The rise and fall of Casey Woodland

Chapter One Oh, how we've improved

"The last contestant for the day, Casey Woodland riding Casper, The Ghost of the Blue Storm," the Commentator calls through the microphone. Urging Casper into a canter, I turn him out of the warm up arena and towards the starting box. Once we are in the starting box I salute the judges, they nod in return and the buzzer goes off signifying that the clock has started. Precisely I turn him towards the first jump, a coffin.

A few jumps later. My heart rate raises slightly as I remember the water jump spread coming up. Quickly, I flick a look at my watch. Seeing I still have plenty of time for where I’m at in the course, but I still silently beg for Casper to not refuse the jumps. As I approach the complex I feel Casper emotionally turn to me for advice. Silently, I assure him and we tackle the first jump without any problems. Casper and I rise for the next jump.

Five years earlier.

"Casey," my boyfriend Jake calls across the courtyard of our highschool.

"Yeah," I reply.

"I heard you've got a riding lesson this afternoon at my riding club, care if I tag along?"

"Yeah, you can come," I say. "I could use some support." I haven't ridden since I moved Caramel Chocolate to a different riding club stables and I’m feeling a little bit nervous. Tracy’s known for being hard on her students.

Later that afternoon.

"Heels down, back straight, head up, tighten that leg, give him more of his head," my coach Tracy is telling me from the sidelines. "Casey, you should know this," Tracy yells. Cautiously I improve my posture and start posting to Caramel Chocolates short bouncy trot. “Come on you’ve been riding for all thirteen years of your life, you can do better than this,” Tracy calls. She keeps throwing insults at me but I know it’s uncommon for her to compliment riders unless they win a five star grand prix show jumping competition.

“Okay, time to work on your balance,” Tracy instructs. “Stirrups up.”

“Oh no,” I think to myself. I ease Caramel to a stop and slip my feet out of the stirrups. Gently, I lift them onto the pommel of the saddle. “Okay good, now two point,” Tracy calls. Slowly I give Caramel his head and he speeds up to a canter. I rise into the two point position and hold there until Tracy tells me to go over the cavaletti. I do as I am told, and Tracy changes the cavaletti for an oxer. Not a very high oxer but an oxer all the same.

Ten oxers and a few verticals later.

My legs are jelly and Caramel’s tired. “Here, I’ll untack him, you get some rest, Jake says

Later that month.

“Hey Jake,” I say into the phone.

“Hey,” he replies.

“Happy birthday Jakey,” I hear a voice say in the background.

“Who’s that?” I ask.

“Oh just a friend of mine,” Jake replies.

“What? I thought you loved me,” I hear the girl say in the background.

“WHAT?” I yell into the phone, “are you cheating on me?”I ask.

“No there's been a misunderstanding, I think you have the wrong number,” Jake says, obviously trying to hide something. I hang up and sit there with tears streaming down my face. I grab a jumper and run outside. I sprint to Jakes house and his mum greets me at the door. “Are you okay Casey?” she asks. I nod but I can tell she can see straight through, I’m broken. I turn and run to Jake's room. Opening the door my heart breaks to see Jake standing there, kissing my best friend. “How could you do this to me?” I ask with tears streaming down my face. “Oh, is Casey wasey sad, poor you,” Sophie says with mock sympathy. “Casey, I’m sorry, I stopped loving you a while ago now,” Jake says. “I hate both of you,” I sob. I run out of Jake's room and push past his mum who is standing outside of Jake's room confused at what's going on. I run home and spend the rest of the day lying on my bed crying.

The next week.

“What’s up with you Casey?” Tracy asks. “You’re not focused today, put Caramel Chocolate away for today, be more focused tomorrow.” Later that evening. Slowly I creep up to the back doors of the riding stables. I jump and throw a jersey over the security camera. I grab the bobby pin out of my pocket and pick the lock. The alarm goes off but I quickly type in the password to turn it off. Quietly, I walk down the corridor to Caramels stall. “Hey boy,” I whisper. I clip on his lead rope and lead him to the cross ties. I tie him up and walk towards the tack room. I gently lift his saddle and bridle off their hooks. Walking back to Caramel I tack him up and lead him to the indoor arena.

