One night, I heard the men talking, and I went out of the stable and into the field. It wasn't that they disturbed my sleep. They mostly ignored me. Besides, I had been through far worse. One night, one of them had fed me an apple, which was nice. But something unsettled me and I didn't know why.
'Here's that nice brown horse again. Hello, horsey. Do you think we'd get much for this, eh, Damien?' the voice of the other man said.
'I think we should leave the horse where it is, Gavin,' Damien said after some hesitation. He offered me another apple, but I wasn't hungry. It made a thump against the ground as he dropped it over the fence.
'Why's that?' Gavin said, coughing as he blew out smoke from his strong, herbal scented cigarette. Sniffing it made me begin to feel a little intoxicated myself.
'Well, it's not a racehorse, it's too big. It looks like its athletic days are behind it. Besides, it looks like it is happy. We don't have anything to transport a horse in, in any case. Especially one so large and heavy.' Damien's voice had a slight edge to it. The shiftiness of the conversation unnerved me, so I turned around and walked towards the stable. But I didn't go fully inside. I kept listening for any signs that they were going to make a move on me. It had been five years before I could regain my freedom.
I wasn't about to give it up.
'Unless we could get the horses to transport us. Ride off into the night with the gear,' Gavin said thoughtfully.
'Gavin, you plank. We can't ride a horse across the M25. This isn't - I don't know. The Wild West.' Damien sighed, his voice loaded with irritation.
'You're right. I was just having you on. I'm more interested in those tractors, in any case.' After Gavin had spoken, there was an eerie silence. Satisfied that they weren't going to do anything strange I clopped into the stable.
'Oh, yeah, the tractors, that's more sensible. But I just - I really don't want to go back inside, Gav. Don't think I've forgotten how we got caught last time. You and Barry ain't exactly the master criminals you think you are.' Damien sighed, his voice tense.
'It won't be like that other time. Honest. Think of that beauty. It's brand new. And look at the features it has. It's got a threshing mode, a spraying mode, a ploughing mode...I reckon we'll get at least thirty or forty grand for this. It's even enabled with ChatGPT.' Gavin spoke breathlessly. I knew this was a sign of excitement. It was all quite unnerving.
'We can ask ChatGPT how to get out of this farm if we have too much trouble with the potholes on the track,' Gavin continued.
There were four other horses living in the field and stable. I asked them whether this was something that I should be bothered about. The consensus was that it was not. Scuffling noises, swearing and frustrated sighs emanated from several metres away, but these soon faded.
But I couldn't sleep.
After what I'd been through, everything about this was bothering me.
So I wandered out of the stable and back onto the mixed terrain outside, careful where to put my feet, a mixture of soft grass and more hardened stones. The field, barn and track leading to the house were illuminated by the lights of Ella's biggest tractor. The engine gave off a sputtering sound, then the biggest roar I had ever heard an engine make.
The tractor trundled down the track. Exhaust fumes replaced the herbal smells from the men's cigarettes. I neighed in shock as the tractor bashed branches from the trees on either side of the path. I could feel the vibrations on the ground. All the other horses rushed out of the stable. One of them ran into the wooded area at the side but the others just galloped around in shock and excitement.
Thinking I knew about this stuff, a Shetland pony asked me what was happening. I had to tell him I had no idea.
Nothing like this had happened before.
The sound of the tractor faded but the exhaust smell lingered in the air. I wasn't scared, not like I'd been with the bastard. But this wasn't supposed to happen, was it? The men were being very secretive. They didn't want to be seen.
I walked back to the apple on the ground. It smelt of that weird smell so I just ignored it. I kicked it around for a bit, then got bored.
Suddenly, there was a scream.
'Oh my god! The tractor has been stolen!'
YOU ARE READING
SDT Bonus Content
Mystery / ThrillerThis is going to have random bonus content for SDT such as playlist, character guide, cover art and the like. Maybe the odd fanfic XD. I don't want to put all this in the main book because I don't like too much of this in other people's. So if you d...
