It was all you could think about. It was the only thing in your mind that would present itself to you. You couldn't concentrate on anything else, because it engulfed your thoughts, and wouldn't let anything else come forward. It overwhelmed all of your other emotions, and made you only feel sorrow, pain, and regret. You thought that everything was going just flawlessly, and nothing could possibly happen to ruin this day.
But thoughts can often be wrong.
As you stood there, watching the truck drive away with Spike inside the trailer, you felt horrible. You felt that this was somehow entirely your fault. Even if it wasn't, you still felt as though you were responsible. He was under your care, you were the one who was supposed to watch him and make sure that an event like this didn't happen. When the truck was out of sight, having already disappeared into the distance, you turned around and slowly trekked back to the stable. You found Drake on the ground, still recovering from being tazered, and walked over to him, offering him your hand to help him up. He took your hand, and you assisted him in getting to his feet.
"Are you alright?" You asked him.
"Yeah..." Drake replied. "I'm sorry... I tried to stop them but they-"
"It's not your fault, Drake." You interrupted him. "... You did all you could."
You looked around, and saw that Loki was still lying on the ground from when the policeman shoved him. Both you and Drake walked over to him, seeing a somewhat bewildered, surprised look in his eyes. You extended your hand, and helped him up.
"You okay?" You asked.
Loki stayed silence for a few moments, but then answered. "Yes... I am fine."
"Uh... [Name]." Drake said. "Could I... Speak to you for a moment?"
"What is it?"
"Uh... Privately..." He continued.
You sighed with annoyance. That unique horse was just forcefully seized from the property. What could Drake possibly want to talk about? You'd rather be thinking of a way to find those idiots who took Spike, and track them down, follow them and possibly recover the horse before it was too late. Who knows what "Research" they are going to do to him! Nevertheless, you reluctantly agreed and went outside the stable with your co-worker after telling Loki that you'd be back in a few moments.
"What, Drake?!" You almost shouted, clearly showing your frustration and impatience of the moment.
"Haven't you noticed how this all seems familiar?"
"What do you mean?" You questioned him.
"I mean think about it. An 8 legged horse, unknown species to even the most knowledgeable scientists, we don't know where he's from, or how he got here,-"
"Get to the point!"
"That guy's name is Loki. Ring any bells at all?"
"...no." You replied, not getting what he was saying.
" Didn't you ever listen in school when they taught mythology?!" Drake said.
"No. My school didn't offer it."
"Well your school was a piece of shit! Listen to me; you need to stay away from that guy. If he is who he says, then he is the God of Mischief from the Norse mythologies!"
"Why are you making such insane accusations " You replied. "Maybe that's just his name?! Did ya ever think of that, Drake!?"
"Did you see how much he and that horse look alike?! The hair, the bright green eyes?"
"Stranger coincidences have happened before!"
"No, [name]! This is no coincidence!"
"So, what?" You said raising your voice, "We're supposed to just let it go, and leave that horse to his death? Are we supposed to just walk away from this, and tell Loki that we can't help him!?"
"It would be in the best interest if we-"
"You know what Drake!?" You interrupted. You were now completely enraged at your co-worker. How could he say such things? How were you supposed to just let this go and forget about Spike? It wasn't something that you could do. You wanted desperately to retrieve the horse and return him to his rightful owner. "I don't care! Even if he is this so called 'God of mischief' he is still the owner of spike and we need to help him!"
"You shouldn't be getting involved with him! I've read the mythologies, and I know that helping him will only lead to trouble!"
"Even if you won't help him, I am!" You were shouting now, and you were sure that anyone within range could hear every word of your argument.
"Fine! Go ahead! Don't come cryin' to me when this all comes back to bite ya in the ass!" Drake turned around and walked away from you angrily.
With the argument over with, you hurried back into the stable.
You walked back over to Loki, and let out an annoyed sigh before you spoke. "Drake is acting crazy, and he's not going to do anything about this." You said, "I don't know about you, but I'm not going to just stand here. If we act fast, we should be able to catch up with the truck and follow them!"
"You're helping me?"
"Of course I am!" You replied. "Now come on, we can take my car!"
You grabbed Loki's arm and began running towards your car. As you both ran, you heard Drake yell at you from the distance.
"If you leave now, Boss says you're fired!" He yelled still in his hostile tone.
You stopped in your tracks for a second, almost causing Loki to run into you.
There was one small thought in the back of your mind. Is this one horse worth losing your job over? This was the best job you've had in a long time, and you certainly didn't want to have to give all of it up. You practically lived on this ranch. You woke up every morning with a excited feeling knowing that you would get to work with animals all day. The pay was good, Your boss was much nicer then any of the ones you've had in the past, the coworkers were all friendly - So much that everyone here seemed like your extended family - But were you about to just give all that up just to save one animal?