I swiftly mount him and start warming him up. Once he is warmed up I dismount and bring the jumps, that are currently sitting at the outside of the arena, to the middle of the arena and construct a small course. I quickly mount Caramel again and then start towards the jumps. At the ascending oxer I feel Caramel tense up. We have never jumped this bigger spread or this high before. Caramel rises but his hooves nick the first pole, he freaks out and I get thrown forward. It all happens really fast. Caramel squeals and the ground rushes up to meet me. Then I feel a sharp pain all along my left side, and then everything goes black.

“Casey, Casey, wake up,” the voice I never want to hear again says. My eyes slowly open to show a very sad looking Jake. “Leave me alone,” I whisper.

“Don’t worry Casey, helps coming,” Jake says. I can tell he’s been crying. “I’m sorry for everything Casey,” he says crying. I feel a tear drop onto my side. He touches my arm and I wince. “I’ll never forgive you,” I say and I feel the tears coming. I will NEVER ride again I promise myself.

The wailing of the ambulance breaks the silence. Jake tries to stay with me but I said that I don’t want him near me. My parents meet me at the hospital and I can hear them crying and my dad saying, “I knew riding was too dangerous.” The doctors put a mask over my face and everything goes black again.

Beep, beep, beep, beep. “Arghhh what is that annoying sound?” I think to myself. I open my eyes and see Jake, my mum and my dad all sitting around my bed. My left leg is being held up on a brace and my left arms in a cast.Broken In more ways than one

Sitting on my bed with my left leg and arm in a cast I think over what has happened over the past few days and what my life has become. Why did Jake cheat on me? Why did I break into the stables? What was Jake doing there? Why does he still care? Why did I attempt that jump? Why this? Why that?

I take a deep breath and reassure myself that I was doing what I thought was right. Knock, Knock. “Who's there?” I ask. Jake opens the door. I see he's holding flowers. I glare at him. “Go away, go kiss your new GIRLFRIEND,” I growl angrily. He was the start of all of my problems. “I told you, I’m sorry,” Jake says near to tears.

“I don’t need your sympathy,” I growl. “Go away.”

After Jake leaves me alone I read the letter he wrote. It says, ‘You suck at everything, even killing yourself. My mum told me to be nice to you, I’ve been taking acting sessions but I still want to be your friend. I'm sorry for crying. I was crying because Sophie broke up with me. I love it that you've stopped riding, you're banned from the stables any way. Tracy misses yelling at you and she blames herself that you tried to killing yourself. From your ex Jake Manning.

'WHAT, I didn't try killing myself' I think angrily. 'I was just going to practice because I was dropping my game.'

I get up and start down the stairs. I walk slowly towards the stables and request for Tracy at the reception. When Tracy comes around the corner and sees it's me she says, "You, girl, have some explaining to do."

We walk into her office. "Come on we don't have all day, I have a lesson to teach," Tracy instructs.

"Well, you see my ex boyfriend Jake cheated on me last week with my ex best friends Sophie, so my mind was in other places, so I thought, 'well I obviously need to improve,' so I broke into the stables at night and practiced… Maybe a little too hard," I tell Tracy the whole story.

"But Jake told me you sedated Copper and rode Caramel Chocolate at that jump to hide the evidence".

"The only horse I touched that night was Caramel Chocolate," I replied, hurt that Jake did such a thing.

"It’s Ok, I believe you," Tracy says.

"Jake told me that I'm banned from the stables, it doesn't bother me though, I've given up riding for good," I say, telling Tracy my plans for the future in riding, nothing.

"No, you can't quit, you're not banned, you're one of our best riders, I know you had an injury but you can't quit, you CAN'T,"Tracy says.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you but I don't know, I only brought struggle and pain onto everyone," I say sadly.

