by sarah turner
The Yard.
Sarah Turner
Copyright 2011 by Sarah Turner
Teaser
A clear mist drowned the yard before me, the amount of times I had been here when it’s been misty but it’s never been this bad before, I continued into the yard, walking briskly to where my horse was stabled, the mist was starting to freak me out now, I continued to look around to find if anyone else was here and upon doing so I noticed that the mare and foal wasn’t in the paddock where they are usually kept, I glanced down at my wrist to see what time it was and noticed that my watch had stopped and looked liked it was also misted up, the mist was playing tricks on my eyes, forming shapes and making me believe there was something there but every time I ran over to the spot, there was nothing there.
Ever since I had stabled my horse here I always thought there was something creepy about this place even in the daytime never mind in the mist, it’s sort of one of those mists that you would see in a horror movie a really creepy type. By this time I had reached the back of the stallion stables and was just about to check up on Keano, looking over the stable door I saw him laying down in the corner back to me, he looked like he was asleep, so peaceful as I approached him I noticed something wasn’t right, I couldn’t see his auburn chest steadily rising and falling, I started to panic, I took a quick step towards him and was greeted by two dark red eyes, I froze to the spot with the eyes intently watching me, every step I took they followed until they started to approach me, I followed the eyes and was greeted by a grayish outline of what looked like a large dog, it was slowly creeping towards me I continued to walk backwards when my back touched something, I instantly knew that I had been cornered against a wall, it knew it had me and took the opportunity and lunged for me it seemed to disintegrate into thin air but I could swear the eyes lingered for a second more, but I don’t think it was that which freaked me out, I could see out of the corner of my eye there was something sat next to me……
Chapter 1
I awoke in a sweat of panic, with the sheets sticking to me I attempted to get out of bed, my legs felt like they were made of lead, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and attempted to flex my muscles, it took more effort than I thought to loosen the muscles in my legs, I ran my hands up and down my right leg as to aid them in loosening but it wasn’t until I ran my hands down my left leg had I paused half way through my mini examination, upon feeling it, it felt like three lines all parallel to themselves but I vaguely remember anything which I did which could have caused it to happen, I decided to shower quickly and get ready, I sat down at my dresser to do my hair and sat and thought about last night and the dream I had, I have been having that dream for a couple of weeks now but never thought anything of it as it seemed really petty to let it get to me, then it dawned on me, could the mysterious scratches on my left leg be anything to do with the dreams I keep having, I dismissed the absurd idea and continued to get ready, each stroke reminded me of the claw marks on my leg which kept wierding me out so I wise fully decided to hurry up and leave.
I threw on a light blue wolf print top with long sleeves and a pair of dark washed flare jeans and a pair of flat ankle high black boots and to finish it all off a nice blue jem to wear around my neck, I’m not that bothered about my appearance that much as long as I look nice and tidy I’m happy. I wouldn't say that I’m the most gorgeous girl a guy would run around after. I’m 5ft 5, quite slim a few curves here and there but I’m not the one to flaunt it off, I have piercing green eyes with a mid- long deep auburn hair, which is most of the time up and out of the way as I tend to dress practical. it was a Saturday so I had no college or anything to be worried about, so I packed my gear into a satchel and continued to the car, yes I was nearly 18 and could do almost anything but not without being checked upon by my mother dearest, I had almost escaped out the front door when I heard my mother shouting at me
"Kyra, where you going?" typical old mum always asking where I’m going, it’s not like she didn't trust me, she did but I think she always liked to know where I was, I chuckled to myself and replied loud enough for her to hear me,
"Up to the yard mum!" her response was quick
"What time you going to be back!?" but mine was quicker as I use it most of the time
“Don’t know mum but I will text you if anything changes" I walked out of the door before anything else could be said, asked or whatever else she could think of, I tossed my keys up and down in the air whilst walking to the car parked down the road, silently making a mental list of what I had to do... muck out.... feed....water...exercise....brush down..... By the time I had made a metal list of things to do I was already half way to the yard where Keano was stabled.
The journey to the yard was bland and boring but hey what do you expect when you live 5-10 min away from the yard, the yard was situated right next to a hotel sort of place which had a sports facility situated next to it for the guests to use so the road leading to the yard was regularly used, pulling through the gates of the yard made me think back to the horrid dream I kept having but I still couldn't make any sense of same dream, same ending every time it annoys me. I drove past the school and turned right at the next available spot, I pulled in facing the opposite sports centre. I turned the engine off and just sat there, the dream still playing in my mind. I pushed it to the darkest part of my mind and continued to exit the car upon doing so I looped my arm through my satchel and pulled it out with me, I left the car as it was as I felt no need to lock it.
