A horse named Bear

~ Chapter 19 ~

I sit outside of Bear's stall, leaning against the door and munching on a large red apple. My ponytail was all ratted and I seriously looked like crap.

"Well you look like you just got caught in a tornado." Luke comes walking in, a sly smirk on his face.

I look up, laughing and feeding the apple core to Bear. "Ya well, no one ever said riding was a fashion show."

He laughs, nodding and petting his horse. "Well, it's only 10:00. Are we going to do something today?"

"I don't know about you, but I've got a lot of training to do if I'm going to enter the big race."

He raises an eyebrow, a worried look appearing on his face. "You're still doing that?"

"Well duh. I need to show these people what Bear and I are really capable of."

"Don't you remember what happened last time you tried doing that?" He chuckles.

I just glare.

"It was a joke you know.."

"Ya well not a funny one." My voice turns harsh and my gaze goes hard.

Luke runs his fingers through his hair. "Well.. Maybe I can help you out on the track? Like time you and such?"

I manage a small smile.

"Sure."

After tacking Bear up and handing Luke my stopwatch, I begin to lead the two out of the stables.

Luke stops at the fence, playing around with the stopwatch while I lead bear over towards the gates. Sure, it wasn't a real race, but I didn't care. I wanted it to seem as real as possible. After managing to hoist myself into the saddle, I give the equine's sides a quick kick and latch us into the gate.

"Ready?!" Luke shouts.

I nod.

Suddenly, the gates burst open and the two of us literally rocket forward. The wind rushes through my hair, making it even messier than it already was. Not caring about that, I tightly grip the reins.

"Come on boy.."

The sound of mighty hooves thundering against the turf was all that could be heard in the silent morning. My eyes were open, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Casting a quick glance over at Luke I can feel my cheeks begin to flush a hint of red. He was gawking, a huge smile spread across his face. Seeing it just made me want to smile.

I didn't think my eyes were off the track for very long, but they must have been. A sudden jerk was all that I felt before I went spiraling down towards the hard ground. Bear continues to run as I lay limb on the track, pain surging throughout my entire body.

"No.. No.. No......"

The last thing I saw was Luke running towards me, his face filled with horror. Then everything went black.