Three months later. My mum drives me to the hospital to get my arm cast changed. I recognise Sophie's parents car and roll my eyes. Mum and I walk through the doors of the hospital and I see Sophie standing there smirking. I look in the opposite direction. The nurse leads me to a room and tells me to wait for the doctor so he can take some x-rays once my cast is off. The nurse comes back in with a doctor by her side. “Hold still,” the nurse says. As she cuts through the plaster on the cast I wonder what life would have been like if I hadn’t said ‘Yes’ to Jake last year. “Ok, now we’ll take an x-ray and we’ll see how your arm’s healing.

The nurse and doctor leave the main room to a smaller side room and I hear the whizz of the x-ray machine. After the whizzing stops Sophie walks into the room. She grabs my arm and twists it and then I hear a snap. Pain shoots through my body. Arghh!!! I scream. I hear the whizzing again and Sophie rushes out of the room.

I hear the doctor and the nurse talking, slightly muffled by the wall standing in between us. “How is this possible?” the doctor says.

“In this x-ray her arm’s healing perfectly fine, but in the second one it looks like the newly healed bone has snapped again,” the nurse agrees.

“Casey,” the doctor says when he walks back into the room. “Do you know anything about this?”

“Yes,” I reply. “A person from school came after you took the first x-ray, she broke my arm again.”

“Is that why we heard you scream?” The nurse asks.

“Yes,” I say.

“What was the person's name,” the doctor asks.

“Sophie, Sophie Phoebe,” I reply, snitching on my ex best friend. The nurse looks at the doctor with complete horror etched on her face. “Call the police,” she orders.

A few hours later.

After the whole police thing calmed down I arrive home and sit on my bed reassuring myself that quitting riding was the right decision.

I told you, Never Again

Two years later.

I always dread the walk home from school. I have to walk past my childhood. Past the place where I made the three worst decisions of my life. The stables. My parents sold Caramel Chocolate soon after my accident. The stables is where I had my accident, it’s where Jake asked me out three years ago and I said yes, and it’s where I made the decision to never ride again.

I see Jake walking the opposite direction and glare at him. Even to this day I still haven't forgiven him, or Sophie for that matter for what they did to me.

I glance wistfully at the stables. 'Maybe just one visit, to see the new riders,' I think to myself. Crossing the road I recognise Peter's car. I take a deep breath as I walk through the doors of the stables.

"Alan, Peter, what are you guys doing here?" I ask surprised to see them here.

"Casey, I didn't know you were into horses," Peter says clearly as surprised to see me as I am to see him.

"Do you ride?" Alan asks.

"Not anym," I start.

"She was a great rider," a voice behind me says.

"Tracy," I say turning around her.

"Was? What do you mean was?" Peter asks. Tracy gives me one of her, 'go on, you tell them,' looks.

"Well," I start. "It would be easier if I showed you as I'm telling you." For the next hour or so I show the boys and kind of act out the story.

"Wow," Peter says once I finish. "I bet you're still a great rider," he says complimenting me, making me blush a little. "Go on," Tracy says, making me jump. "Get back in the saddle," she says, commenting the most common riding phrase in the book.

Half an hour later.

After a lot of persuading and me saying 'But I promised myself, never again,' Peter asks. "Do you need a leg up?"

"No, I'm good thanks," I reply. Swiftly I mount Bambo, Peter's 17hh standardbred cross. "Take it easy Casey, I don't want you to get hurt on your first ride back," Tracy calls from the sidelines. "Ok, take it at your own pace but I want you jumping by the end of this lesson, we have two years of practice to catch up on," Tracy teases.

I gently ease Bambo into a walk and soon after a trot. Not even ten minutes into the lesson I take my first canter in over two years. Tears of joy and happiness run down my cheeks. I flick my eyes to the sidelines and see Alan and Peter standing there in complete and utter shock. I turn Bambo towards the 85cm vertical. We tackle it with complete ease.

A few tiring jumps later.

I dismount and fall straight into Peter's arms. "Should I take Bambo and untack him and stuff?" I ask.

"No, you've had an hour long lesson, you're tired, probably exhausted and you have school tomorrow," Peter says, listing all of the reasons why I'm not allowed to do any of the dirty work.

When I turn to leave the indoor arena I see a figure standing at the door. Peter and I walk towards the door hand in hand. I see the figure look down at our hands and back up. They start backing away when they see that I've seen them.

