A Light in the Dark: The moon

Chapter 13: Disaster, part 2

In her box, Stella was getting fidgety. She pawed at her stall, huffing and puffing. It got worse, and then she was kicking, neighing, throwing her head. It got so intense that Mrs Harvard wondered if she would break the door down. She fetched Hansengrove, not sure how to deal with this kind of behavior in a horse. Hansengrove tried to calm the mare down with her voice, but Stella would become calm and then something would set her off again. The school veterinarian/doctor came in to look at her (she was specialized in soulriders and their horses, and riders and their horses didn't feel it when she treated either horse or rider).

-"There's nothing wrong with her, I can't explain why she is panicked like this... Unless..." she looked at Hansengrove, "You said her rider left for the holidays?"

-"Yes, she left with her father." She answered.

-"I have never seen a case like this before... How long has Etta been gone?"

-"A week now." Answered Hansengrove.

-"So it can't be that her absence is tourmenting her yet." Said the doctor.

They all thought for a long moment, then, the doctor spoke again.

-"I can't imagine why, but... Is there a possibility that Etta might be in danger? It couldn't be that the rider is having a seizure, the horse is only panicked, and not having spasms." She said half to herself.

-"Well, I don't know... Things happen, maybe a car accident?" Said Mrs Harvard.

Suddenly, Hansengrove's cellphone rang. She answered. Etta's sobs came to her through the phone. She was trying to tell her something, but it was very hard to understand, because she was crying so hard.

-"Ok hun, take a breath, slow down, I can't hear a word you're saying." Said Hansengrove.

-"I don't even know what happened! There was smoke, an' I went downstairs, an' next thing I know my daddy's screamin' for me to run, an' his hands are tied, an' I says I can't, an' he says I have to, so I jumps off the roof... It was so cold–" Her speech was cut off by uncontrollable sobbing.

Etta usually had a rather stable accent, but if you knew her well enough, you'd know that when she was freaked out, a hint of the western accent she had acquired from her father would peep out into her words. Hansengrove didn't understand half of what she had said, but she knew Etta was in danger.

-"Ok hun, calm down. Where are you now?" She asked.

-"Mrs T's" Etta sniffed.

Hansengrove knew where that was, right next door to Etta's and her father's house. Etta often spoke about how silly Mrs T was, and her way of doing everything at home.

-"Ok, hang on, I am on my way." Said Hansengrove before hanging up.

She turned to the others.

-"That was Etta. She's definitely in danger, or was." She said, "I am going to go get her. Try to keep Stella calm."

The other two nodded, and Hansengrove hurried over to her car.