Briarwood Elite Riding Academy: Take the Reins

Chapter 25: A Silver Locket

My body felt weightless; like I was made of nothing but helium as I floated in the blackness around me. I didn’t know what was up or what was down, which was left or which was right and I didn’t know where my body ended and the darkness began.

I was simply a part of the darkness.

Gently my body began stirring; twitching, aching to move and I tried to comply with it. I tried to stretch out my hands or open my laden eyes but to no avail.

This was happening more frequently now and though my mind rarely focused on something for too long there in the darkness I knew deep in my bones that I needed to stir my body; I needed to move out of the darkness and into the light.

Steadying my pounding heart I focused hard on my arms and legs; attempting to kick and lash out but the only progress I made was a soft ripple of movement beginning from my left toe-tip to my pelvic bone solely on the left side.

Suddenly like an all-consuming wave I was hit with extreme fatigue. My insistence for movement had drove me to the brink of achy tiredness that no matter how hard I fought I had to succumb too.

Once more I was plunged into even deeper unconsciousness.

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My eyes flickered wildly beneath their closed lids and fought with all my strength against the darkness to lift just one open.

It took time and exhausting amounts of effort but finally my eye cracked open and I was enwrapped in light.

My eye felt four sizes too big and my eyelid felt like cement but I managed to keep it open and finally I flicked open the other one.

With both eyes open to the world I realized just how paralyzing and harsh the light was compared to the cooling black that I had been previously held in but I did not want to blink in fear that I would once again be suffocated and lost to the blackness.

A heavy cloud of confusion lingered in my mind; where am I? What time is it? This isn’t Briarwood? My mind felt groggy and disoriented.

After a moment of my eyes greedily tearing across the white ceiling I began to realize how dry my mouth and throat were. My tongue felt like glue stuck to the roof of my mouth and I couldn’t move it around as effortlessly as I wanted too.

I felt like a dying house plant. Brown and brittle and dry.

I need water…

I rolled my head slowly to the left only now noticing the slumped, sleeping figure of my mother. I couldn’t talk with my throat so dry so I simply stared longingly at her small figure and blond hair, hastily tied back in a bun.

She must have flown down to see me…

As if sensing my stare my mother stirred and propped herself up better before catching sight of me and bolting upwards off of her chair.

“Blair!” She exclaimed; I’d never heard someone’s voice filled with such happiness and relief. She knelt down beside my bed and quickly handed me a large cup of water with a straw.

The water was clearly old but it didn’t matter; I greedily sucked it back, hardly stopping to breathe until the entire thing was downed. My throat felt ten times better afterwards. While I had been drinking my mother had called for a nurse whom now entered the room followed by who I presumed was my doctor.

I only then realized I was in a hospital bed, wearing a simple pair of PJs and all the events before this came spiralling back to me and the confusion disappeared.