A/N: Sorry I haven't updated this in so long. I've been pretty busy with some other stuff :/ enjoy!
Kris sat on the fence eating an apple and smiled at Flame loping joyfully around the pasture. Wildfire was in the adjacent pasture munching happily on some grass. In the exercise ring, a young filly was getting a workout from one of the exercise riders. Kris could hear Jean in the background haggling with the feed supplier and Todd calling out, "Hey, Kris! For the next race you should wear as much yellow as possible. The Dickersons' horse HATES it!"
"Sure thing!" said Kris.
"Finally relaxing?" said Matt, coming up behind her.
"Hey, you," said Kris. She smiled as Matt jumped up onto the fence beside her. "I'm just glad that things are finally back to normal."
Matt tightened his jaw. Junior had died only three weeks ago. Nothing was even close to normal yet. He couldn't understand why Kris needed to pretend that it was so badly.
"Who else needs a workout today?" asked Kris.
"Love Song For No One and Eclipse," said Matt.
"I'll ride them both," said Kris. "God, I am SO glad that your mom decided to cancel the dudes once and for all!"
"After both of those wins last week, I was hoping she would," said Matt. Then, knowing she would probably hate him for asking her again, he said, "Are you sure you don't want some time off?"
"Matt," said Kris. "Junior did not get me my jockey's license reinstated so that I could sit around at home feeling sorry for myself. He got it for me so that I could win. Therefore, that's what I should be doing."
Matt wanted to say, "He got it for you so you could be happy. And right now, you're too busy lying to yourself to really be happy." But instead, he kept his mouth shut.
"Kris?" said Matt a few minutes later.
"Yeah?"
"What pasture did you decide to put Flame in?"
Kris looked at him quizzically. "He's right..." Then suddenly, she realized that he wasn't in the pasture they were looking at anymore. "Oh, crap," said Kris. She swung herself down from the fence. "Matt, Flame's escaped!"
Matt jumped down. "No way! Mom! Flame's lose!"
"I'll take the truck and go after him!" said Jean.
"I'll take Wildfire," said Kris.
"And I'll take Taz," said Matt. Without stopping to say another word to each other, Matt and Kris ran off to get their bridles. They hadn't a moment to lose.
"Hey, Dani," said Ken. "Are you finally here to take responsibility for your multimillion dollar racing business?"
Dani tightened her grip on the clipboard she was holding. "Actually, I'm here because Noah's vaccinating the horses," she said in a serious, businesslike manner. Although secretly she was also there to check up on how Ken was running Davis Farms.
"Okay," said Ken. "I wouldn't bother charging any money for them. You'd be charging yourself." Suddenly, his eyebrows raised. "What the...some horse just came galloping through the gates!"
Dani turned and looked. "Flame!" she exclaimed. "Come here, boy!" But he galloped right past her. "That was weird."
"I'll bet Junior would have caught him," said Ken. "Flame was like a child to him."
Startled, Dani looked into his father's sad eyes. In that moment, he looked shockingly...human.
"Tell Noah to hurry the fuck up and make sure to bring any concerns to the trainer," said Ken, suddenly snapping into his usual harsh persona. "I have to get back up to the office and make some calls."
Dani rolled her eyes and shook her head, causing the black cowboy hat she was wearing to slip a tiny bit. She reached one hand up to readjust it. She knew it looked like a strange thing to wear and didn't match her professional attire at all, but wearing it was one of the small things that brought her comfort and enabled her to function throughout her daily life. About a year ago-such an insignificant yet infinite amount of time-Dani had gotten the hat as a present from Junior who had gotten it as a present from RJ. It meant more than ever to her now.
Dani's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hoofbeats as Matt and Kris came clattering up the road on their horses. She quickly straightened herself out and began walking towards them. "Are you looking for..."
At the exact same time, Matt and Kris both said, "Hey, have you seen..."
"Flame?" said all three of them.
Dani smiled. "He went that way," she pointed.
"Thanks," said Matt. he and Kris cantered off in the direction that Dani had pointed.
"Why would he go this way?" said Matt. "I don't understand. It's nowhere near the barn, or the other horses, or even the house."
"I don't know," said Kris. "Look, there are his hoofbeats."
"I see them!" said Matt. "And they're leading..." he froze when he suddenly realized where they led to. "Oh, no."
"What," said Kris, already trotting ahead on Wildfire down the path. Suddenly, she and Wildfire both froze.
There was Flame. Standing contendedly right in the middle of the Davis Family cemetary.
Matt jumped down from Taz. "I'll go get him."
"No!" said Kris. She jumped off and handed Wildfire's reins to Matt. The whole graveyard had a black metal fence around it about three feet high, and there was no opening she could see. How had he even gotten in there?
"Flame!" said Kris, quickly scaling the fence. Flame didn't look up. He was sniffing one of the tombstones. "Flame, stop!" said Kris. "Why did you jump this fence? There's nothing in here, not even grass!" When she got closer to Flame and read the words on his tombstome, her jaw hit the floor.
Kenneth Walter Davis "Junior"
1987-2008
Loved By Many
Gone But Not Forgotten
And without even realizing it, that's when Kris finally started to cry.
