The smell of smoke carried across the wind and filtered with the wind through the open bedroom window next to the three sleeping girls. All three of them were sprawled across the bed, they had fallen asleep while talking and the empty tubs of ice cream were resting on the bedroom floor.
Harper was the first to wake up, which was strange as she was a heavy sleeper, she groaned and sat up in the bed. A quick glance at her half-charged phone told her that it was three twenty-eight in the morning. As her senses returned to her slowly, she smelt the smoke on the air.
Puzzled, she walked over to the window and looked out. What greeted her was a sight that made her heart plummet through her body and her head spin slightly. There was a bright inferno of orange flames that were wrapped around the stables, "oh. My god!"
"Becky! Zoe! Wake up!" Harper yelled at them as she shook them on her way past, she ran down the hallway to her dad's room. She shook him harshly to wake him up and told him what was going on and to call the fire engines.
In the time that Harper had been talking to her dad, Becky and Zoe had run down the stairs and out the door and they were running as fast as they could to the back field of the stables. Harper followed closely behind them and adrenaline ran through her reins and woke her up.
They ducked under the gap in the fence and saw a few horses already out in the field, it was strange as they had been inside the stables that night. Harper's eyes frantically searched for Robin. She couldn't see him.
"Robin!" Harper shouted, deathly afraid.
The three girls called for their horses desperately, none of them were in the field. After a long, long minute, Raven galloped out of the yard and into the field. It was a relief to Zoe, but the other two girls were still terrified for their horses, at this point, lives.
"Robin!" Harper shouted; her voice strained with the panic that had started to envelop her every nerve ending. Maggie had woken up, along with Mia and Elliot. The panic in the small group amounted even higher when Mia screamed for Firefly, who was also not in the field.
"Ten horses, we're missing three." Maggie told Elliot after she had done a quick head count of all the horses, the horses that were outside of the stable were spooked and were pressed against the back fence.
"They must still be in the stables."
There were faint whinnies coming from inside the inferno, the flames were so bright that Harper could see it imprinted on the backs of her eyelids whenever she blinked. The fire rose higher as it swallowed their home, the place they loved. What were they going to do after this?
Harper couldn't lose Robin again; she didn't think she would be able to survive if she did.
Mia rushed closer to the fire and the other two girls followed after her, before they could get too close, their horses came out of the side entrance of the stables Firefly and Robin ran out first, closely followed by Bob.
Tears of relief streamed down Harper's face as Robin rushed towards her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sopped into his coat which smelt like a sickening kind of burnt wood. She quickly drew herself back and checked that there was no ash in his eyes and that he hadn't got any type of injury.
By a sort of miracle, he was only covered in ash and there were no injuries on him anywhere, there wasn't even any ash inside his eyes, only around.
The lights of the fire engine reflected over the grass of the back field; the firefighters had at last arrived. Although they came as fast as they could, Harper felt irritation in that they could have saved more of the stables if they had just arrived a little earlier.
"Bob must've done his party trick to unlock all the doors!" Becky exclaimed from where she was hugging Bob, the tears were evident in her voice. It made sense that Bob was the one to get them all out, he had released horses out of their stables before.
"He saved Firefly," The tears in Mia's voice were also very evident, it was also quite the turnaround from what she was saying last night, that she wanted Bob gone, "Bob's a hero Becky."
Harper forced herself away from Robin and let him walk closer to the other cowering horses, she made a quick head count of her own and saw that they were all there, thank God, "he saved all the horses."
The moment of relief was broken when Bob started to wheeze heavily, he dropped down onto his knees. The group watched in horror as Bob lay down onto the ground completely, breathing heavily, it sounded as though breathing pained him greatly. Becky collapsed down next to him, her tears were no longer of relief, rather fear, she asked Bob again and again what was wrong.
Everyone knew it wasn't good news, whatever was wrong.
Everything blurred together in the early hours of the morning, owners of horses were called to tell them that there had been a fire at Brightfields but all the horses were okay, some owners came down to check on horses themselves while others were too far away and chose to trust Maggie and Elliot to help take care of them.