"I'll help," I tell Peter. "There's something about that story that I haven't told you about, and… well you deserve to know," I confess.

We turn the corner to see Jake standing at Bambo's stall. "Hey babe," Jake says when he sees Peter and I still holding hands. Peter looks from me to Jake and back to me. " What?" Peter says close to tears.

"It's not what you think it is," I reply angrily. "Jake and I were together two years ago until he cheated on me with my best friend," I say telling Peter the very last truth about my past.

“Oh, so he's your ex?" Peter asks.

"Yes, and he is the reason for my accident," I reply.

I arrive home and my parents are arguing. Again. They seem to never stop arguing these days. I turn and walk up the stairs to my room. Once in my room I let my mind wander.

"I need to tell you guys something," Alan says worriedly.

"Ok," I say.

"Go on," says Peter.

"Um, I'm gay," Alan admits quietly.

"That's ok," I tell Alan.

"We still think of you as a really cool friend," Peter adds.

Peter turns to me. "Um, Casey, could you, um, would you like to go on a um, date with me maybe?" Peter asks, clearly tripping over his words.

Happy tears spring to my eyes. "Of course I'll go on a date with you Peter," I reply, and then my memory of Jake pops into my head. 'But he's not Jake' I tell myself. 'We were good friends before we got together, he's not gay, my best friends a guy that's gay so he can't do that to me, can he?' Worries flood my head and Peter gives me a weird look. I reach out and hug Peter, thankful that he saved me from the abyss that my heart was floating in.

Later that night.

Jolting awake I wonder what woke me up, it all comes flooding back to me. Peter cheating on me with Alan. I cringe to think about it. Grabbing my sneakers and a jumper I open my window. I jump out of my window and turn towards Peter’s house. Once I reach Peters house I see movement in his room through the curtain. Panic sinks in. I run around the back of the house and to the back door. I reach under the doormat and pull out the key. Unlocking the door I try to convince myself that this is just a dream. Once the door is open I turn in the direction of the stairs. Running up the stairs I turn left. Taking a deep breath I open the door.

“Peter, I think I should go soon,” a girl whispers.

“No Emily, stay a little longer,” Peter replies.

I see Peter and the girl Emily move to the opposite of the room. I creep towards the window. It opened, luckily without creaking. Taking a deep breath I jump. I scream as I fall. Luckily, I land on a tramp.

You’re not the first to do this to me

The next day after school. I stop by the stables to see if I can get just one more free lesson from Tracy. While I’m talking to Tracy I hear Peter’s voice behind me, and the girls voice from last night. “Excuse me,” I say to Tracy and turn my heel and walk in the direction of their voices. I round a corner and see them hold hands. “Um, what is this?” I ask from behind them. Peter and the girl Emily turn around. The second Peter sees me he drops her hand. “Oh, Casey,” Peter says.

“Don’t, oh Casey, me, I know you’re cheating on me,” I say accusingly. “I was the one who broke into your house last night, and saw you cheating, and jumped out of your window,” I pause to let the information sink in. “You know what Peter, you’re not the first one to do this to me.” I turn and walk away before Peter can get a word out of his idiotic mouth.

Later that evening.

“Casey, come down stairs please,” my mum calls from the kitchen.

“Coming,” I call back. I jog down the stairs. Once I get to the kitchen I immediately realise somethings wrong. “Casey, you know how your mother and I have been arguing a lot recently,” my dad says. Dread fills me.

“Well your father and I have agreed that we need some time away from each other for a bit,” my mum finishes. Tears spring to my eyes. I turn and run back up stairs. I sprint into my room and close the door behind me. I pinch myself to make sure that this is not a dream. This hurts more than my second or even my first break up. I rummage through my drawers and pack myself an overnight bag. Taking a deep breath I creep down stairs and sneak outside. I run to the stables and from there to Tracy’s house.

Knock, knock. Tracy answers the door. “What do you want?” Tracy asks before she realises it’s me and sees that I've been crying. “Come in Casey,” Tracy says gently. Once I’m inside I tell Tracy the whole story. "Can I stay for a while?" I ask.

