SueAnn Porter

I wrote this a while ago, I just changed it and submitted to an online Flash Contest at http://crackedflash.blogspot.com/

Tonight We Ride

By SueAnn Porter

201Words

@SueAnnPorterONE

http://www.SueAnnPorter.com

Back then, most folks rode their horses in the daytime, but the nights belonged to me–until the night that I fell off my horse. It started out as any other night, but then my horse sped up like Secretariat.

My legs straddled the horse and I desperately grabbed the animal’s neck with both hands as I bobbed up and down awkwardly. Something was missing: there were no reins to hold onto. Pain encroached upon my hips and thighs. My arms stretched from the horse’s mane, as I attempted to gain control of the animal’s motions. My chest slammed against its neck as I struggled to hold on.

I ricocheted up; then back down into the saddle. I heard people scream in the distance, as we all rode around the circle faster.  I wanted to help them but I passed through the sounds of their screams hanging in the air. I hung tightly to the horse’s thick neck, my neck buried in its mane, my chin upon its ear.

Strange music mocked me as I rode. Suddenly the horse stopped. The last thing I saw as I flew from the horse to the ground below was the carousel operator’s toothless grin.