have to tell her that I told you and she might not like that. "Molly says.

"I'm sure she'd understand; what's her name?" I ask.

"Alice Campbell, she's in Year 7. She's  coming on Saturday to volunteer at the open day. You could talk to her then." Molly told me.

"OK, how are the plans for the open day going?" I ask.

"Everything's ready, but more importantly what did you mean when you said in the field that you felt guilty about Jack's death?" Molly asks me.

Immediately tears spring to my eyes and I focus my eyes on the bridleway ahead of me.

"It was my fault; all of it. If I hadn't shouted at Mum when she was driving the car she wouldn't have been distracted and we wouldn't have crashed. It's as simple as that." I say struggling to speak as I am all chocked up.

"It wasn't your fault Marnie, don't you ever say that. It is called a car accident for a reason. " Molly said angrily.

I shook my head thoroughly; tears streaming down my face. Nothing was ever going to take the guilt away from me.

A/N

What do you guys think. It will be more happy in the next chapter I promise!

Please vote and comment!

Goodbye everyone.