Surprises- Ch. 4

Although the smell of horses was an every day occurrence for Kris, this time it felt special. She was going to see the first real friend she had ever had.

"Wildfire?" Kris whistled and heard a neigh coming from a stall on the left. "Wildfire!" She jogged to the stall and looked through the bars to see her old friend. The large horse neighed when he saw her. He was laying down with a blanket over him, his water trough was completely full.

"Hey buddy, how ya feeling?" Kris unlatched the door and walked in towards the sick horse. He tried to stand, but didn't have the strength. "Hey, that's ok, you need to drink some water." she looked at the large tub of water, but Wildfire didn't budge. It was very sad for Kris to see him like that, the once strong horse looked so helpless. Kris blinked away the tears that came to her eye. She knelt beside Wildfire and touched his nose. It was soft, and very warm. At that moment Kris couldn't take it, she laid her head down on the horse's side and began to cry; Wildfire laid his own head down to rest.

How long they laid there together, crying with their eyes closed, Kris did not know. She finally did get up, though, and fed her friend the carrot she had carried from the house. She wiped the tears from her face and said her goodbyes, praying it wouldn't be the last time she saw him, but as she left the stables she heard a small groan come from Wildfire's stall. She slowly walked back to Wildfire's stall and knew that the hours she had just spent with the horse would be the last as Wildfire lay there silent and breathless. Kris felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Henry standing behind her.

"He was waiting for you Kris. We all thought he would have been gone many months ago. I guess he just needed to know you were alright and let you know that he loved you." Henry said trying to comfort Kris and dry the falling tears on her face. Kris looked up at Henry and then looked at Wildfire.

"I guess your right Henry. I'm just glad that I got to see him again." Kris told him.

"I guess we better go tell the family then." Henry said leading Kris back up to the house.