When Life Races You By

Chapter 12

The sound of something hitting my window woke me up. Looking at the clock, I saw it was just after one in the morning. What is it, I thought, if another bird as flown into my window, I won’t be happy. Walking like a drunk person, I opened the door to my balcony. Just outside was a small, grey pebble.

“Pss, down here,” someone whispered.

Looking down I saw Ben sitting he is wheelchair, dressed in riding clothes.

“Ben!” I exclaimed in a whisper, “What do you want? It’s one in the morning! And why are you dressed in riding clothes?”

“Yeah, I know, just let me explain,” he acknowledged. “I need your help. I want to get back on a horse.”

“And you couldn’t wait till the morning?” I grumbled. While I was happy that Ben wanted to get back on, this is not how I thought it would go.

“I don’t want anyone else to know. Mum would probably burst out crying, if she found out. Also I don’t really want an audience. What happens if I can’t do it? How embarrassing would it be if everyone saw that?”

“Fine! Let me just get a jacket and I’ll meet you at the stable.”

Grabbing the jacket off the back of my door, I quietly closed my door. Lucky for me, mum and dad’s bedroom was at the end of the hall, while mine was right near the stairs. Tiptoeing down the stair and across the floor boards, which creek a lot louder when you are trying to be quiet, I slid open the back door. Slipping on my boots, I made my way to the stable.

“You know, when you said we should spend more time together, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” I explained. “Which horse are you go to ride anyway?”

“What about Sunshower?” Ben asked.

Sunshower, also known as Sunny, was a small, chestnut mare that I learnt to ride on. She was a great beginner’s horse, because she was very quiet and put up with a lot of things. I really felt for her sometimes. These days she was just a companion and lived a carefree retirement.

“Ok, I’ll grab her tack and a torch. There’s no way we can turn the lights on!”

Her tack was easily recognisable because she had little suns on her name plate. Luckily I kept a torch in the tack room, so I picked that up as well.

“Just so we’re clear, this was not my idea and if we get caught, I’m taking no responsibility,” I stated.

“It’ll be fine,” Ben assured, “our parents are heavy sleepers anyway.” That part was very true.

After tacking up Sunny, I lead her towards our ring, with Ben following behind and the torch tucked up under my arm, so I could see where we were going. The last thing I wanted was to step on a snake, or any animal really.

“Alright, are you ready?” I asked, tying Sunny to the post.

“I guess so,” he replied.

“Ben, we really don’t have to do this,” I sighed, bending down so my arms were resting on his wheelchair. “No one cares how long it takes you. You’re allowed to stay in the guest house as long as you need.”

“No Claire,” he said seriously, looking into my eyes, “I need to do this.”

“But why now?”

“Because I’m scared!” he yelled, “I feel that if I don’t get back on soon, I might never get back on. I’ve never had a serious injury like this. I’m scared that if I don’t get back on soon, I might never return to racing. I’m scared that if I don’t built my strength up I’ll be stuck in a wheelchair forever. Ok?”

Taking a step back, I processed all this information. It had never occurred to me that Ben could be thinking this way. I’d fallen off a horse lots of times before and I always got back on. People always said that was the best thing to do. Ben hadn’t been able to do this.

“Alright, let’s do it then.”

Helping Ben out of his wheelchair, I let him lean on me as we walked over to Sunny. While he lent on Sunny, I brought the step over, to help him get on.

“How does that feel?” I asked once he was on.

“I’m a little stiff, but it feels good,” he replied.

“Ok, we’ll start slowly. Let’s not push it first time.”

I led him around the sandy ring, which was lit up only by the faint glow of the torch. A smile was growing on his face and that made me smile. After about ten minutes we stopped.

“I think that’s enough,” Ben said.

“Ok, we can always try again another time.”

“Tomorrow night then?” Ben joked.

“No Ben,” I laughed, “from now on, only in the daylight.”

After helping him off and back into his wheelchair, we went back to the stable to put Sunny away.

“Thanks for tonight,” Ben said, “it really meant a lot to me.”

“That’s fine,” I replied, “why me though?”

“Well I guess we already share a major secret, so what’s one more. Plus I knew you would probably say yes.”

“I suppose so. Well have a good rest of the night then.”

“Yeah, good night to you to.”

I watched as he wheeled himself back towards the guest house, suddenly feeling a little tired. I guess that’s what you get for getting up at one in the morning!

Author's Note: You guys know the deal, you comment and I'll listen to your feedback. I'm going back to school in a week, so I'm trying to have as many chapters as I can written for you guys, as I'm going to have no time to write. New chapter up same time next week.