You thought about this for what seemed like 5 or more minutes to you, but in reality it wasn't even 30 seconds.
Yes... Yes you were.
It IS worth losing your job, if it means reuniting the horse with his owner. If it means saving Spike from being killed.
You disregarded Drake's warning, and quickly opened the door to your car. You told Loki to get in, and as soon as he did you started the car and sped off down the road, leaving a dust cloud behind you as your tires threw up the dirt.
You drove speedily, looking for the truck. You came to a fork in the road and now had a critical choice. Left or right.
"Damn it!" You said. "Drake wasted valuable time and now I don't know which way they went!"
You sat there at the crossroads for a moment. To the left would be the street which leads into town, and to the right is the way towards the highway. You considered going left, only because you didn't know of any reason why they would go on the highway. The way into town is mostly farmlands, and then once you reach town...
You eyes widened and you gasped at your sudden realization. "Oh course!" You said out loud. You then looked over at Loki. "I know where they're going!" With that said, you turned left, and continued towards town.
"Where would that be exactly?" Loki asked.
"The far west side of town." You replied, turning your attention back to the road in front of you. "There is a building there that looks almost like it's abandoned, but I've seen trucks parked in the lot out back; the same type of truck that took Spike! That has to be where they went!"
From the corner of your eye you noticed that when you said Spike's name, Loki gave you an odd look. You let that go though, for you had more important things to worry about.
"I do appreciate your help, but why are you doing this?" Loki asked.
The question took you by surprise. "Why? Because I wanna get Spike out of those scientists' hands! I know what they do to those animals!"
"Don't you think yourself rather impulsive?" He replied, "Losing your job just to run to the aid of one animal?"
"I know, I'm crazy, but I just wouldn't be able to forgive myself if he was hurt." You said, your tone saddening a bit, "Those scientists only want him because they don't know what he is..."
"And is that the only reason why you're so fixed on saving him?"
"...What? No... No. I would have done this for any of the horses at the ranch..." You paused for a moment, letting silence take over, but then you continued. "And I would have done it back then... If only I had known earlier..."
"What do you mean?"
You had trailed off as you spoke. Talking about Spike and the situation he's in made old memories of your childhood come flooding back to your mind. You hadn't meant to mention anything of it to Loki, but you couldn't help but recall that one horrible day.
"When I was younger... My father owned a smaller ranch with a few horses." You started to explain. "There was one horse who he taught me to ride... He always said that she was a special horse, a rare breed of sorts. There were only 400 of them known globally. I loved that horse, I rode her everytime I came to the ranch with my dad. But then, one day, I came and my horse was gone... Dad said that she would be back soon... But he lied. I never saw her again."
"What makes you so sure that your horse back then was in the same situation that mine is now?"
"Because... I found papers in my dad's office... It showed that an organization took her, and my father agreed without question. But he only agreed because, they tricked him. They lied about their true intentions" Tears were almost starting in your eyes, but you held them back. "After I found the papers I found the organizations information online... My horse was on their public files. They were doing tests on her because she was a rare breed... But in the process of those tests... it killed her." Silence came again, lingering in the air around you and Loki. Flashbacks of you and your horse came and went in your head, distracting you from driving. You shook your head to regain yourself and focus once again on the road. "I told myself that I would never let anything like that happen... not to any animal I knew."
Loki was about to say something to you, but before he could, you noticed that the sky was suddenly darkening. Large storm clouds were rolling in directly towards you. In the distance you could see bright flashes of light illuminating the sky, and getting closer and closer. The thunder accompanied the bolts of electricity and grew louder in volume until it was booming right above you.
You continued driving, but were more careful. You gazed at the sky, confused as to how the storm front came in so fast, and so suddenly. "This doesn't look good." You said. The lightning was striking down very close to you, which frightened you so much that you pulled your car over to the side of the road and stopped.
"You have no idea..." You heard Loki say. Seconds after you heard another loud thunder clap. It was so ear splitting that you jumped in surprise of it, and covered your ears. The next thing you remembered was seeing a blinding flash of lightning, but after that you black out.
I know this has a bit of strong language in it, but that probably a one time thing. Drake was pretty ticked so I just felt like he would resort to cussing tells a lot about his character doesn't it?
So... The reader has a bit of a sob story from their past, which explains their impulsive actions.
the ending of this chapter was a bit rushed, but it works. (LOL. Can you guess who's coming XD)
Let me know what you think so far I'd love to know your opinions.