“Sure stay for as long as you like,” Tracy replies.

“Thanks,” I say gratefully. Tracy leads me to one of the spare bedrooms.

“You can stay in here for as long as you need,” Tracy says kindly. “I’ll be two doors down if you need me,” As Tracy walks away I unpack my small overnight bag.

The next morning.

I run home and grab my uniform and a set of clothes for riding this afternoon. I also grab all of my school supplies, my phone charger and my laptop. I grab my wallet and look at the picture of me riding Caramel Chocolate. Tears spring to my eyes as I wonder where he is now. Turning away I run back to Tracy’s house just in time for breakfast.

After breakfast I run to the room I’m staying in and quickly get changed into my uniform. Soon I’m off to school and dreading the day ahead. Once I get to school I see Alan talking to Peter. Alan waves but can see something’s wrong. He looks between Peter and I and can immediately tell that something happened between us, but he can’t tell what. “Hey, Casey,” Peter says, acting nice, but you could cut the tension with a knife. “I don’t want to talk to you Peter,” I say bitterly.

“Are you okay Casey,” Alan asks. “Because you don’t really seem like the person to cheat.” Peter smirks but Alan doesn’t see. “Alan can I talk to you for a bit,’ I say. He nods as we start to walk and Alan signals for Peter to follow. “Alone,” I say. He nods again, this time looking confused. As we walk I explain the whole thing about Peter and I from my point of view. I stop walking and look at Alan,“You don’t have to believe me Alan, but I’m the one telling you the truth.”

“It’s not just Peter, is it, there’s something else, isn’t there,” Alan says softly.

I look down. “Yeah, you’re right,” I sigh. Alan looks at me waiting for me to go on. “ My parents are splitting up,” I say, trying to hold back tears.

“Are you telling me the truth about Peter, or are you just trying to find someone to blame,’ Alan asks.

“I already told you, you don’t HAVE to believe me, but I am telling you the truth, he DID cheat on me, I even know the girl's name, it’s Emily,” I say, my voice rising slightly out of annoyance.

“Emily?” Alan asks before saying. “She’s my cousin, she wouldn’t do something like that on purpose, maybe she didn’t know Peter had another girlfriend?.” My jaw drops in horror. “Does she ride?” I ask.

“Yes, of course,” Alan replies.

“I’ll see if I can find her after school today,” I say.

“She won’t know you so I’ll come as well,” Alan adds.

“After school at 4:00?” I ask.

“Sure,” Alan says.

For the rest of the day I tried to avoid Peter and hang out with Alan as much as I can planning on how we can tell Emily this afternoon. “How about we just wing it?” Alan asks.

“Yeah, we should do that, otherwise we’ll be tripping over our words trying to remember what to say and Emily won’t believe us.

Survivor

After school has finished.

As I walk towards the spot where Alan and I planned to meet up I see that he is talking to a girl. As I approach them I hear Alan say, “I have a friend who can explain everything, she should be here soon, don’t worry Emily.”

“Alan,” I call out.

“Here she is,” Alan says to Emily.

“She’s a stalker, Peter told me,” Emily says.

“No, her name is Casey and she is the girl Peter cheated on to be with you, Peter lies a lot,” Alan says.

“Oh,” Emily says. “I’m sorry Casey, Peter seemed so nice and he said he was single,” Emily says to me.

“It’s ok, I just want you to know, in the past two year of my life I have had two people cheat on me, Peter and a guy called Jake, I have had a really bad fall off a horse, so bad I quit riding for two years, I have had my parents split up and so I’m a mess, I know this isn’t your fault Emily, it’s Peters, he lied to you, he’s the one who made you think you were lucky, that you were special, when he was only going to play you in the end,” I say. Emily starts crying.

“I hate boys,” she says.

Alan leaves us so that we can talk and get to know each other.

“So, what school do you go to?” I ask.

“Colomen College” she says mentioning the private school that I had had the option to go to. “You?” She asks.

“Wayman Highschool,” I reply. “I had the choice to go to Colomen but my boyfriend at the time was going to go to Wayman and so was my best friend at the time so I didn’t want to restart making friends if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I only moved here last year and Alan said that there was heaps of drama at Wayman and I don’t like drama so I chose to go to Colomen.”