The vet was called and the group that was there helped to construct a temporary tent around Bob as the sun just started to peak beyond the horizon, it always rose very early in the summer. It was hard to work in the dark, but as more light was given from the sun, they managed to construct the tent completely.
Becky was in the tent all morning with Harper and the vet, while they were in there, Zoe had gone and grabbed them some clothes that they could change into that were much warmer and better than their pajamas. Harper changed into the offered black leggings, shirt and hoodie. While Harper was changing in the trailer that they had managed to save, she noticed that it was Pin's hoodie that Zoe had brought for her, too tired to think of what Zoe was trying to say, Harper just slipped it on and took the other clothes to Becky.
Robin was anxious where he was pacing the other field, there was a pile of hay that had been far away from the smoke and water buckets for the horses, but none of them really had an appetite.
Harper walked back into the tent and knelt down next to Becky, where she had already been for most of the morning, "you should change, or you'll get sick."
Becky didn't say anything, she just continued to stroke through Bob's mane, and she shuffled on the horse rug that they were using as a blanket.
"Becky, if you get sick, you can't look after him." Harper bargained with her, "I'll watch him as close as I can, I swear it."
For a few moments, Becky didn't move, but then she stood up and took the clothes from Harper's outstretched palms. Becky left the tent but not with a long look towards Bob before so. Harper placed her hand gently onto Bob's neck in replacement of Becky's, it hurt so much to see Bob like this, she couldn't even imagine how Becky and Ben felt. If it were Robin, Harper would be absolutely heartbroken.
Once Becky came back, the girls sat with Bob for God knows how long, it must have been at least three hours. Slowly, the pair fell asleep. Becky was sprawled across Bob's back and Harper was rested on Becky's lap. The exhaustion of the morning caught up to them, they had only gone to sleep at around one in the morning and then had been woken up at three. That gave them a grand total of two hours sleep.
Harper woke up a couple of times when Maggie came in to check on Bob with the vet, they chose not to wake the two girls unless there was something wrong, allowing them to get their sleep.
A few hours later, Harper woke up completely. She sat up and tried to get the crick in her neck out before she stood up and moved the rug more over Becky so that she was warm. Harper sighed in sympathy as Bob continued to breath as well as he could, he had gotten a little better but not as much as they would like.
The sun glared into her eyes as she stepped outside, she probably looked like a mess. There was probably still ash on her face from both Bob and Robin, her clothes were already dirty, and her hair was tied back without being brushed. She looked around for a moment before she saw Mia and Marcus who were looking through tack, seeing what could be saved. The pile of unsavable things was giant compared to the other pile.
Harper saw her own tack in the unchecked pile and picked it up, the leather was melted through on her bridle and it seemed that her saddle had gotten some of the worst flames, burnt to a crisp. It now meant she had to replace all of her tack, jump boots, saddle pads, head collars and some of her spare riding gear. A lot of money was going to have to be spent, not just on replacing tack but also on repairing Brightfields.
"It's all ruined." Marcus sighed as he threw a few burnt bridles onto the pile.
Mia's eyes were rimmed with red as she spoke up, "all I wanted was to put this place on the map and now it's gone." Mia was also covered in ash, but less so than the others.
"We're all still here." Marcus comforted her.
Harper placed a few burnt saddle pads into a binbag, "and the horses are too, thank goodness."
"We don't have a stable, we don't have a trainer, we don't even have any tack." Mia was beyond comfort; the outlook was very bleak.
Harper's eyes snapped up from the saddle she was looking at, she saw two people ride into the field, when she looked closer, she saw that it was Pin and Gabby. They both had concerned looks on their faces as they checked over the agitated horses, they saw the three of them looking very tied on the hale bales they were sat on.
Pin dismounted quickly and faced the group, "how bad is it?"
Mia stood up and put the binbag onto the ground, "the tack room got the worst of it, clearly. All the horses are okay, apart from well..."
