Møon

Chapter 6: How on Earth Did This Happen?

"Striker!" I yelled as I watched him close his eyes,"Striker!"

I looked at his ankle which was three times the size as it use to be.

"Moon, it hurts." Striker said in pain. His voice was weak, he looked so frail.

"Striker, it's a broken ankle, your not going to die." I said reassuringly as I watched the humans start running to the pasture. "Look, the girls are coming. They'll help you. They helped me. And I'm all better."

"Moon, when a horse breaks its leg, or ankle, they're done for. Their worthless. They get sold to the knacker and made into glue." The fear in his voice was evident, he didn't want to die.

I watched as the girls ran closer and closer to us, their sire's not far behind,"I wont let them hurt you, your my only friend. Maybe you just got bit by a snake. That's why it hurts so bad."

"Moon, listen to me. Get away from me right now, trot and don't look back." Striker said as he tried to raise his head off the ground.

"Why would I do that?" I asked

"They will think you did this to me if you leave right now. But if you leave right as they come, they wont think of anything. They'll let you out to graze, then you can hop over the fence and find Raye's herd, and join them." I shook my head, I wasn't going to leave him.

"Your ankle isn't broken, you just got bit by a snake." Striker just shook his head

"If you want me to leave, I'll leave." I said sadly

"Please do." Striker whispered, his eyes were closed.

"If you say so." I raised my self off the ground and slowly started walking away.

As I walked away I could hear Emma's sire say something, something that I didn't want to hear.

"Why is it that all the sudden all the horses on this ranch are getting hurt! I can't afford these bills Emma! And it's your horse that's causing all these problems! I don't see why I can't get rid of her!" The sire yelled at my Emma.

Emma was quick to reply or so it seemed,"Because you know that if I did have a real job, I would pay for her all myself."

Apparently that was a good enough reason for her sire because he didn't reply back to her and started to go to work on Strikers leg. I decided to graze near them so I could pick up on what they were saying. The grass around him wasn't the best grass on the ranch, but it was grass. I bet in the wild they have better grass.

As the humans continued saying things like "was it a snake?" or "the swelling isn't going down" Emma started to sneak over to me. I couldn't see her, but when I smelt her vanilla scent, I knew it was a friendly human coming towards me.

"Hey my pretty girl, how ya doing?" Emma wrapped her small arms around my face and started whispering things that i couldn't understand. I let my head loose so she would be holding all my head weight in her arms.

"Your heavy girl!" She laughed and continued petting my head. As her smooth hands went around my ears and eyes, I cocked my left hind leg, very relaxed. I wished that Emma noticed. I wanted to see that I'm very OK with her being around me.

Apparently, Emma's sire wasn't okay with her leaving to pet me. I could only  hear some of the harsh whispers that came from his muzzle as he motioned for Emma to assist him.

"Alright-y Moon. Don't get into too much trouble. Dad's planning on selling you soon. He seems to think that your the problem to everything. Especially the vet bills. Those are killing the ranch right now." Emma mumbled as she continued to gently stroke my face.