Emotionless. (Cielois)

Chapter 7: Licorice

For the next few weeks, Alois has presented new adventures for me every day. Although it's quite fun, and I find myself warming up to him more every day, he still hasn't said a thing about the incident, or his little reveal at the hospital... it makes me wonder if these play dates are just distractions from the words yet to be spoken. I just wish he would be honest, and tell me what he's thinking for once.

Today, we're riding horses.

Claude packed our lunch in a small, woven picnic basket for us (which Alois proceeded to unpack, and put into a backpack. "We can't carry a basket while we're riding horses, you embesil!") And with that, we were on our way. When we arrive, a large, suspiciously clean white barn stands in front of us. As we approach, a ridiculously large password activated lock becomes visible. Alois giggles as he stops, and motions towards it.

"Well? Open the barn." He says, smiling his arrogant little smile.

"Alright." I shrug, as I walk up to the door, Alois watching me all the while, enter the password into the screen, and open the door.

Alois' jaw drops.

"How did you..." he starts, in disbelief.

"That was always your password on Club Penguin and Minecraft as a kid." I say, satisfied.

Alois frowned.

"Well that's just cheating." He claims as he walked past me into the barn. "I guess I'll just have to change my passwords," I hear him mutter.

I follow after him, to a long hall of stalls, each occupying horses of every size and color. Each wooden-barred stall has a name plate hanging from the door window. They were all pretty typical horse names... "Bella," "Shoe Lace," "Brownie." Some remain blank. I scoff at this... he has so many horses, he doesn't even have the time to name each of them. I turn around to see Alois petting a white horse with caramel spots, with a label accurately reading "Cookie Dough." I decide I should hurry up and choose a ride as well. My eyes eventually avert to a small, black horse with a blank label.

Smoke. It fills my nose, ears, and eyes as I wake up to excruciating heat. I roll off my bed, hitting my head hard on the floor as panic clouds my mind. I hear the crackling of a burning fire as I crawl to my door, and reach for the knob. "OWWW" I cry, the flesh of my hand bubbling. Sobbing, I crawl to the window, manage to pry it open with my unsinged hand, and look down. It's only a 2 story jump, but it feels so much higher to my 9 year old self. I look behind me, and see flames peeking from under my door. Without even thinking about it, I make the jump, and land in the grass with no damage but a scraped knee and racing heart. I quickly force my legs to stand, and run away from my burning home to the barn. I can't feel my legs moving beneath me as I reach the stable, unhinge the door, and climb on my horse, bareback. The black steed races across the acre field without needing encouraged, entering an already smoking pack of trees. I hear a loud crash, and I'm suddenly thrown off, my horse crying out. I look behind me to see her leg crushed by a burning log that fell in the road. I begin to run to try and somehow free her, but before I can burn myself any further, I feel a strong arm scoop my up and carry me in the opposite direction. I beat the figure's arm, attempting to free myself as I watch the flames envelope my friend. "LICORICE! LICORICE, NO! LICORICE, LICORICE,"

"Licorice." I think aloud.

I snap out of my flashback, as I feel a hand on my tense shoulder.

"Licorice? That's a lame name." Alois says, holding Cookie Dough by his saddle with a grimace on his face.

Licorice was my old horse's name, back before the fire... she was my partner in crime, and if it weren't for her, I would've been reduced to a pile of ash along with my parents. I named her after the candy I used to adore. When I first saw her, at age 5, the first thing I said was "Licorice!" Hence the name.

"Better than no name." I say, reaching my hand through the bars and stroking the horse's soft mane.

"Meh. Your opinion is wrong." He says, opening the stall door so I can ready the silky horse to be ridden.

I'm excited to ride a horse again.