Page 1 of Redemption

Chapter One

Ever

What the hell is going on?

Why am I wet?

Why don’t I know what’s going on? Something isn’t right.

Everyone knows that I am usually incredibly grumpy when I’ve just woken up, and they usually avoid me until I’ve had coffee, but I’m not normally so confused.

I shift slightly with my eyes still closed, trying to work out what is wrong, because there is definitely something wrong. Pain spears through me from my side, my arm, and my head, and it brings everything back into sharp focus as the last vestiges of sleep abruptly abandon me.

The storm.

Shit.

Tank and I were racing through the storm trying to get back to the barn, and Tank spooked and threw me off when there was a massive rumble of thunder.

That’s the last thing that I remember, so I’m assuming that I passed out, which is really inconvenient because it’s left me disoriented and, of course, in pain, and it’s given it enough time to get dark. I must have been out for a while.

That can’t be good.

Everything hurts, some parts more than others. Pain has never really slowed me down before, and I am pretty sure that I’m not injured badly enough that I can’t move or need immediate medical attention, so that’s a good thing.

However, that’s pretty much the only good thing because the storm hasn’t let up in the time that I’ve been taking an unwilling nap on the forest floor, and now I am soaked through, covered in mud, and have sticks and fuck knows what else in my hair.

Awesome.

Sighing deeply, I logically know that I can’t stay on the ground and just hope to be rescued. One, that’s not me, and two, I am getting wetter and colder the longer I stay here, and hypothermia is a real risk.

Fine, I’ll save myself, I suppose. Apparently my sarcasm has survived the fall with a vengeance. I slowly sit up, taking stock of my injuries, and am pleased to find that although it hurts, I can move everything as I should be able to, and I’m reasonably certain that nothing is broken.

Now the question is, what do I do?

I literally just said that I can’t stay on the ground, but do I stay where I am?

I could still keep myself warm by pacing or something, so the risk of hypothermia is less of a threat. Is that the wisest choice though?

Understandably, Tank has taken off, and I really hope he’s okay. It’s far too dangerous for him to be out in weather like this. It’s too dangerous for me to be out here too, actually.

Horses have an amazing sense of direction though so I’m really hoping that he’s made his way back to the barn. The door should be open, so he should be able to take shelter in there, and he’ll be safe from the storm.

Looking at my surroundings, I try to make sense of what I’m seeing and see if I can recognize anything at all. The trouble is, it’s dark, I’m having to rely on the flashes of lightning to see, and the rain is falling so heavily that it’s running in rivulets down my face.

All of that pretty much means that I have absolutely no idea where I am. If I hadn’t passed out when I hit the ground, then I might have been able to follow Tank and hope that he could guide me back to somewhere that I recognize. Although I probably would have had to try to calm him down so we could find our way home together, and if he was really spooked, then I wouldn’t have even had a hope of catching him, let alone talking to him and trying to get him to calm down. Now most signs of his presence have been wiped out by the storm, which makes tracking him so much harder.

Not impossible though.

That’s right Ever, delusion is definitely the way to go in this situation.

I brace myself and then slowly get up, lifting my hand to the back of my head and wincing when I hit a tender spot. Well, the bad news is that I hit my head hard enough to make me bleed and not just make me pass out. There is a chance that I’ve got a concussion, but I can worry about that later. The good news is that I’m awake and I’m no longer unconscious.

That’s good news, right?

I don’t know, that’s the best that I can come up with right now, considering the shitty situation that I’m in.

Delusion is definitely the way that I’m going to go with this.