Carth McMahon's Story

It was late June as Alyssa opened her eyes to see the love of her life, Jax, still sleeping beside her. She gently smiled and kissed his cheek before plucking herself upwards into a sitting position to stretch and wake herself up the rest of the way. I’m living in a fairytale… love of my life beside me, ranch starting up on a crisp, summer morning, and his adorable toddler twins cooing in their nursery in our grand home, but something doesn’t feel right. She thought to herself as she slipped away from the bed and over to the balcony which looked out to their barn and fields where the horses would be put out shortly. For a moment she simply stood there still with her hands lying gently on the rail as she watched the sun rise, but soon found herself stirring to do something different and exciting. She glanced over her shoulder, as she turned to face their bedroom, to look back at her fiancé lovingly before tiptoeing through the room, making sure to grab her cell on the way, and down the stairs and through the house to travel down to her largest barn.

“Look at them all.” She whispered to herself as she opened the door and breathed in the smell of equine and the fresh bedding placed down the night before for them. “I love them all.” She mentioned with a gentle nod as she wrapped her arms around herself. It was a slightly chilly morning, one that certainly was perfect for riding, but a little colder than wanted for someone wearing only a short nightgown. She smiled softly as one of the horses neighed at her and another, nearer one, nickered. Walking over to the little mare which had just nickered, a smile broadened over her face. “You wanna go riding, don’t you?” She giggled before pausing slightly and tilting her head at the mare through the bars, “I do too.” She sighed and began walking away from the mare, but the mare nickered again and Lyss could hear her pawing at the ground. The smile crept up on her face again as she turned back around, suddenly grinning as a glint of happiness flickered in her eyes like fire, “Well, maybe a short run won’t do any harm…” Grabbing up the halter and lead on the mare’s door, she slid her finger across the name, Arienelle, before entering the stall and haltering the little mare and jumping up on her and lightly kicking her to make her trot out of the stall and out to just… run…

~~~

“Melody, c’mon! We need to go pick up Aunt Amber from the airport.” Will called from the door of their apartment. It was nothing special; one bedroom, one bathroom, one master suite, kitchen and dining area, and a sitting area with a small television. They had to get a second bed for Amber to sleep on while she was staying with them for at least that year. Their parents were hoping the new set up with him and his family would provide her with the same stability, a little less sisterly drama, and maybe also a few more friends. Will hadn't heard much about his littlest sister’s situation, but he did know it’d been rough on her.

“Coming Daddy!” Melody called back as she ran out in a cute little outfit, perfect for meeting her aunt in. She reached up to her father wanting to be picked up. With a light chuckle, Will scooped her up in his arms and planted a kiss on her shoulder. “We’ll be back with Amber soon.” He mentioned as he gave Chelsea a quick kiss and headed out with his daughter.

Only an hour later, they arrived at the airport and found Amber, with her long, chocolate-colored hair and bright blue eyes, standing very lady-like on her own in a corner of the waiting room. Will immediately crinkled his nose at her attire. No wonder she doesn’t have any friends… Has she not compared her clothes to everyone else’s recently? He wondered to himself as he watched Melody run over and give her a big hug, unable to note his dear sister’s evident shock at being grabbed by the child in such a hug. “My dear brother,” She smiled as she gingerly picks up her niece and held her against her hip, “how may you be on this lovely day? Your daughter seems to be a rather joyous type. I think you have raised her decently well. How is your fiancée, Chelsea? Is she well? I have unfortunately not seen her since I was very young.” Amber reminisced and questioned as Will forced himself to walk over to his sister, still wondering how she could possibly even be allowed to wear a dress of such odd nature. Shouldn’t a girl her age be wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt? No wonder their parents sent her to him.

“I’m doing pretty well, Amber, and thank you. I think Melody is normally a happy girl, but there are times when she begs to differ.” He smirked gently over at Mellie as Amber set her back down on the ground, as lady-like as she had picked her up. Trying to push his thoughts of her odd behavior away, he continued, “Chels is great! She’s excited to see you, and I think she’d be happy to take you shopping sometime. She loves shopping and getting nice stuff.”

Amber’s eyes darkened ever so slightly as she metaphorically crawled a little deeper into her shell. I like what I wear, though… She inwardly reminded herself, knowing how impolite it would be to show that she had caught his rude comment. I like who I am… Has my brother changed so much as to no longer accept me for who and what I am? I do not think I can believe what I am hearing right now. When Amber had told her parents about Lolita dresses and wanting to hold more elegance than people did, they had been proud of her and willing to help her and support her. However, that love and support seemed to have stayed in Florida when she decided to fly to her birth-town. Ever so slightly, she shifted on her feet and dropped her eyes down to the ground before gently curtsying. “Well, brother, I believe that dear Chelsea may be missing us by now, may we be off to see her?” She asked him curiously as she raised herself back up, pulling on a pair of small, white gloves which matched the frills on her light blue dress.

“Yupp…” He picked his daughter up and started out of the airport, hearing his sister’s light footsteps behind him, he decided to not help her with her carry on. “They told me they’d put your bags in my car. So, we should be good.” He mentioned as they arrived to the car where, sure enough, her bags laid in the trunk, waiting to move into a new hanging closet. After settling themselves in the car, they headed back to their home to once again see Chelsea.

