The Stall

Tori only had one eye! He stumbled to get up. This was hard considering his legs were bound. He flailed trying to gain his ground when he felt a small poke on his neck. His neck went numb then his foot, then his leg and before he knew it Tori was passed out.

Sun shot through a barred opening letting glimmers of light dance in the dusty small space. Two limbs hung through the bars and a boys face was behind them, starring right at Tori. Tori jolted up and began pacing in the small stall. A rope like item had been tied around his face in multiple different places…also the annoying eye patch over his right eye. He screamed for his friends, no one was there except this creepy boy hanging on his small space.

The boy grabbed something off the wall and headed out of the barn. Tori let out a low whinny for him not to leave.

“It’s ok bud, you’ll be ok.” The boy said as he continued to leave the barn and disappear out of sight. Tori screamed constantly after that. There were no other horses there in the barn with him, for he was lonely.

Tori’s nostrils flared as he paced around the room. He tried to poke his large grey nose through the bars but failed to escape.

Someone was approaching the barn. Tori flung his head at the bars where the boy had been hanging; a sharp pain hit him in the nose. Blood dripped from his nose. He whinnied. The boy came into sight. The boy approached the stall. He opened the door slowly. Tori rushed to the door and tried to go through causing the boy to stumble. The boy grabbed a rope and clipped it to his rope tied around and around his face. Tori tried to trot away but was stopped by something jerking on his face.

Tori pulled harder. The boy pulled gave the same response. He stopped. Tori stared into the eyes of the figure before him. The boy did the same. The boy held his hand flat and out stretched towards Tori. Tori inspected his hand. A small oval object lay in it. Tori sniffed it, it smelled ok, kinda like the apples from Mill Creak. It smelled like food, so why not eat it? Tori thought as he chomped the treat out of the boy’s hand. It was good. Tori began sniffing the boy for more of the delicious goodies. The boy laughed.

“Silly horse.” He said once Tori had stopped tackling him. The soft touch of the boy’s had on Tori’s neck felt good. They both jumped to the sound of a loud tool coming from the other side of the barn.

“It’s ok bud, it’s just the weed whacker.”

||The Next Morning||

Light fluffy clouds of fog rolled over the quiet hills of the farm. Tori sat in his stall, cramped from being in such a small space for such a long time.

His muscles ached. He normally ran for a good bit back in Mill Creak, but there was nowhere to run in his box.

The boy came to the door.

“Here we go boy, let me clip the lead rope to your halter.” He grabbed the rope and clipped it to his halter, so the boy had called it.

Tori bolted to the open door once the boy moved out of the way to grab Tori’s water bucket. The his head made it through the gap but he was pulled back by the boy jerking on the lead rope.