Forbidden Love

Chapter 15: One Night Getaway

Have you ever had a sense that you were trapped? Like you just wanted to go somewhere far away for just a little bit and not think or worry about anything? I was so scared someone else would walk in on us again and I wanted a little one night vacation.

“Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I just feel the need to escape for a little bit.”

“Name the place and I’ll take you there.”

I tried to recall everything I watched fly by from inside the car that lead me here.

I saw little houses, backyards, woods, one other castle, and… I thought even harder.

“Is there a beach not far from here?” I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the vision of rolling waves and white sand as we drove along.

“Ya, there’s one about 15 minutes up the road.”

“Perfect. Let’s go!” I grabbed his hand and ran out of the room and down the hall. Riley was in bit of a shock at first but he picked up his feet and ran beside me all the way to the front doors. When we pulled open the doors the cool nighttime breeze hit us. I closed my eyes and felt refreshed.

Down the stairs there was no limo waiting our arrival on the cobblestone road.

“How are we going to get there now?” I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. Almost as if on cue, a horse neighed loudly from our left. There amidst all the trees and green grass was a white picket fence. Just beyond the rolling pastures was a huge stable.  This time Riley grabbed my hand and we both dashed to the barn.

 The smell of hay was the first thing to hit me first, followed by the musky aroma of wood. The place had a warm feeling to it that brightened up the darkness outside. I would have thought the place would smell of sweat and have the stench of animal crap like most farms, but this place was nothing like it. As we passed stall after stall I peeked into each one. The hay on the ground was fresh and not a single speck of waste anywhere. These stables were 1st class. Even the horses seemed to like enjoy it by the soft swinging of their tails as they stuffed their faces into the feed happily. Even the occasional whinny seemed to not have the slightest note of discontent. Each horse was eating hay or feed as we passed, not even noticing our presence. As I walked right up against the stalls a head popped out from the one in front of me and I almost ran into it. It nickered at me and I stood frozen to the ground. It nickered louder and I could hear a hoof stamp onto the ground.

“She likes you.” Riley turned around and patted its head.

“How can you tell?” I stared in bewilderment at the creature. I knew what a horse was, but always admired them from afar. This was the closest I had ever been to one.

“She usually is so busy stuffing her face she never pokes her head out at anyway. Not even for me or the caretakers.”

“You’re just saying that.” At my voice the horse shook its head, making Riley move his hand away. It stopped and then stretched its neck even farther out towards me.

“Go on. Pet her.” Riley encouraged me.

I’m not going to lie, I was very nervous. I had never ever touched any sort of animal before. I never had a cat, a dog, a hamster, a bunny, and come to think of it, I never even owned a fish.

My hand shook as it slowly went in the horse’s direction. I scrunched my face up and squeezed my eyes shut as I turned most of me away except my hand. I paused right above its head. I could feel the heat coming off of it.  I was positive I did not move my hand an inch but suddenly I felt small hairs against my glove. I unscrewed my face and saw the horse waiting for me to move my hand up and down to pet it. She snorted contently.