“Well, he wasn’t wrong about the drama,” I agree.

“Who knows, maybe I’ll have to move in with whichever one of my parents is leaving,” I say sadly.

“Yeah, sorry about everything, Peter and all,” Emily says quietly, so quietly it was almost a whisper.

“Who knows maybe I’ll get to stay, maybe I’ll be allowed to go to Colomen next year,” I say my voice full of wonder. We exchange numbers and I make the short walk back to Tracy’s to grab something to eat and to see if she has some riding gear in my size.

“This should fit, and I’ll allow you to ride Flayme, oh and check on Bluebell while you’re over there, she’s due any day now,” Tracy says. I put the jods and the riding boots in my backpack. On my way out I grab a pair of chaps. I jog all the way to the stables and once I arrive there jog down the corridor to Bluebells stall.

She is lying on her side breathing deeply. Quickly, I pull my phone out of my pocket and call Tracy. “It's happening,” I say urgently. Once I hang up I call Emily and ask if she wants to see a foal being born. Of course she does. By the time Tracy has everything ready Emily has arrived and Bluebell has already started giving birth. “Call the vet, quick,” Tracy orders. I pull my phone out and make one last call.

The vet arrives quickly and tells Emily and I to look away. “She won’t make it,” the vet says sadly. “We can still save the foal though?,” Tracy asks.

“Yes, the foal is saveable,” the vet says.

Half an hour later.

“What should we call him?” I ask Tracy.

“You can name him, but his nickname will be survivor,” Tracy says.

“Why can I name him?” I ask.

“Because Casey, if you hadn’t checked Bluebell before your ride then they would both be dead,” Tracy says. “I would give him to you but Bluebell wasn’t my horse so I’ll have to ask the owners, I don’t think they’ll be too happy about her death but we’ll take each bridge one at a time.”

Tracy leaves to go ready a bottle for the foal while Emily and I sit on the straw. Every time the foal whinnies for his mother tears sting my eyes. “I rode Bluebell once,” Emily says close to tears. “She was a dream to ride.” Tracy returns and she looks stressed. She hands me a bottle and says, “The owners of Bluebell are coming soon, they want to meet you Casey, they want to make sure the foal’s going to be fine if they give him to you,” Tracy says, stress dripping from her voice.

“I think I’ll call him Casper because he is the ghost of his mother,” I tell Emily. I call him by his new name and he responds with another whinny. “Hey boy, do you want some milk?” I ask, trying to interact with him as much as possible. He stands after falling over many times. As he walks towards my voice I dribble a little bit of milk onto my hand and hold it out to his muzzle. He licks it up and whinnies again. I dribble a little bit more on my hand and then place the nozzle of the bottle on my palm. Within seconds he’s taking his first drink of milk of his life, from me.

You’re good with horses

After Casper finished his milk he started whining and running around the stall. I laugh as he comes up to me and walks over my lap. I hear three separate voices coming my way but I keep playing with Casper. As the people approach he skampers to the door of Bluebells stall. “There is a horse in there you liar,” I hear a female voice say.

“That's the foal and Casey might still be in there,” Tracy replies. I walk to the door and unlock it. I step out and carefully shut the half door behind me. I check to make sure Casper hasn’t escaped, he hasn’t. He looks at me wondering what’s going on.

“Casey, have you named him yet,” Tracy asks once they get close enough to Bluebells stall. “I have,” I reply.

“What did you end up calling him?” Tracy asks almost completely ignoring the people that she had been talking to moments earlier. “Casper,” I reply.

“He has amazing showing potential, and you call him Casper,” the woman says.

“Yes ma’am, I called him Casper because in the short time that I knew Bluebell, I saw that she was a fighter and she was bold but couldn’t care less when she needed to, she knew her time was almost up and she let death grip her but not pull her down, I called him Casper because he is that ghost of his mother, Bluebell,” I say telling the rude woman exactly why I called her mares foal Casper.

“Casey, do you know Stacy Rodgers?” Tracy asks.

