Jumping Lives

Chapter 4: Kitty Claws and Lying Escapades.

** Change of point of view ***

Cassie POV (not Whitney's)

I felt the soft pat of a furry paw against the side of my face as I opened my eyes, blinking as the bright light flooded into my room through the open window. A small, gray tabby cat sat perched on the comforter next to me, staring at me with its curious green eyes.

"Patches, really?" I asked the cat, flopping backwards on the bed as I turned my head to read the clock on the bedside table. 5:50 AM. It was so early. I sat up again, picking up Patches and placing him on my lap as he started purring nuzzling against the side of my arm.

I'd only been asleep for five hours. That was definitely not enough sleep. I rubbed at my eyes sleepily. Last night I'd fallen into bed way too late because of my catering job. I had been working at Cathy's Catering for over a year now. Cathy was married to Thomas, one of my mom's old best friends. Thomas and my mom used to own Pegasus Stables together, a show stable with a high-ranked reputation.

I wasn't allowed to be around horses anymore, at least according to my Grandma. My Grandmother was quiete young, only in her early sixties. I guess it was because mom had me at twenty-one. I never knew my dad, mom never discussed it other than to say she had loved him a lot. I think she was waiting for me to get older before she told me the truth. Now she could never tell me, though, because she was gone.

Grandma refused to talk about it. I think maybe it hurt to talk about mom in general, and clearly whoever my dad was Grandma hadn't been too fond of him. Mom had died four years ago, when I was twelve. It had been in a freak riding accident. I wasn't there when it happened. I just knew the basics, or what I found out myself through the internet because apparently I was too young to know the truth about how my mom had died.

My mom was a high ranked equestrian, at least before her accident. Sometimes it hits me randomly, when I'm sitting in class or in my rooms at Grandma's that this is my life now. Mom won't be there to see graduate, or go to college, or get married. The only thing I'll have is her memory and my dreams.

Mom once told me that Grandma never supported her horseback riding career. It was partially true, Grandma used to tell me that only a few people in the world were successful and I should pick a practical job.

We lived fairly close to Grandma's house, I spent a lot of my childhood in it when Mom was off at shows during the school year. I didn't mind, contrary to popular belief, my Mom was a great mother. She taught me how to ride and a million other things.

I loved riding, just as much as mother had. I loved the feeling of floating, suspended in air over the jumps, that feeling of flight before the hooves touch the ground. When it feels like you can do anything, even conquer the entire world.

When Mom died, Grandma told me no more riding. I'd been incredibly upset at the loss of the one thing that made me feel connected to my Mom. I remember Grandma sitting me down at the table and telling me that I couldn't ride anymore. She was so worried she was going to lose me in an accident just like Mom. I don't think she ever considered the possibility that she was ripping away part of me when I wasn't allowed to ride.

Thomas and my Grandma got into an argument about it. Thomas co-owned Pegasus Stables with Mom. He technically still owned half of it, Grandma tried to sell the other half to him, but Mom's will was written specifically to me. So technically, I own half of Pegasus Stables - not that Grandma knows that specific bit of information, since Thomas and I may have lied. Or not lied, just didn't mention that small bit after that discussion. It worked better like that.

Thomas told Grandma that I should be able to ride, keep the memories of Mom at the stable and that I would own half of when I was older. Grandma disagreed. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but its kind of hard to walk away from a conversation when you're the main topic, not to sound conceded, its just the truth.

I used to ride in secret. When Thomas would take me out for our Sunday "Ice Cream" just like we used to do with Mom, we stopped eating ice cream and started riding. Then when Cathy, Thomas's wife, offered me the catering job, Grandma thought it would be a good way to "expand my boundaries". I expanded them that's for sure, straight into the stable and over to the horses. I made tons of friends. In reality, I told Grandma stories, my friends were the horses, but she hadn't seem to catch on to that yet.

"Shall we get up Patchy?" I asked, laughing as the cat moved getting up and stretching on the end of the bed. I hopped up grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to change into. It was Monday, which meant school, but luckily it also meant I got to go the stable when Grandma went to her Bingo Club.

Grandma had joined the Eldery Club two years ago, a recommendation from Thomas. She loved it because all her friends went, and since I told her I was okay staying at home, it worked out. I didn't exactly stay at home, instead I walked the half mile to Pegasus Stables and rode.

There was a lot of lying. I felt guilty about it, I did, its just getting something like horseback riding removed from your life, something that feels so mingled with how I even identify myself as a person taken away so suddenly, causes you to make choices. I'm not sure it was the right one necessarily, or even the moral one, but it was the one I made. And I don't regret it, because someday I'm going to tell Grandma the truth and she's going to accept that this is who I am in life, and I need her to believe in me like Mom used too.

** This is kind of short and not edited, but at least it's something :)