Ah crap, his alarm was bleeping, very loudly for that fact. Too loud for the tender headed man lying on a cheap and rather poorly made bed; his face buried in a pile of ragged pillows. What time is it? Too early his brain wanted to tell him but the man gingerly turned his head to the hated machine still bleeping away in that awful high pitch tone that tore through his skull and hammered what ever braincells he had managed to spare from the previous night. With a sort of satisfaction and a rather heavy hand he slammed the machine quiet, lifting his protesting body out of the bed and staggered to the bathroom; removing the clothes he had drunkenly decided to keep on and hopped into the shower, turning the settings to the coldest they would go and with some hesitation pressed the on button and with a harsh yell of profanity he began to sober up quickly. When he was done he quickly through on his clothes he wore when he helped out at the ranch, he rummaged around the apartment for his trucks keys but after a rather fruitless search and a series of more profanities he headed for the front door. Before he exited he saw a hastily scribbled note pinned to the door, it was from Lucas, only Lucas had that same childish hand writing that made a doctors scrawl look like artwork in comparison. It read: Hey Carth, I've got an 'appointment' with a client, you know one of those rich snobbish college boys up in high town, had to borrow your truck, I'm sure you won't mind big bro. Lucas. "Dammit!" He cursed once more, tearing the paper off the door and scrunching it up in annoyance, now I'm definitely going to be late.

He was out the door with a new found vigour, forgetting about his still protesting head, the pain could wait, he had only just started helping out at the ranch and he needed the extra cash it provided, the last thing he wanted was to be fired before he had at least one pay check. Breaking out into a brisk jog he made his way through the streets of the small town, the town was still rather sleepy even though the morning was in it's stride now but he saw a few of the regulars in the club he worked at, each of them giving the now sprinting man a queer grin as they must have found the sight rather amusing. The time was drawing closer and closer to him being late and after a quick glance of his watch he somehow found the energy and his legs willingness to move even faster than they had already been pumping. After half an hour of non stop running he finally arrived at his destination; Alyssa's ranch. Panting heavily, he paused to gain control of his breathing and to allow the gentle breeze passing through to cool his sweat covered skin. Once he had gained back his composure he made his way to the stables, his job here was to tend to the horses, grooming them and feeding them.... Well that's what he thought anyway, he had never been around horses before really, he had only said that to the owners of the ranch because he needed the money badly. He entered through the wooden doors and the sweet aroma of hay and the more sharply contrasting smell of manure greeted him, along with a chorus of noises from the horses.

He began his duties by checking up on each horse, counting them one by one so he had a clue of their numbers and found one of the stalls empty, hmmm maybe one of the owners took it out for a walk... Or ride, I guess. it didn't matter much to him, he just wanted to get started, he searched around for their food but like his search for his keys he came up empty handed; he had no idea what he was looking for and with a lack of knowledge on the animals had even less ideas how he would feed them, did they each of a bowl to fill like a dog? Or did he have to hand feed them each? He sighed deeply to himself, he was beginning to wonder if this wasn't a good idea after all. After another search he finally gave up and decided maybe it be better to give them a run about and took them out one by one to the field he had been told to take them when he was first told he had the job, it was all going well when the last one decided it didn't like the new man pulling him a little rougher than it had grown accustomed too and with a sudden power it bucked dragging Carth off his feet. What happened next was a blur and Carth didn't know if it was by instinct or just pure luck but somehow he had managed on the beasts back and was clinging for dear life by it's muscular neck. The horse ran madly towards something the man could not see but he didn't care for that at the moment he just wanted to stay alive. I want off.....

Determining the young mare needing attention simply by running, not to mention her own desperate-yet-silent need to run a horse, Alyssa pushed Arienelle to sprint out to the main polo field where she just ran her around it in circles as if she were a purebred thoroughbred. After a moment of racing around the field, she slowed her training mare down to a steady trot, forcing Arienelle to hold herself under control. Such a silly mare, always wanting to sprint. She is sweet enough, certainly, but she lacks control... Alyssa broke her thought off as she drifted into her talented past with her gelding, Dexter. Dex had control... and maneuverability. He had everything. Feeling her cheeks warm at the thought of him, she released the reins and allowed her to gallop across the field as fast as she could, still controlling her direction. The speed quickly calmed her, but it didn't make her happy, but she would never have admitted that, not even to herself.

After Arienelle's speedy gallop, Lyss slowed her down to a plodding trot or walk, whichever Arienelle felt like doing, really, as they made their way back to the stables. She wouldn't want her new stablehand to worry about the horse's condition. Afterall, it wasn't like she'd even really interviewed him before accepting his application. She just needed to get the ranch back up and running in order to service the town to its best capability, and it's not like someone couldn't learn how to. Nearing the barn finally, she was able to see the front fields in the distance. So much to do today. After they're all let out, I'll need to figure out which eight are looking vivacious enough to be the mares or geldings for today's lesson. Then I have to teach what'shisname how to take care of them if he doesn't already know, not like she'd even looked past the part about felonious acts on the application, and hopefully he'll pick it up fast. If not... I'm in trouble. Finishing that thought, she turned the corner to see the young man taking the horses out to pasture, with many of them already out. Glad to see him following her first instruction, she smiled and watched him as he lead one of the older mares out before trotting Arienelle back inside and down the corridor of stalls to the heated water trough at the other end of the barn and around the corner.

Hopping off to allow the mare to drink, she started to turn the corner again and saw the "angry" gelding of the barn storming down the aisle at her. "Woah!" She called out to him, but watched as he continued on in a rage. The poor man on top of Clint was holding on for his dear life. "Woah!!!" She called out in firmer voice, throwing her hands up to spook him. Rearing up, Clint obnoxiously whinnied his disapproval before throwing his hooves back to the ground and attempting to buck the man semi-riding him off. "Stop, Clint!" Alyssa spoke out desperately as he began to go up again. With all will to calm the horse gone, she threw herself towards them and slapped the gelding's front shoulder. With that, his eyes grew wide and he stopped. "That's what I thought." She grumbled at him, turning to see what shape her new stable hand was in.