"Bob." Marcus and Harper said at the same time, Bob being in the state he was in caused everyone's spirits to decrease.
Pin's eye caught on Harper who was still throwing broken tack onto the pile, "going to be honest Pin, it's bad, really bad."
"Look, we want to help. We thought maybe the horses could come to Holloway." Pin suggested kindly, it was no secret that Holloway had more space than they knew what to do with as they took in very few students.
Mia looked over to Marcus and Harper with a disgusted look across her face, the rivalry between them was blinding Mia to what the horses needed. Harper was about to attempt to convince Mia before Gabby stepped in, "you can't leave them outside, they're anxious enough as it is."
"We've got food and fresh bedding." Pin chipped in.
Harper stood up to look Mia in the eye, "Mia please, for the horses."
"Absolutely not!" Mia's voice was close to a shout as she stormed towards what was left of the stables, she wasn't allowed to enter but she clearly just wanted to get out of the conversation. Marcus smiled at them before he ran to chase after Mia, if anyone could convince her, it would be Marcus.
Harper looked over to Gabby and Pin, "it's best if you tie them up while you wait, Marcus better do a bloody good job of convincing Mia or I am digging that girl a grave."
"She'd be a fool not to agree." Gabby spoke as Harper led them over to where was best to tie the two of them up, far enough away from the agitated horses and people trying to fix and salvage what they could.
As soon as Gabby walked away from Pin and Harper, Pin turned to her, "are you alright, you look exhausted."
Once Harper got started on a rant, she seemingly couldn't stop," I've been up from three this morning, I'm running on two hours of sleep and a nap, Robin's agitated and keeps lashing out to other horses and I've got a crick in my neck and- "
Harper quietened when Pin wrapped his arms around her waist, Harper stiffened for a moment before she buried her face into his neck and breathed out. Pin swayed them both gently in a gesture of comfort while Harper forced herself to hold back the tears that were slowly forming. Pin pressed a light kiss on to the top of her head.
Pin pulled back from the embrace and wiped away two tears that had escaped from Harper's eyes, "it's all going to be okay, little bird. I promise."
A rush of unwarranted affection flowed through Harper, it had been so long since he had called her that nickname and had spoken so softly to her, "I missed you."
A pained expression washed over Pin's face which escaped Harper's notice, Pin had pulled her back into a hug and her head was burrowed back into his neck, he honestly felt guilty about how he had been acting. He pressed another brief kiss to her head before he took her by the hand and led her gently over to Robin.
Marcus had finished talking to a resigned Mia, who had agreed to take the horses to Holloway to ensure that they were safe and cared for. They had scavenged around what remained of the stables to find any rugs to keep some of the more spooked horses calm on the walk over. Only four rugs were found, one was given to Raven, one to Firefly, one to a very young horse and one to Robin.
Before they put the rug on, they had to soothe Robin. He skirted around their touch for a few moments before he relaxed slightly, Pin held onto his lead collar and spoke softly to Robin as she put the rug over his back gently. Robin spooked slightly as she did up the straps underneath his belly, but he calmed almost instantly.
Harper unclipped him from the fence and joined the already departing ride as they started their walk towards Holloway. Robin pulled against Harper's grip whenever something spooked him slightly, which was made slightly easier as they were at the back of the ride. Pin was mounted beside them on Jet, who Harper made keep a fair distance from Robin.
The sun shone almost harshly down upon them as they walked, the weather was lovely which made a sharp contrast to the general mood of the group.
After what felt like hours with the very on-edge Robin, Harper's hands were rubbed almost red raw and when she took her hand away, she saw that there were parts of her skin that had rubbed off and some blood. She gritted her teeth and wrapped her hands firmly around the lead rope and fought with the last of her energy to stop Robin from bolting away.
Eventually, they reached the entrance of Holloway. Pin and Gabby led them into the main part of the yard, Gabby quickly instructed the grooms to get the spare stables ready and told the Brightfield's team to tie their horses up for now. She gave them a quick run-down of where everything they needed in the stables was and how to use it.
