Taming the Wild

Chapter 8

“Aw, does someone have a hangover?” I tease.

“Shut up,” Chad growls at me.

“Not my fault you drank a tad too much last night.”

Chad groans and lays his head on the counter as the microwave beeps. Turning around, I open the microwave and take out my food. I place the plate on the counter, sitting across from Chad. Out of my peripherals, I watch as Chad lifts his head, sniffs the air, then turns to me and stares at my food intently.

“Don’t even think about it,” I growl at him as I pull the plate closer to me.

“Can I have some, just a little bite, please,” he bags as some drools drips from the corner of his mouth down to his chin.

Laughing, I pick up my  plate and place it in the sink. Opening the fridge, I see a carton of eggs. I take a few out and place them near the stove along with milk. Searching through the cupboards, I find pancake mix and vegetable oil. I smile to myself as I pull out a bowl and a wooden spoon.

Chad just watches me, interested, as I mix everything together and start to make him pancakes. He sits on his stool at the counter patiently, drool almost dripping from his mouth. As soon as the first pancake is done, he grabs it from the plate and practically swallows it whole.

“What are you two up to?” I hear my Uncle Marley ask us as he comes inside and stands beside Chad.

“Making pancakes,” I tell him as I pass Chad another one.

“I can see that, but hurry up and eat. Don’t forget you have to start training Scar today.”

“How could I forget?” I beam as I flip over another pancake. “I mean, I get to do something fun finally.”

Uncle Marley just gives me a stern look. “If you don’t start within an hour, you will go back to doing chores,” he informs us before plopping his hat back onto his head and walking outside.

Chad and I just stare at each other, blinking, before realizing he was serious. I start to clean up right away and then leave to go have a shower and get ready to go train Scar. By the time I get back out to the kitchen, I see Chad in a different pair of clothes, sitting on the couch half asleep.

“Ready?” I ask him as I put my hat and boots on.

Chad groans and stands up, grabbing his hat and walking towards the door. “I guess so, not like I really have a choice.”

“You’ve got that right.”

We walked out the door and towards the barn. I glance in Scar’s field and notice he isn’t there. Sighing, I continue towards the barn where Chad has already disappeared. I quicken my pace and enter the barn as Chad comes around the corner with an arm full of stuff.

I ignore Chad’s walking around and slowly walk down the aisle of the barn that the horses are in. At the sounds of my feet hitting the concrete floor, all the horses stick their heads out of their stalls. I smile, as I feel right at home, walking down the aisle of horses. I walk up to a white stallion, pat his neck, and run my fingers along his neck. I am memorized by this horse and I barely notice when Chad calls my name.

“Dylan,” Chad whispers in my ear and I can feel his breath tickle my neck.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I smack him, turning around.

Chad just smiles at me and heads for the door. I follow him after giving the stallion one last pat on his neck. Outside, I see Chad waiting for me near the round pen.

“Where’s Scar?” I ask him.

“In here, they moved him into here, thought it might be easier for us.” Looking around, I finally spot Scar and as soon as he sees me, he walks up to me. I feel a smile grow on my face as he places his nose against my outstretched hand.

“That’s amazing,” Chad, breathes beside me as he just stares at Scar.

“Is it? I didn’t think it was that amazing,” I shrug, but I know that it really is amazing.

“Well it is, but we need to start getting him to trust both of us more.”

“I figured that much,” I roll my eyes at him.

“Okay, well, see if he trusts you enough to let you in the pen with him.”

“Alright,” I sigh as Chad slowly opens the pen door, giving me just enough room to slip inside.

As I step inside the pen, Scar backs up away from me. When the door is shut behind me, I hesitate but hold my hand out for Scar. He just stares at my hand.

“Use this,” Chad tells me, throwing an apple and carrot at me.

I place the apple in my hand and hold it out towards Scar. Watching him intently, he sniffs the air and takes one small step towards me. Standing there patiently, I watch as Scar takes small, slow steps towards me. After ten minutes, Scar finally comes close enough to my hand and bites into the apple. A wide smile spreads across my face as he eats the rest of the apple.

Cautiously, I take a small step towards Scar and run my hand along his neck. At first Scar’s eyes widen in panic. I whisper soothing things to him and I watch as he slowly relaxes. His muscles start to tense as I make my way further down his body. I slowly make my way around Scar, making sure to touch and rub almost every part of his body, except his private parts.

“He’s coming along really well,” my Uncle Marley states as I walk towards the gate.

“Yes, I was thinking we should try to get a halter on him,” Chad tells him curiously.

“Okay, just be careful, horses can be unpredictable.”

“Alright, thanks for the input,” I say to my Uncle Marley as he turns his back to us and walks away.

“Do you have a light blue halter?” I ask Chad.

“Yeah, here,” I grab the halter from him and walk towards Scar.

Slowly, I walk towards him, holding the halter out towards him so he can smell it. Once I think he is okay and comfortable with it, I step up to him. I rub the halter against his body so he gets extremely comfortable with it. Grabbing the carrot from my pocket, I put it through the nose of the halter and raise it towards Scar’s nose. Slowly and cautiously, I bring the halter onto his face and around his ear’s. I continuously feed him carrots while I do it up. As soon as the latch under Scar’s cheek and jaw clicks shut, his head shoots up and he takes off around the pen.

“Dylan move!” I hear Chad yell and I turn around to see Scar heading right for me.

The next thing I know, Chad has his arms around me and lifts me up. I bang against his arms to let me go, but he doesn’t. The next few seconds go by slowly and before I know it, I am on the ground with Chad on top of me. I nudge him but he doesn’t move. Squirming my way out from underneath him, I push myself up and into a sitting position.

“Chad, Chad get up,” I push him but he doesn’t move. I press my fingers against his neck and can barely feel his pulse.

I look over at Scar and see him pawing at the ground repeatedly. Tears come to my eyes as I figure out what happened. Scar stares me in the eyes and within seconds, he is charging towards me. I cover my head and nothing happens. All I hear is Scar’s neighing and stomping.

Uncovering my head, I look to see Scar rearing at Chad. I scream and scream at him to stop, but he doesn’t. Tears are pouring out of my eyes as Chad lays in front of me unconscious, because of Scar.