I casually walked over to the stable to where Keano was placed to be greeted by his familiar face, he was a deep auburn body colour with black mane and tail, which thinned out to a white shade at the tips, which tended to match his unusual blue eyes he was a gorgeous stallion which everyone wanted, I fell in love with him when he was just a foal and still am in love with him now, he may be a lot bigger but he is still my little baby, at 15 hands 3 he was a good height for jumping and boy was he good at it, his stable was one of 5, three faced the leisure centre whilst the other two faced the rest of the yard.
On the same side as Keano was stabled was a 17 hand horse called Tommy he was huge next to me never mind next to one of my friends, he was mostly a black colour with light colours showing through here and there to break up his overwhelming height and brought much joy to his owner. I played around with Keano’s mane for a bit while his head was stuck through the top part of the door, last night’s dream was still playing tricks on my mind which made me hesitant at first but quickly told myself to get a grip and went to collect the head collar from the shed on the other side, I swiped the key off the hook on my way, approaching the corner I greeted the mare and foal, Ruby was a beautiful white colour with blue eyes also, she had recently become a mother again she is the proud mother of a young Colt called Odin, he’s got the longest legs around which is quite unfortunate for him as his legs tend to get in the way of him getting to food, he’s currently a light dun and white but looks like he is going to become a darker brown when he grows up.
I managed to draw myself away from the mare and foal and actually managed to get to the food storage area only to find it already open, I couldn't work out who would be in it today as no one was usually in the feed area at this time on a Saturday, my ears were greeted by another riders shouting and screaming,
"AHHHH for fuck sake!!!!"
I was slightly took back by the sudden outburst as I wasn't expecting it, I approached the door, I cautiously peered round to find the owner of ruby and Odin struggling with a bag of foal nuts, I laughed a little too loud and got an evil glare from her,
"You ok there chick?" even though I was trying to be nice there was a sense of humour in my voice which
I don't think she appreciated much, but lightened up when she realized it was me,
"Hey chick chick, yeah I’m ok as you can see" she sighed and sat on another bag of nuts as if giving up
“Yeah you look like you’re doing very well, give it here" I took the bag of nuts from her and emptied it into the nearby food tub only to be engulfed by the dust off the nuts, I slipped a snarky comment to her only to be greeted by another emotionless evil glare
"Bit weak aren't you blue" her response was a little on the squeaky side
" Leave me alone I’m not that weak!!!" I looked at her as if to say yeah yeah and she knew what I meant straight away.
"You done Ruby and Odin's feed yet?" she looked sheepish and responded quietly
"I was getting to it, I just got stuck Hahaha" I smiled at what she had said and commented
"Do you always get stuck at the first hurdle" luckily she had already gone off to sort Ruby and Odin, she was a good lass deep down, easy to wind up which made it more fun just with the looks you get off her, she was just a little shorter than me, nice blue eyes which stood out nicely, short cut dark brown/red hair she was a fun loving one who was quite competitive but never wanted to admit it and would always deny it when brought up with the saying
“I’m not my mother!!”, she always had those she loved close to heart but did love riding the most I think the most recent thing I can remember when with her was when she had just finished her cross country jump trial and had decided to scare me to death, I wasn’t her fault really, her chest guard was too tight which had restricted her breathing whilst jumping so nearly collapsed when she had finished but despite her nearly scaring me to death she still did well and managed to get 3rd place, her round lasted around 2 hours which was a lot of other competitors and she still managed to place 3rd.
I had sorted out Keano’s feed and hay bale and placed it in the wheelbarrow outside along with his saddle and bridle, I noticed the other wheelbarrow was gone so I assumed that Blue had taken the other one to empty out, I placed the wheelbarrow down outside Keano’s stable and continued to empty the contents. I went to get his lead rope and head collar and entered his stable, Keano’s head collar was easily attached and I continued to walk him out of the stable, as I was leading him out I swear I saw something move in the corner of the stable. I dismissed it once again and just said to myself that it was just a bird or something, whilst leading him out I noticed Tony fussing my mates dog Sky
"Ya’arite Tony!!!" I greeted him a little louder than expected and made him jump slightly, I tied Keano up whilst Tony was brushing himself down after kneeling next to Sky.
"GEEZ Kyra, ever tried not making anyone jump" he had the biggest smile on his face, if he smiled anymore I think his face would stay like it forever not complaining at all
"Where have you been? I’ve not seen you in agggggeeeessss!!!!" I gave him the biggest cuddle ever and just held it for what seemed like ages, these are the hugs I missed.
"I thought I told you that we had to go to Devon for a bit and then come back for our exams" he faked a yawn at the mention of exams which made me laugh quietly to myself
"Yeah you probably did, where’s Ace??"
"He's just coming down now, think he was talking to Blue's mum up by where Ruby and Odin are let out"
"Ahhhhh typical, wanna do me a favour, seen as you’re not doing anything....?" he looked at me as if to say I just got back and you want me to help you his response was the biggest tease of all
"Well..... It all depends...."
"On......" I paused anticipating the answer
"My reward for helping you out...."
"Sorry Tony..... You’re not my type.....joke joke.... your reward is the feeling of helping someone out..."