Harper was more used to extravagant stables than the others, however, the others weren't so used to it and it could take a little while for them to adjust. Holloway was state of the art, horse walkers, horse spa's, grooms and more. It was very similar to the Watford Academy, where Harper learned to ride and trained Robin.
"We're not in Brightfield's anymore, that's for sure." Zoe commented as she tied Raven's rope just a little too harshly onto the fence post, the stress of the day was moving easily into her actions now.
Marcus turned around to the group, "this is just until we get ourselves sorted." He reassured them as they congregated near the middle, the stables were almost fully set up and Gabby would be out to talk to them soon. People around the yard gave them sympathetic looks, no one would want to be in their position.
The momentary peace was broken when Callum walked into the yard, "what's going on?" The anger in his voice was very clear, it was also awkward as him and Susie had broken up and it was rumoured that Callum was already moving on.
Gabby and Pin then walked back into the yard, the stables were clearly ready, and they had come to tell them so. Gabby spoke up when she realised what was going on, "they need a place to stay."
"So? We don't have the space." Callum argued, with his arms crossed over his chest. He knew that there was space.
"We've found the space." Pin spat as he walked past Callum and towards the group.
Callum left with a huff so Pin and Gabby, along with Alex, explained how things worked around the stables. Marcus left with Alex to sort out the food chart for the horses while Pin and Gabby started to show people where their horses stables were.
Harper waited for a few minutes until Gabby walked up to her and led her towards where Robin's new, temporary, stable was. She looked over and saw that Jet was next door to Robin. The change in the horse was instant, being in the stable calmed him greatly, Harper cooed gently as she took the rug but left the lead rope on. To the other side of Robin's stable, there were a few Brightfield's horses.
She stayed in the stable for a little while longer, just to check that Robin was fully settled and calmed down as she needed to get all the ash out of his coat but would be unable to unless he was calm in the new environment. One of the grooms walked into the stable and offered to wash Robin down for her, Harper smiled and thanked him but refused and said that she could do it herself. The boy was taken back a little but agreed that she could and explained where everything worked and how to work the hose.
Once Robin seemed totally calm, Harper led him over to where the hose was. She tied Robin up on the wall and turned the hose on and started to wash him down. After his coat was wet, she moved to the shampoo and rubbed it into his coat, the ash had already started to come out even just through the shampoo. She watched as the hose made the rest of the dirt bleed from his coat and his beautiful blue undercoat started to show again.
The sweat scraper removed the excess water and the summer sun had already started to dry his coat slightly, Harper hummed under her breath as she led Robin back to his stable. She took his headcollar off and soothed him before she shut the stable door behind her and walked back into the main part of the yard.
She walked out to see that Pin, Zoe and Gabby were all talking around one of the main parts of the yard. Zoe was just about to address her when her phone suddenly rang, Zoe took it out and answered quickly when she saw that it was Becky on the other end of the call.
"It's Bob!" Zoe was visibly distressed, "get your medical kit, we have to go now!"
"What? Why?" Pin questioned, but he moved towards the main building with the group anyway.
One of the staff in Holloway offered to drive them to what was left of Brightfield's, Pin joined them as soon as he joined back with the group with his medical kit. The atmosphere in the car was tense, every second counted due to the nature of the call that Zoe had gotten.
The group leaped out of the car as soon as it screeched to a stop by the burnt stables, they ran to where the temporary shelter was set up for Bob. As soon as they reached the area, people explained that the vet wanted to put Bob down. Zoe had clearly thought that Pin could do something as he had nursed Rey back to health and Rey had re-joined the wild herd.
"Wait! I think I can help." Pin said to the vet the moment that the woman walked out of the tent, he held out a small vial of liquid, "have you tried this?"
"Where did you get this?" The vet asked, slightly suspicious of how he got it, not knowing that Holloway hat their own vet supplies.
Pin stumbled and rushed through his words, "it's a therapeutic solvent, they use it for horse racing in Ireland."
