JULIET'S QUILL

CHAPTER 5: THE HORSE RIDE

Even how absurd it might sound, but I wanted everyone to know about the fact that I survived a bullet 30 minutes ago. But people were too busy in their evening chores to think about anything else. I entered the small door of the cheap basement pub, that I discovered on the way back to my apartment an year ago. It was a funny incident though. I lost the bet on a football match, and I owed Lucas a drink. So, I was taking him to my favorite beer place when we got mugged few streets away from there. Lucas tried to fight back, and he was knocked out by one of the large African Guy. I handed them my wallet without saying a single word, and literally dragged Lucas out of the blind street. I hated violence- all sorts of it. Even if I had the chance of hit one of them, I would have handed them my wallet and walked away. People would think of this as Cowardice, but trust me; it was a wise approach always. Lucas and I entered the first crowded place we could find as we were too 'shocked' to return back to our apartment. We had nothing left in our pockets, so we decided to sit there quietly in the corner till anyone noticed us. There was a person, named Louis Walton, he sent us complementary drinks. Before leaving the pub, he smiled and said that I owed him a drink some other day. But I had not seen him around after that day.

I stared at the wooden board of the "Royal Glass" as I entered through the door. The walls were a mixture of brownish-orange hues that glowed golden in the lights hanging from the rafters. The interior had a warm glow, a feeling of comfortable warmth that made me forget my worries for a while. I used to come here every single Saturday that was the time of the week when the pub had the largest Crowd. It made me disappear, even for a while but I felt good. Though it was nothing different from my normal life; I was invisible for the world for the rest of the week too.

I placed my Beer on the corner table and sat. I took out Juliet's diary from my coat pocket and placed it next to the glass too. I was interested in this stuff, but that was not the reason I carried this diary around all the time like an idiot. The problem was that it created a burden on my head like an unfinished piece of work. So, I wanted to read it and get rid of that feeling. This was one of the reasons why I didn't like reading books, as I had to finish them at every cost before starting any other work.

I opened the diary and started reading it,

May 17th, 1789

I never liked horse riding much after Lillian died, when I was 9. She was chestnut brown with a white Crescent on her head. Mother loved her too much, so did I. Lillian trusted us, but she never let papa come close to her. We went for horse riding twice a week, even after Mama died. But everything changed when she fell ill. May be, she missed Mother too much. She died leaving me all alone.

(I miss you, Mama. I seriously do)

But today, Abigail took me out in the meadows. Papa wasn't home, so she brought me out. She asked me to close my eyes, and when I opened them. I saw Lillian - same chestnut brown horse but without the crescent. She said that she brought her Nephew's horse for me, for today though. I ran towards him. (It wasn't Lillian, it was a HIM)

When we cantered through the meadows, I felt the most wonderful feeling- freedom.

It was said that riding the horse was like riding the sky. It felt so true. The horse started galloping faster and faster, and I felt a strange adrenaline rush. I was losing control. My left foot was stuck in the stirrups, and I couldn't even dismount. I was sure that I would break my neck and die today. I closed my eyes, and I heard a loud shout of Abigail.

"DISMOUNT THE HORSE"

(I had no idea why she was thinking that I never thought of dismounting.)