Book One:
Running Free
Running Free
By Ella T
My
name is Candara. I have no idea how my mother thought of it, or even what it
means. I am a horse. I’m a beautiful female, 9 year old horse, chestnut colored
Arabian. To you, 9 may be very young. But horses only live for about 35 years.
So technically, I’m a teenager. About 18-20 years old in human years. I live in
on the right side of the Arabian Peninsula. My best friends, Verdana and Gigi, were
racing down Gilmer’s Hill. We were having a blast, on this hot summer day! As I
thought to myself, I might as well join
in too, an ear piercing neigh interrupted my thoughts. “Gotcha!” Yelled Gigi. “Gigi, the worldwide known
trickster of everyone!” I shouted back. “Guys…” Sighed Verdana.
Gigi
interrupted our conversation. “Want to race again?” She asked. “Gigi!” Verdana
and I screamed together. “What?” Gigi screamed back. This time though, only
Verdana replied. “OF COURSE, WE WANT TO PLAY AGAIN!” Verdana SCREAMED. “I think
you broke the rest of the ozone layer, Verdana!” Joked Gigi. “Oh, no, we’re all
going to die!” Verdana shouted back. I chuckled to myself. “Well, if we’re
going to race, let’s race!” I finally told them.
“Ready,
steady, race!” As that last word was shouted, I blasted off, as if I was a
rocket. My hooves, they were practically not touching the ground. I was
running, as fast as I could. Finally, I crossed the finish line. And the winner
is…Candara! Yes! I silently shouted
to myself. “Want to have a rematch?” Gigi and Verdana asked at practically the
same time. “Uh, duh!” I replied. “And, I’m going to beat you!” “No way!”
shouted Gigi. She was a tough competitor, but not as tough as me. I think I’ve
won at least 50 races, out of the many we’ve done. And, for the rest of the
day, we raced. I won most of them. Gigi won about ten. Verdana? She won one or
two. She tries her best, but she just isn’t a racehorse. Me? It’s my life.
As
I was sleeping that night, I dreamed. Of racing. Like said it was my life. But,
even a minor setback, like twisting my ankle, could ruin it all for me. That is
why I have to be super careful. Before I race, I make sure there are no rocks
for me to trip over-or my friends. Out here, you just have to rest and wait for
it to heal. No doctors or anything. Those horses that live on a ranch or
something, not in the wild, think that their life is great. But they never know
what might happen. They don’t know how to rough it like us, horses that live in
the wild. They don’t know anything about the wild. If they got set out in the
wild, they would last five days. Then, bam, it happens. They starve or die of
dehydration. Life is that simple. You live or you die. Luckily, out here there
aren’t any ranches.
How can this be happening to me? There weren’t
any rocks or anything. The trail was perfectly smooth, and good for fast-pace
running. Or so I thought. And this really hurts. No
blood, I probably just twisted my ankle badly. Mother will be here soon-she’ll
help me. And anyway, I can still trot, just a minor limp. No way will I be hurt
for too long. I just won’t be able to race down Gilmer’s Hill for a while. It will all be fine. It will all be
perfectly fine.
As
I was limping back to our home with Gigi and Verdana, Mother asked me how on
earth I was able to wipe out so severely. I couldn’t do anything but tell her.
“I was getting ready for a fast-paced running race against myself. I was
walking down the trail I was going to run on, looking for rock or other things I
could trip on. Then I went down to the finish line and drew a line with my
hoof. Then, I went to the start. I started running, and counting in my head. One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three
Mississippi. I raced across the finish line, and I guess there was a rock
or something there, and I lost control. My hoof was buried in the dirt, and the
rest of my body was flying through the air,” I took a deep breath and finished
“then, my hoof finally flew free, but my ankle was twisted. Or that’s what I
think.” I finished off. My mother simply said “We’re going to see Buttercup.”
Buttercup was an herbalist; she could use different kinds of leaves to make you
feel better.
“Well,
well, well, what do we have here?” Buttercup asked the second I came to her
house. Before I could answer, Mother answered for me. “She thinks she twisted
her ankle.” She solemnly said. “Let me take a look at her ankle,” Buttercup
started “which one?” “Back leg, right side.” I answered. “Okay, lie down and
I’ll look at it, but since cannot feel your leg, as it would hurt you, so I’ll just have to look at the shape of
where the bones are.” Buttercup carefully looked at the bones in my right
ankle. “Yes,” She said “you do have a twisted ankle.” “Let me get some leaves
to relieve the pain and help it heal.” She went off in the distance to get some
of the leaves. I sighed softly. I knew, for about a month or two, I wasn’t
going to be able to race. I could still play with Gigi and Verdana, but still,
it wouldn’t be the same.
“Candara!
Candara, snap out of it!” Gigi was suddenly yelling at me, interrupting my
thoughts. “I’ve been telling you; get up, for the past three minutes!” “Oh,” I
said “sorry about that. Other things were on my mind.” “Clearly!” she said in a
funny voice, so it sounded more like cleardly. Gigi always has a way with
cheering people up, even when they’re super sad. “Come on!” yelled Verdana,
already walking with Mother in the distance. I was thinking in my head, I should race there, with Gigi, But then
I remembered. I had a twisted ankle.
“Darn,” I mumbled to myself “I could’ve beaten her by the yards!” I silently
trotted towards them, and didn’t feel like talking anymore.
As
we got home Gigi and Verdana silently slipped away from us and trotted to their
mothers and homes. That night, I just couldn’t sleep. My body was focused on
one thing and my mind was focused on another. Something I simply can’t stand. I
went out for a bit and took a walk. The moon was shining, and the Gulf of Oman
was sparkling like silver. Finally, I just couldn’t stand it. I stopped
thinking, went home, and feel asleep. I dreamed of racing-but now it was
something I couldn’t stand dreaming about. Now racing wasn’t my life. Getting
better was.
“Candara…Candara.”
Verdana was silently whispering to me. “What?” I said groggily. “It’s time to
eat your leaves, to make you feel better.” She replied. “Oh,” I said “don’t
remind me of what happened.” “Well, it’s still time to eat those leaves!” She
whisper shouted. “Okay,” I said; the tiniest bit grumpily “I’ll be there in a
few minutes.” Verdana stormed off before I could say another word. Maybe I was
too grumpy and tired. Maybe it was because I couldn’t stand having a twisted
ankle, and not being able to race. Or maybe even hungry. But either way, it was
something Verdana did not like.
As
I stumbled to breakfast, I thought about what I should’ve said. Maybe something
like, Okay, Verdana, I’ll be there in a
minute to eat my leaves! , Instead of what I said. I bet Verdana won’t talk to me for days. I sighed. I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.
When
I got outside, Mother already had the leaves out for me. I didn’t expect them
to taste good, but they actually did. Very surprising, considering I pretty
much hate leaves. For the rest of breakfast, I ate grass. And I was right.
Verdana wasn’t talking to me. But Gigi sure was. In fact, she was trying to get
Verdana to talk to me. Or the other way around. But there was one simple thing
about me. When someone doesn’t have any interest in talking to me, I don’t talk
to them. But Gigi clearly did NOT know that. She just kept on talking. I
completely zoned out of her.
For
the next few days, I wondered if Verdana was ever going to talk to me again. Or
if my ankle would ever heal. But what I know for sure is that I have a great
mother and great friends.
The End
Until you find out what happens next with
Candara, Gigi, and Verdana in Running Free: The Next Chapter
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