The Past (Echo)

The sun shone high in the sky as Valerie walked out of Blake Lock High School. Her blonde hair shone in the sunlight, as she walked down the street towards her car. "Val! Hey, where you going" Valerie turned around at the sound of her name. She saw Chris jogging up to her, his brown eyes sparkling mischievously. Valerie stopped walking, and forced a smile towards him. Man, did he ever give up? "Hi Chris" she said. "I thought we were hanging out today, you know there's a party tonight, we could go" he said walking up to her, putting an arm around her. Valerie held in a grimace, "no sorry, I'm on my way to the stables" she said quickly wiggling out of his grasp. Chris raised an eyebrow, "What? To hang out with that damn horse that almost killed you" he said with a laugh. Valerie turned to give him a look before sighing and opening the car door, getting in and closing it, with a small wave towards Chris. When he was out of her vision, she rolled her eyes and headed up the road heading towards the country side of the small town they lived in.


After a couple of minutes the white grounds of 'Breezy Meadows' appeared. She smiled, driving her car onto the rocky road. She opened the windows letting the cool refreshing summer air, enter the car. She looked to the side, as horses galloped beside her car. She always felt at home here, even though she hadn't ridden since the accident. She parked the car in front of the barn and walked in two kids ran past her giggling. She smiled, it was Friday, camp day. She would come every Friday to help out. She walked inside, breathing in deeply. The smell of hay and horses calmed her, and she walked towards Mystic's stall. Her white head sticking out of the stall door, she let out a nicker as she saw Valerie. "Hey baby" she said walking up to her, and putting her arms around her neck. She laughed as she lipped her hair and pulled on it. She took out a sugar cube and gave it to her. Another couple kids ran down the aisle, "hey guys no running!" she called out. "Sorry Valerie!" they called out but kept going, straight into one of the stable hands. Valerie rolled her eyes playfully, and started to clean brushes out of the aisle.

The big chestnut gelding stamped a hoof impatiently in his stall, his ears half-back, standing at the back.

"Come on, boy, stand still," Ty scolded the warmblood gently, slowly moving closer to him in the stall. Red threw his head up and tossed his mane unhappily, exhaling loudly. Ty took small steps forward, holding one hand out as a peace offering. The Andalusian/Arabian cross let him slide his hand over his nose and across his neck, before with his other hand, he slid on the brown, leather headstall.

"There you go." Clipping the lead onto the halter, Ty led the tall horse out of the stall and into the barn aisle, keeping him at his side, even though he tried to pull ahead. Down the wide corridor, he could see one of the riders who boarded at the stables saying hello to a small white mare, and he smiled to himself. Tying Red to the outside of the stall on the rail, Ty patted his shoulder before turning to go into the tack room. When he came out, a pair of the younger kids were running down the barn aisle, and ran into him. Dropping the grooming kit he was carrying onto the ground, he winced slightly when he heard Red snort with surprise and pull on his lead.

"Hey..." he said, fixing the kids with a stern look, and motioned to Red. "You guys should know better than to run in the barn, especially when a horse is out."

Valerie gave Mystic another pat before she heard a loud crash in the aisle. She sighed, and poked her head out of the door, seeing the kids give each other a look, "Sorry" one mumbled and walked off in the direction of the tack room. She exited the stall, and closed the door behind her. Camp day was always her favorite, she loved helping out and giving lessons to the beginner riders. Although the noise she could do without.

"I'm sorry about them, they can be rowdy don't be too hard on them" she said with a smile as she walked over to Ty, bending down as she started to pick up the brushes that had fallen out of the grooming kit. Her blonde hair falling out of the messy braid that fell down her back. She kept one eye on the big red gelding, he was one of the most high-strung horses at the barn and she wasn't sure how she felt being so close to him. She slapped herself mentally, she kept telling herself to stop her stupidity around horses but every time she got near to getting back in the saddle, she started to panic and just couldn't do it. She also couldn't bear to sell Mystic, so she had given the stable the permission to use her a schooling horse. The sweet mare, did fantastic with the children and she loved teaching them on her.

After the kids' ran off, Ty bent to begin picking up the grooming supplies that had fallen out of the kit. From the corner of his eye, he could see the girl begin walking over to help. Now that he could get a better look at her, he recognized her, having seen her around before. At one point, she used to ride everyday. Then she had stopped coming for a while and, when she returned, she no longer rode. He had heard there had been some sort of horse riding accident, although he hadn't exactly probed for details, but had rather let it be. He smiled small at her when she began helping.

"Nah, I know, I've done this before," he said with a slight shake of his head. "They're just kids. My little sister would probably do the same thing."

Ty could tell she was keeping one eye on something behind him, and he turned slightly to see Red still tugging slightly on his leadrope.

"Don't worry about him," he said, capturing her attention again. "He's a little high-strung, but he's fairly harmless. He loves attention, believe it or not," he added, dropping the last brush into the kit and straightening up, holding it in one hand. He had known Red ever since he was 7 months- he was now almost 3- and had helped train him. The owner of the stables had promised that if she ever needed to sell him, he would be the first one she told.

"I'm Ty," he said, offering his free hand out to her to shake.





Word Count: 264 words.