"If that’s all I get..... Than what you need me to do...." he looked slightly disappointed as if to try and wind me up so I got my own back on him
"Well for that, you can now muck out Keano's stable whilst I brush him down!
“Fine, I suppose I’ll do it as a one off” he rolled his eyes and walked over to the fork, grabbed the wheelbarrow and continue to help me out, he was easily swayed unlike his brother Ace who was more stubborn but the both shared something in common they were both quiet.
Whilst I was brushing Keano’s mane Blue came round to sort out her competition horse, a *Storm’s Rubix Cube aka Mr. Red if I can remember rightly Blue has had Red since he was about 1 year old he was a rescue horse and had been treated badly by men so now has a bad habit around them ever since Blue laid eyes on him she had fell in love with him not only because of what his breed was his markings as well, ok so maybe I should tell you abit more about the famous Red, he’s an Appaloosa breed with abit of mustang in him, she’s had him ever since she was about 10 so he’s about 8 years old and a good height of 15.1 hands, a dark chestnut colour with black wavy mane and tail but the interesting thing about him is that he may be a dark chestnut colour with a white frosting on his face and his back tends to fade out to a white colour with brown spots. You can tell he is one of Blues horses as he is an absolute poser who loves being in front of the camera, Blue is good with horses and is loyal to those who are close to her which has rubbed onto Red as he is very loyal to her. She has managed to rehabilitate him and can now ride him without a saddle or bridle even though he is a wild Stallion at heart, she has managed to bend him into show jumping, dressage and cross country but he is at his best when doing western. To narrow it all down he is an absolute beauty*.
By the time I had described Red, Blue had already brought him out of his stable and was already starting to muck him out.
“Yo Blue, you need a hand there?” I shouted to Blue whilst peering over Keano, she peered round the corner of the stable door with a big grin on her face
“If ya want to, I don’t mind its up to you” I couldn’t help but smirk at the response but it was what was behind her which made me smile more, her boyfriend Ace was sneaking up behind her whilst putting his finger to his lips as if to say shhhhh I did what he wanted and the choice was for the good because all of a sudden he wrapped his arms around her from behind and made her jump a little and looked out of the corner of her eye as if to say who the hell is that but as soon as she managed to see who it was she relaxed and embraced it, she turned around to cuddle him properly and just held it for what seemed like ages, I decided to continue grooming Keano but by this time I was already onto cleaning his hooves. I could hear Blue and Ace talking but couldn’t really hear what was said until I listened properly. It was Ace who I heard first
“Miss me” he asked whilst cupping her face with his hands,
“I missed something…” she spoke quietly whilst holding onto his hands,
“And what would that be… Better have been me….” He teased whilst moving his hands off her face but keeping hold of her hands
“Your Calvin Klein aftershave” her face crept into a huge smile as she said this, he dramatically acted hurt and started to sulk and walk away.
“Ohhhh don’t be like that Ace you know I didn’t mean it, I love you really!!” she sounded like she was running out of breath whilst saying it but at least she wasn’t going faint on me again. But this time I turned my attention to Tony,
“How you doing in there Tony?”
“You really want to know”
“Yeahhhhh……”
“Well let me give you a hint….. What’s tall, dark and handsome and has managed to get more muck on himself than in the wheelbarrow!!!!”
“Hmmmmm now that’s a hard one…… Is it GOD!!!!” I teased him playfully as I knew who he exactly meant
“Well unless I have magically turned into the most powerful being that ever lived than I think not mrs!
!!” he sounded annoyed but I know he was trying to be annoying. Whilst he was complaining about missing the wheelbarrow I had managed to put Keano’s saddle on and was just finishing putting his bridle on, I went to see what he meant and saw how black he was,
“hahaha how could you miss the wheelbarrow” I was laughing so hard I was crying but the look on this face wasn’t right
“I don’t know” his response was plain and dull not like him what so ever I was starting to get worried now, I didn’t like the way he looked
“Tony… whats wro…..” I couldn’t finish what I was saying as he started to walk towards me, I didn’t like the way he was acting, I went in the opposite direction he was going but could go any further as my back hit something, I used my right hand to feel behind me and what my hand felt confirmed my suspicions… I had backed into the wall behind me.
I looked into his eyes to try and recognize anything familiar but what I saw I didn’t like, I bolted out of the door and jumped on Keano who startled slightly at the unexpected mount, but I managed to keep him under control.
“KYRA!!! WAAAIIITTTT!!!” I heard him shout me but I refused to listen I heard Blue and Ace come out.
“what happened?” it was Blue’s voice which spoke first but I couldn’t make out his response as I was halfway up the drive, I spurred Keano to go faster and reached the end of the driveway, I went to a place where I could think and be alone…. The grazing fields. It didn’t make sense… he was fine when he got here… but when I saw him in the stables he looked different… he looked black… and his eyes… his eyes were red.
Chapter 2