June tenth was here, and Lauren didn't know what to feel, what to say, what to do. She was confused and discombobulated as the moment came careening closer to her. Anna was leaving soon....
And then the moment was there. Lauren bade her a long sorrowful goodbye- no tears, for she didn't like to cry in public- and then she was being driven away in the hover vehicle. Gone.
Lauren was sad. Carissa was gone, Anna was gone ,and Karlinn, and then Jaimee were soon to leave as well...
Jaimee ,Lauren, Ian,and Alyssa resorted to boarding overtime. Lauren had mourned for a day the loss of a friend, because in truth, a part of Anna had essentially "died" and was gone. Then Lauren was on the board again, riding and forgetting as best she could.
There were moments when she lost focus, a common problem with her, and would go sailing into a tree. She, as of late had been crashing more than Jacob. He tagged along most of the time, but a lot of the times, he got sick of being stuck with mostly girls. He'd drag along another guy, other than Ian, and he'd stick with him while the girls and Ian boarded together.
Lauren would creep away from the group, leaving her board. When she got to the edge of the clearing, she'd scan the horizon, looking for signs of life, those beautiful creatures. She'd scanned the computer libraries, and she hadn't found a thing about them. But, she hadn't really expected too. There had been something similar, horses they could've been, but Lauren had deduced that they were much to fast to be horses.
They were faster than horses, faster than hoverboards even. Lauren had brought carrots, in case they were horses, just a different relative, or species of horse. She had spent hours researching them, trying to find out anything she could. She had found pictures of them, and spent the day drawing them.
One of them had come close enough to pet,and Lauren had reached out, but it had fled in fear. It was a large pink roan and it had reared at Lauren, striking out with its legs, before turning, bucking and then galloping away.
There was another, a gargantuan, gray stallion, with whitish gray tail and mane. He had a large peacful head, that bobbed energetically when he was excited.
So, Lauren gather that for future reference she should not reach out to them. This same one had been coming back , and then darting away as if it were some sort of game, and in a way it was. Once he had even accepted the carrot, and then darted off again. Lauren began to expect the horse to come see her, and he always did.
One day she brought Jaimee with her, though she told Jaimee before hand which horse was "hers" and how to handle their approach, and everything else she might need to know.
Jaimee spotted a large black stallion, who played alongside Lauren's day and night.
Jacob had learned to steer clear of them when they went over there, for two reasons. He knew that Lauren might very well kill him if he scared them away. And he had seen the thing rise, and almost strike her. He didn't want to get hit by that. They were even faster than hoverboards, and even though he didn't trust them he envied them for their speed and freedom. He had to admit though, they were gorgeous creatures.
Jaimee offered the large being a portion of carrot, her palm flat and outstretched, her thumb tucked in, and her head bowed. It was a sign of respect, and they allowed it. The stallion ate hungrily and greedily, as if this were the best thing ever. And to them, it was.
They'd head back then, on a good note, and board the rest of the time, curving around the metal frame with lightened hearts and ease.
They'd laugh and joke on the way back, all of them ignoring the others' absences. They were not forgetting no, but rather ignoring the past. This was the way things were now, and they would live them this way.
~O~O~O June Thirteenth O~O~O~
She'd touched him! His coat was as slick as... Well it was the smoothest living things she'd ever felt. Like liquid, but not...
Lauren had been trusted to run her hand down his neck, but when she reached his shoulder, he'd bitten her shoulder, and spun off. She cursed under her breath at the pain, and the blood welling beneath her skin, but her heart fluttered with adrenaline and joy.
She'd tried to coax him back over, but it didn't work, and he shied clear of her. She suddenly realized that she'd set herself back, not made a step forward. Sure he'd let her touch him, but she'd gone to far. And now she gone back a two steps from the one she'd gained.
Lauren stilled her pounding excited pulse, and sighed. She calmly held out her hand, and waited. He would come to her if he was ready; if he wanted to.
She was silent now, perfectly still but for the occasional tremor as her arm grew tired and she switched arms.
And he came back, but not without a heavy push from his nose. She didn't reach out once; but merely offered him another carrot, which he ate happily. He nosed her pocket, as if to ask for more, but Lauren sadly shook her head.
"I'm all out, Bud," Lauren whispered softly. The stallion nudged her pocket once more, and then bumped his head on her shoulder, in a horsey kind of hug. Lauren's hands ached to reach out and touch him, but she stilled them.
He nickered to her once more, and then took off galloping off across the field as his pack left for the evening for their water break.
They didn't come back that night, but Lauren wasn't worried. Sometimes they did that.
~O~O~O June Fifteenth O~O~O~
Jaimee had moved into Anna's old side of the room. Ashley didn't like to board so much now that she was getting closer to the operation, and Jaimee always went with Lauren on their nightly trips, so having a room with easy outside access would be a good thing. It would increase the amount of time they got outside.
Jaimee,Lauren,Ian,and Jacob were slowly, and unwittingly, secluding themselves from the group with their nightly and afternoon rides. They were tired during the day, and often irritable towards people who weren't as tired as they came often, but not always. He was aware, forewarned at least, of the irritability of the boarders when they were tired, but he risked it. He cheered them up with his jokes when they were down.
Krystal and Ciara sometimes joined them. Rhett didn't hang out too much with them, so Ciara and Krystal kind of kept to themselves. They'd ride the loops while Jaimee, Lauren, and yes even Ian, too, ran off on foot to feed the wild things and Rhett would watch as they did so. Jacob on a whim , ventured out to join them, but Ciara had screamed in the background as she went over a loop, and the "horse" he was feeding spooked. The animal kicked him in the thigh and ran off. He was silent in his pain, so as too not scare the other "horses" and get hurt even worse. Even though Lauren often couldn't stand him, she felt awful for him.
She jogged over to her bag, the gray "horse" following at a lively trot/walk, and gathered her medical wrap, spray, and pain killers, and her water.
Jacob let out a relieved breath, and wordlessly accepted the bundle of things in her arms. He hobbled off to fix himself up, and Lauren wandered back to where Jaimee was.
"Hey, you got a bandaid?" Asked Jaimee, and Lauren nodded.
"Sure, here ya go." Lauren handed the thin clear strip to Jaimee, watching as she applied the smart material to her finger. It seemed to dissolve into the skin forming an invisible iyet solid germ barrier.
Lauren's and Jaimee's "horses" had let them touch their bodies all over now, as long as food compensation was in order. With Lauren's help, Jaimee had even been able to climb atop the black stallion she'd dubbed, of course, Blackie. Not a very engaging or original name, but it worked for Jaimee and that was all that mattered.
That night as they went home,it was only the five of them for Ciara and Krystal had left around 12:00. They slowed down occasionally for Jacob to rest his bum leg, and let him take another dose of a different painkiller. Lauren knew enough about painkillers to keep him from overdosing.
And so they started off again, their boards gliding over the iron and metal enriched ground as the neared the close of the long distance to the river.
They were almost to the river when they came. The hover cars came; ten of them. And this time, they couldn't escape the speedy cars. And they didn't make it home to the dorms.