“Not very well but I know of her,” I reply.

“Well, this is Catlyn and Johnny Rodgers, Stacy’s parents, and also the owners of Bluebell,” Tracy explains.

Johnny holds his hand out for me to shake and I do. “You seem good with horses Casey,” Johnny says.

“Thanks,” I say and then a thought strikes me. ‘Johnny and Catlyn Rodgers, the world famous dressage and cross country riders.

“What's your last name Casey,” Catlyn asks.

“Woodland,” I reply.

“How would you like to keep Casper?” Johnny asks. “He seems to have taken quite a liking to you Casey.”

“I would love to, but I will have to ask my parents, you see my last horse was sold because I had a bad fall and gave up riding for two years.

“Mum, Dad,” I hear a male voice say from further down the hallway.

“Yes Cameron,” Catlyn says.

“Where are you guys?” Cameron asks.

“At Bluebells stall,” Johnny replies to his son. Soon a blonde boy with blue eyes rounds the corner and sees us all standing here.

Cameron's point of view.

One hour earlier. Ring, ring, ring. “Yes,” my mum answers the phone. “Oh, well is she okay?, Oh no, how did that happen, Okay, is the foal Okay?, Phew that’s a relief, Johnny and I will be over as soon as we can.”

“Mum, what happened,” I ask.

“Cameron, find Stacy, as soon as you go to the stables everything should be self explanatory but if not your Tracy, your dad and I will explain everything.

I sigh and walk up stairs to Stacy’s room and knock on the door. “Stace, we have to go to the stables, something’s happened but I don’t know what,” I call to my little sister.

“Just a sec,” she replies. She opens the door. “Right let's go,” she says. I roll my eyes at her. I jog down the stairs with Stacy following closely behind. We run down the road and we’re soon at the stable entrance.

“Mum, Dad,” I call

“Yes Cameron,” my mum replies.

“Where are you guys?” I ask.

“At Bluebells stall,” dad replies. As soon as I round the corner my eyes are caught by a beautiful girl with dirty blonde hair, green eyes and a tall slender body. “Cameron, meet Casey Woodland, thanks to her Bluebell’s foal is still alive, but sadly not Bluebell,” my dad says. I break my eyes away from the girl, Casey and look at my father. “You’ve got to be joking,” I tell my father, my face probably screaming that I'm freaking out.

“Do you want to meet Casper?” Casey asks.

“Sure,” I reply. I watch carefully as she opens the half door and giggles as something moves inside Bluebells stall. She shuts the door behind her and looks at me. “Come on,” she says.

I follow her into Bluebells stall and soon see a small overly excited foal jumping on Casey, desperately trying to push her over. “He’s cute,” I say. “Why did you name him Casper?” She explains to me why she named my horse’s foal Casper and then I look through my sorrow and I see the truth in what she is saying. “Dad says you’re good with horses, and that's why he wants to give Casper to you,” I tell Casey, she nods.

My past, My Nightmare

Casey's Point of view.

“Two years ago I had a really bad fall and I’ve only recently got back into riding,” I say.

“Oh, there has been a story that Tracy tells of an amazing rider that had a bad breakup with her boyfriend, dropped her game and wanted to improve so she snuck into the stables at night and had a bad fall, but whenever I asked Tracy what her name was she would never tell us,” Cameron says.

“I think Tracy was talking about me, you see two years ago my boyfriend at the time cheated on me, I had a riding lesson one week later, but I still wasn’t over him, my mind was elsewhere, Tracy gave up on my lesson and told me to put Caramel Chocolate away for the day, later that evening I broke into the stables and rode Caramel, we attempted a jump that cost me my career and Caramel his time with me, I gave up on riding after that, until I came to the stables not too long ago and Tracy my other ex Peter and my friend Alan persuaded me to ride again,” I tell Cameron the story of my past and how I’m the girl of the story.

Later that evening.

I walk into Tracy’s living room and see my mother sitting on a chair talking to Tracy. “What? You know what happened last time, I’m not having her ride again just to fall off or fall for a guy to get her heart broken again,” I hear my mother say.

