30 Day Image Prompt Competition - August

Day 3 Prompt 1 - The Friend

He’d gotten mud on his scooter coming up the path but he didn’t care. He’d not brushed his hair that morning but he didn’t care about that either. In fact, there was not a lot he did care about that morning. There was only one thing he cared about today, his one and only friend who had always been there for him.

“Brought you an apple,” he said in a soft voice as he approached the wire fence.

A velvet muzzle reached through the fence to his outstretched hand, warm breath fanning over his fingers before soft lips removed the apple from his grasp. He smiled as he watched the apple disappear in a cacophony of crunching.

“Don’t know if you’ll get one tomorrow. It won’t be me coming to see you. I’ve got to go with my mum today. We’re going to our new home.” He clenched his jaw against the sobs that threatened to break free from his rigid control. A shaky hand caressed to soft skin of the horse’s muzzle, revelling in the velvety feel of the skin beneath his hand.

He stepped closer to the horse inhaling deeply of the horse’s natural aroma and the sweet smell of the hay that clung to him. They were odours as familiar to him as his mother’s perfume or the scent of bread baking in their small kitchen. For the past twelve months these items had been a reassuring constant in his life and now they were breaking apart. He wondered whether his life would ever be the same again.

The horse gave him a gentle nudge, the liquid brown eyes meeting his gaze without question or judgement over what was going to happen. A faint smile lit his face as he scratched the horse’s forehead, knowing that he loved it when someone did that for him. “My mum says there’s a big garden at the new house with lots of room to run and play. Wish we had room for you.”

Standing by the fence, the horse listened as he voiced his worries about this new twist on his future. He’d wanted to talk to his mother, but she had been so busy supervising the packing of their possessions and worrying that everything would be alright in the move. He didn’t want to give her more to worry about but he just wished that someone would sit down and listen to him for a few minutes.

“I wish you could talk. Then you could tell me that everything was going to be okay, like my mom does. Although, I think I’d like you to be honest with me. My mom tells me that it will be okay so that I won’t worry. But I do and that’s why I like talking to you. I can tell you how I feel and you listen to me.”

The horse snorted as though in agreement with him. Those all seeing eyes stayed focused on him, their calm depths soothing his troubled soul. He always felt better when he came up to the stables. He was out of his mother’s way when she was hurrying about the house, trying to sort out several jobs at the same time. He knew that she loved him, worried over him at times, but recently she had been distracted by what had been happening in her life and his to some extent.

“Mum says we’re going to live in a bungalow, whatever one of those is. She said it’s big like the garden and that I’ll have my own bathroom.” He leant against the horse’s neck, closing his eyes as he let his senses paint the picture of the horse. “Mum said that someone new would be looking after you. I heard Mr Brent say that they were taking you to their stables. I hope you like your new home.”

He stroked his hand along the horse’s neck, feeling the power beneath the silken skin. He wondered whether he would like their new home, whether his mother would feel like she could sit back and relax in this new place. She had been doing so much rushing around and worrying over every aspect of their life that she seemed to stop enjoying life. She had even stopped baking as often which had been a strong indicator of how upset she had been.

A horsebox turned up the road to the stables, followed by their minivan. It was time for the both of them to leave for their new homes. His throat tightened against the tears welling up inside of him. His hand, so small and pale against the darkness of the horse’s neck, clenched in the shaggy mane in one last attempt to keep them together.

“Bye, Bramble,” he whispered, his voice thick with unshed tears. “I’ll miss you.” He scooped up his scooter from where it had fallen and began the slow walk down the track to the stable yard. His body was rigid as he fought against turning around and returning to Bramble’s side, to the safety and security his quiet friend offered him.

“Ready?” his mother smiled down at him as he reached her. She was wearing his favourite t-shirt of hers, one with horses running through the water, and her pair of slim fitting jeans with the butterflies stitched on the pockets. She hadn’t worn those clothes for months, not since it had happened.

“Ready,” he replied in a quiet, flat voice devoid of emotion. He was determined to be strong for her, to not show her just how much he didn’t want to move away.

“Good, we have quite a drive to do.”

“Why are we moving, Mommy? Why can’t we stay here?”

His mother looked down at him, seeing the conflict in his eyes. He had been through so much, she thought to herself, struggled against the challenges they had encountered without a word of complaint passing through his lips. She looked back to the minivan before deciding that honesty was the best policy here.

“You know how Grandpa John lives in a house with only one level?” At his nod she continued. “Well, we needed a house with just one level so Grandpa John invited us to come and live with him.”

“Why did we just need one level?” he asked, wondering if this was what a bungalow was.

“So that I can spend some time with my favourite little man.”

He whipped around at sound of the voice he had not heard for months. A smile lit up his face like a lantern when he saw his father get slowly out of the minivan. With a choked cry he raced across the yard and flung himself into his father’s waiting arms. “How?” he whispered against his father’s broad chest.

The hospital said if I could find somewhere flat to live then they would release me as a day patient until I’ve got the hang of these new legs.” His father looked down at his feet where the bottom of his artificial legs could be seen. “Grandpa’s offer to us was just what I needed.”

Suddenly the prospect of moving did not seem as daunting as it had that morning. Their lives had been so empty since his father had been admitted to the VA hospital to recover from the injuries he had sustained in the Gulf.

“I love Grandpa,” he whispered as he hugged his father again.

“Grandpa loves you, as well,” his mother added as she joined them. “In fact, you know how Grandpa has a very large garden at his house?”

He nodded, thinking that Bramble would love a large garden to wander around in.

“Well, Grandpa thought you’d like a friend to come and stay with us.”

“A friend?” he questioned not daring to hope about what his mother was hinting at. He watched as Bramble was led towards the horsebox that had parked up next to the minivan. “A friend like Bramble?”

His mother nodded and then wiped at the tears that trickled down her face as her son hugged both his parents tightly before racing across the yard to hug the patient pony. She had had to make so many tough decisions over the past year, many on her own without the support of her husband who had been fighting his own battles. She had worried about the effect everything was having on her son an whether she had been doing the right thing for him. Looking at him now, though, she knew that the hardest decisions sometimes reaped the greatest rewards and if saying goodbye to her friends and family meant that they could all live happily together then she would do it all again without hesitation.

“Let’s hit the road,” she called out to him before turning to help her husband back into the minivan.

“Okay!” Small, skinny arms hugged the graceful arch of the horse’s neck as he pressed his lips to the warm skin. “Thank you Bramble,” he whispered. “See you at our new home.”

The horse snorted and snuffled at his pockets in search of another apple. The boy laughed, a cheerful sound that warmed the hearts of the watching adults. “When we get home,” he promised before returning to the minivan and climbing inside behind his father. He watched as Bramble was loaded into the horsebox, feeling as though he had received all the birthday and Christmas presents he could ever want in one go.

Life was perfect. He had everything he could ever want around him and nothing could dampen his mood now. He was even looking forward to the move to a new home, especially now that his friend was coming with him.