The vet's face was still impassive, she didn't know whether to trust that Pin could do it or not, she didn't even know if Pin had any type of training.
Harper realised that the vet needed a little push, "there isn't a horse on this island that Pin couldn't heal! I've seen him cure a sick moor pony!"
"At least let him try." Maggie asked the vet gently, apparently all it needed was a small push from an adult to let the vet try. The vet handed the solvent back to him and nodded in affirmative.
The group saw Pin bend down next to Bob in the tent where the fabric door was open, he reassured Becky that he would do everything that he could.
Everyone walked away from the tent and over to seats made out of straw, Harper walked into the tent and wrapped her arm around Becky and helped her to her feet. Becky hadn't moved from Bob's side for any longer than minutes all day, her legs had locked up slightly as she hadn't moved in a long time.
"Come on, Becky." Harper whispered gently to the girl as she guided Becky out of the tent and over to where everyone was sat. She sat her on one of the straw stacks and everyone crowded around Becky in a group hug. Harper looked over her shoulder and smiled at Pin through the gap in the door before the vet shut it.
Minutes felt like lifetimes as they waited. The fear of losing Bob was suffocating, everyone was afraid. If Pin failed, Bob would have to be put down.
To comfort Becky, Jade had broken the rules and snuck into Brightfields to steal Mr Duck for Becky. Through that act, their relationship was slowly beginning to heal – they obviously still needed to sit down and talk everything through. But Jade had done something that for her, was very serious. But seeing Becky be comforted by the stuffed toy was reassuring slightly.
After what felt like centuries, the vet stepped out of the tent.
"Just tell me, I can take it." Becky said as she stood up and walked towards the vet, she had been crying silently the entire time and no one mentioned it out of kindness.
"He'll be off riding for six months, and he'll require constantly medical attention which your friend has agreed to." The vet spoke to them, it took a moment before the words set in for the group, Bob was going to be okay."
"Off riding for six months?" Becky's eyes slowly widened as she processed her words.
"That young man just saved your horse." The vet smiled kindly down to Becky.
The group all surrounded Becky in another group hug before they let her head into the tent and see Bob again. Even though he would be off riding for a long time, Becky was just happy to still have him – six months wasn't that long when you were willing to wait forever.
The tense atmosphere that had shrouded the group all day finally left them, the good news about Bob left them in a good mood. Jade and Becky solidly mended their friendship with a rendition of the Jecky rap, which made everyone giggle. Even the ever-stoic Gabby laughed.
Harper was stood by the door of the tent and she noticed when Pin walked out of the tent, most likely to leave, "not staying? Hero of the day." She followed after him and smiled as he turned around to her.
"I'm worried Bob's going to try and kiss me again." Pin smiled at her and walked a little closer to her.
Harper giggled, "you act as if Bob doesn't try and smother everyone with kisses at every moment."
"That's very true." Pin's smile made Harper's heart beat just a little faster, she was still too weak for that boy, "dad called, he wants me home."
"You did incredibly today, you saved Bob!" Harper smiled at the flush that then overtook Pin's cheeks, he was always so humble about his achievements, "Really, you did!"
"Just happy I could help." Pin paused for a moment, clearly thinking about something before he spoke again, "should we do something soon? Like... a date."
Harper's heart raced again in her chest, Pin was always taking her by surprise, "yeah... yeah. Just, call me tonight, we have a lot to talk about."
Pin's face morphed into an expression of relief, it seemed like he was expecting Harper to reject him, "I will, promise."
"Go home now Pinny."
They bid goodbye and Pin rounded the corner with a soft smile etched over his face. When Harper turned back around to the tent, it seemed like the whole yard had watched what had just happened. Slowly, they watched as Harper's face went red and redder, they all cooed at her and laughed when she tried to hide her face from them.
Once Bob was back on his feet and well enough, they all walked back to Holloway and they took ample breaks for Bob to stay good for the walk. They felt more like a team than they ever had before.
---------------
[UNEDITED]
Added almost 2K in words in this new chapter, sheesh
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
- Angelica