“She is fully capable of looking after a foal, and it’s her fault not yours if she gets her heart broken again,” Tracy argues back. Then Tracy sees me and stops talking. “She’s here, have the argument with your own daughter Susan,” Tracy says menacingly. My mum clares at Tracy before turning around and facing me. “Let's talk about this at home,” My mum says standing up and walking towards the door. I shake my head.

“No mum, I’m not ready to go home yet,” I say defensively.

After my mum leaves Tracy’s house Tracy tells me that I probably should go home soon, but I refuse. “I’m not ready to face them yet,” I tell her.

“You won't have to face them both,” Tracy says.

“Yeah, but that's the hard part,” I sigh, “I have always thought I was the lucky one, that my parents would always find a way to be together, even I if it was just for me, I always thought I was luck, two years ago I had a loving boyfriend an amazing coach, an awesome horse, my parents were together, a really cool best friend and now the only thing I have is my coach, the rest has gone in two years.”

“You know what Casey, you can’t change the fact that your parents are splitting up, you’ll have to face it soon, you can’t live at Tracy’s forever,” Alan says the next day at lunch time. “I will, I’m just not ready yet,” I reply. Alan drops the subject, thankfully.

Once I get to Tracy’s house after school Tracy says, “Casey you should go home soon.” I shake my head and wonder how many people are going to say this to me. “I’ll go when I’m ready,” I reply for the second time that day. Sighing, I walk to my room at Tracy’s house and sit down on the bed. I get changed into riding gear and make my way to the stables.

“You should go home,” Emily says. I sigh and repeat the same thing for the third time that day. “I’ll go home when I’m ready Emily.” I walk past Emily and to Flayme’s stall. I tack up Flayme and lead him to the indoor arena. It's not until I have mounted him and I'm cantering around the arena, do I wonder why everyone is saying I should go home. “Maybe something’s happened and they want me to go see I think to myself. I make the decision to stop by at home after my ride.

After my ride.

Quickly, I run to Tracy’s after I fed Casper and get changed out of my riding clothes. After I’m changed I grab my phone and set off back to my house. Once I arrive at the doorstep of my house I take a deep breath and test the door to see if it's locked. It isn't. As I open the door it creaks, but no sound comes from inside. The second I see the state of the house it hits me, mum couldn't escape like I could… she is suffering the same as me, but all I do is try run from my problems. "Mum?" I call. No answer.

No tip for you

Slowly I walk through the rubbish and cringe when the smell of unwashed dishers hits me. I walk as quick as I can up the stairs and to my room. Everything was as I left it. "Casey?" I here mum ask behind me. "MUM" I say relief scarring my voice. I pull her into a hug. "I'm sorry you had to see the house like this…" mum sighs, "If you'd called ahead then I would have cleaned up."

"So I need to call ahead before I come home now?" I ask hurt crawling inside me.

"No, no, sorry, it's just…" mum trails off.

"I get it, it's ok," I reply.

Brrrr, brrrr, brrrr, brrrr. "Please pick up Emily," I think to myself. "What's up, you ok?" I hear Emily's voice from my phone. "Ummm… I have a bit of a crisis here," I reply.

"O….k, well?" Emily asks.

"Mum took it worse then I did."

"You went home?" Emily asks, cutting me off.

"Yeah, the house is a tip, mum went to bed hours ago and all I've been doing is cleaning up her mess," I say, tiredness and emotion making my voice quiver.

"You want me to come help I'm guessing?"

"Mmhhhmm."

"I'll be over in five."

Knock, knock, knock.

"Emily? It's unlocked," I call from the kitchen while washing the dishes.

"Casey?" I hear Emily call.

"In the kitchen," I reply.

"Ok, what should I do?"

"Here you take over this and I'll start putting things away and sorting out the living room."

Three hours later.

With the kitchen and the living room tidied we could focus on the lounge and the upstairs rooms. Since mum had shut herself off from as much of the house as she could, the lounge was the tidiest of all of the rooms that I have seen since I came home.

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This is still a work in progress, but I'll add chapters whenever I can, which probably won't be that offer because of some life issues that I'm going through at the moment. Hope you liked it.

Horselover101