Unbridled Beginnings

Chapter 4: The Truth

 "What!?" I scream, fracturing my usual polite manner towards Jack and Alison.

"Selling Sharki is the only thing we can do at this point Hayley! We don't have enough room for him to stay with us much longer!" Alison screams back.

"We are giving you three days to sell Sharki otherwise we will be selling him ourselves," says Jack. 

I run up the creaky wooden steps to my bedroom and angrily slam the door behind me. I think about crashing on my bed for the rest of the day, but decide against the idea when I realise it's only just turned to midday. Instead I go and pull a desk chair over to the window so that I can watch Sharki graze, taking in that these might be my last few days with the only thing left of my parents.

A while later I hear the phone ring downstairs. Alison answers it.

"Hello?" I hear her say.

After the mysterious person and Alison have had a brief conversation she calls me down into the kitchen.

"Phones for you," she remarks, showing an unnerving smile as she hands over the phone.

"Hello?" I say, copying Alison's tone.

"Hayley! How have you been?" My Grandma's familiar voice asks.

"Yeah fine thanks," I say, lying because I know Alison is eavesdropping while she washes the dishes.

"Look Hayley I know this is quite a short notice for you, as much as it was for me. But one of my colleagues begged me to go to England for a while to coach an upcoming rider. The lady needs some help with training before some important upcoming shows, and my flight is booked for tomorrow."

I don't really know what to say but I manage to get out a quick congrats and an understanding 'okay'. Since I decide not to tell Grandma about Sharki leaving, the conversation ends quickly and I start again up the stairs towards my bedroom. But as soon as Alison sees where I am heading she stops me.

"Dinner is only five minutes away Hayley. Why don't you help me set the table?" Alison says as I reluctantly agree.

Soon after we have finished setting the table, Jack walks in and sits himself down on one of the chairs. We serve ourselves hot pork chops, potatoes and greens then sit in silence, our knives and forks clattering against the plates.

Once dinner has finally come to an end, I am allowed to go up to my room. It's still quite early for me to be going to bed so I grab an old novel from the book shelf. Swiping the dust from the cover as I get into bed, it reveals the title 'The truth about lies' in silver script. I decide that I should read it to take my mind off Alison, Jack and Sharki.

The first few pages start off boring, but I continue to read the book. A chapter or so into the story, it starts to get interesting, and I am not regretting it. For what seems like I've been reading for one hour, turns into two and then three, getting deeper and deeper into the storyline. But soon I realise that I should probably get some rest for tomorrow, as I will have to set out on the search to find a new home for Sharki.

However, I do not find myself in a sleeping mood and when I check the time it says 11:51pm. I've been trying to get to sleep for two hours now. Thoughts start to whizz around my head as I lie in my bed, surrounded by darkness, only the faint sound of the clock hands ticking and distant cars passing along the road. I soon understand that I will not get a lot of hours sleep tonight anyways, so I carefully swing out of bed and grab a jacket from my dresser.

I turn the front door handle delicately trying not to wake Alison and Jack, who I hear snoring loudly from the next room. I step outside and even though I don't enjoy the darkness, I advance towards the paddock where Sharki will be sleeping peacefully. Instead of clattering the gate latch, I climb over the wooden rails and amble quietly to where I can see the outline of Sharki's body. His head suddenly turning to face me, I whisper his name just to let him know that it's me and approach him cautiously. I decide to head into the small run-in shelter and he follows me inside.