Protecting the horses

Chapter one

An old black jeep is coming my way. I'm sitting on the ground in front of the busstop between my bags. The busstop is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by corn fields and farms.

The jeep is crossing over the dirt road, leaving a whole storm of sand behind it. I smile. That must be my aunt judging on the car driving skills. My mom already warned me that aunt Ellie drives like a crazy person.

The jeep stops in front of me and I have to cough because of all the sand. The door slams open and my aunt jumps out of it.' i'm so sorry dear my appointment took way longer then expected'.

' It's okay' I stand up from the ground and give her a hug.

' Lets get your bags in the car. I just got an emergency call on the way here so we have to hurry'.

Clearly the job of a veterinarian never stops, even on a sunday evening.

We throw my two bags on the backseats and i climb in the front seat next to my aunt.' Let's go'.

I'm observing her while she drives.

She has the same dark blonde mid length hair as my mom, only hers looks messy and clearly doesn't get cut by a hairdresser: almost all pieces of hair do not match in length.

She is wearing a long dark green rain coat, dirty jeans and some boots.

I grab hold of the door when we drive over some big holes in the road. Aunt Ellie sees it and laughs.' Welcome in the country side Megan'.

We arrive about twenty minutes later at our destination. The only busstop in the area is fourty minutes away from my aunts town, but because of her driving we made it in twenty.

There is a police car and an ambulance parked on the property in front of the house. My aunt jumps out of the car and im following her.

A girl my age is sitting on the couch in the living room. She holds an icepack on her head while the paramedic is doing some tests with her.

' What happend Linda?' My aunt asks the women standing there.

Everyone knows everyone is a small town.

The women sounds very emotional.' I don't know Ellie. We came back home from the town meeting and we found her laying on the ground'.

She is holding a wet tissue in her hand that she presses against her eyes.

I was about to wonder what we are doing here when my aunts asks about a horse called Raven.

' Follow me' the mom walks outside to the back of the house. There are two stables and a pasture in the back.

' I found Raven like this' the big black horse is standing in front of the stall, holding her back leg up.

There is some blood on the stones and i'm wondering who's it is.

Aunt Ellie knees down to take a look at her leg. I can see the horses getting scared when she touches it.

' It's okay Raven' Linda holds her horse and gently strokes her face.

My aunt inspects the wound and then comes back up.'That is a nasty cut'.

' I just don't understand how this happend. We kept them both in their stalls because of the animal'.

My aunt grabs her phone out of her pocket and takes a few photos of the wound from different angles.

' Do you have a moment?' the police man standing behind us steps forward when she is done.

'Sure' my aunt puts her phone away. They walk a little bit away so ei can't hear what they are talking about.

Linda looks at me. ' You must be Megan right? Ellies cousin' I smile.' Yes that is me'.

She smiles.' I have a daughter your age, Aria. She told me she was excited to meet you, but obviously because of the current situation..' she looks back at the house and I can see she is about to burst out crying again.

Luckily Ellie and the police men are coming back.

' I think it will be okay Linda' my aunt says.' it doesn't look very deep. I will give her a shot for the infection. I think we should keep the wound open, then it will heal the fastest. It is luckily in a spot where she can't really reach it or scratch it. Rinse it with water daily to keep it clean'.

Linda listens carefully.' A shot in case the animal that did this got a disease right?'

' The animal?' ' Yes that attacked Raven'. My aunt quickly looks at the police man before answering. ' Yes it is for that'.

After she is done with Raven we drive to her house. ' What was going on with the horse' I ask her.

My aunt takes a deep breath. Her face changes to a more serious worried look and I can see that she is squeezing the steering wheel.

'I don't know Megan. But i can tell you one thing: that wound does not look like it is caused by a wild animal'.