Aroura, the Appaloosa

by Claudia
(Ireland)

Irish countryside

*Bleep* Beep* Bleep* *Crash!*
"Arrgh!" 4 in the morning..." I grumbled. I look down on my floor and there is my white alarm clock. So that was the crash. I must've swung my arm about when I woke up.
"I wonder why my alarm clock is set so early?" I think to myself. I look out the window. My bed has a horse duvet on it and my peach colored walls are covered in horse posters. My floor is wooden, only with a fluffy medium sized rug next to my bed so when I jump out in the cold, icy Irish mornings, my feet don't hit a cold, wooden floor.

We live in the country, the Irish country, as I mentioned. We live on a green, grassy mountain, and run a small farm. Dad sells a few things in the market in Tralee, Kerry. We live about an hour away from Tralee, in the deep country, a windy road coming to our house.

Me? I'm fine with that. It's March the 5th, according to my phone I got for my 12th birthday. I'm 14 now. With fair skin and dirty blonde, waist long hair, and big, green eyes. Not too skinny, Mum always fills us up!, I'm not too fat, though, either. Dad says he works hard on the farm to provide for us, and we must not waste it by eating too much. I'm 5 ft, just enough to be tall in an OK way, and at least not too short, either.

"4:15......" I mutter. I hear a small whinny from outside, and I grin so much my face hurts. I don't care if it's... now 4:20 in the morning, or if it's still dark, all I care about is my precious, precious, Aroura.

I slip out of bed and pull on grey jeans, a blue polo shirt, and a black hoodie. I put on my boots, (now covered in mud from a trail ride yesterday,) and I pad downstairs, as soft and quiet as a mouse.

I pour some orange juice in a cup, and drink that so fast, I cough and splutter, trying hard not to wake my family up. In the end, I cover my mouth and cough over the sink so if any juice falls out, it will surf ever so happily in the sink.

I grab 3 apples, two for Aroura and one for myself. I run down to the stable in the cool, cold, night. It's not too cold now, it's only March and it's definitely gonna get warmer.

We own 100 acres of land so its great for me and Aroura to go on trails together. I open the barn door slowly, and our four horses whinny in delight. I go to the end of the barn where my baby is situated. "Hey, girl..." I croon. She is a beautiful Appaloosa, white with black spots, and one black sock on her left back leg.

I can almost hear her say, "Hadassa, where were you tonight?" I got Aroura for my 10th birthday, along with everything a horse could need - tack, food to last a month, (literally!) a grooming set, and riding hat. I was going to give her all the apples, but them I was aware of 3 other horses behind and beside me, so I halved the two apples and gave half to Aroura, half to Monsoon, another half to Heaven, and the other to Honey.

I feel my head nodding while I sit in Aroura stall after I muck it out, and suddenly, suddenly, I am off to dream land.
*
"Haddassa! Hey, Haddy! Where are you!!!!" Someone is calling me. Not loud, as if scared to wake everyone, but loud enough to wake me up. But what the heck am I doing in the stable! Then I remember.

I am suddenly awake, my eyes open wide. 6:50!!! My big brother, walks in, 15 years of age, and is shaking me. "Hey, Haddy, come on!" He is also wearing riding clothes, but surely we're not going on a ride now? I look up and see a face so much my own. He has lighter blonde hair than mine though, like sunshine. He has green eyes too, his hair a fringe, falling just over his eyebrows.

Me and Shay are actually pretty, close. In fact, we're best friends. Who said your brother can't be your best friend? Most people, if a boy is their BFF, it's their boyfriend. But me and Shay and really close! Most people fight with their brother, but I usually never. He has a freckled nose, I have freckled cheeks.

"Come on, let's go on a hack!" Shay says excitedly. "What, now?" I say, puzzled. "Yes, now! Come on, get out of the stable and saddle up!" I smile, and tack up Aroura. He gets up on Monsoon, and looks at me carefully. "Come to think about it, what ARE you doing in the stable?" He asks. "I woke up at 4:00 in the morning, and came down to the stables cause I had nothing else to do," I say simply. He nods his head, gently sinks his heels into Monsoon and is off in a trot. I laugh, pick up the reins, and follow him.
"Mountain Trail?" Shay enquires.
"Sure, why not, Aroura loves that trail." I say.

We gallop across the meadow, and watch the sun rise. Moosoon's black coat is glistening, and Aroura's hoofs are beating.

Ready for part two!?

Aroura, the Appaloosa - Part 2

Sorry it took a while!

Me and Shay gallop across the meadow, laughing, smiling, having fun. "Come on, let's go back," says Shay, still laughing with me, probably nothing. "Okay, okay," I say.

At the barn, the sun has risen and everyone is awake. Mum comes to us. "Uh-oh, angry adults at 12 o'clock...." Shay mutters. "Where the heck were you? We needed help!" Mum says angrily.

"Sorry, mum... um.. yeah.." Shay mumbles.

"Hadassa, go wake up the little lamb. She must wake up now." Mum says, her voice going all sweet and syrupy.

As she turns her back, me and Shay roll our eye at each other. "The little lamb!" I scoff.

"Haddasa, wake up the little lamb!" Shay says, in mums voice, mocking her. We fall about laughing.

"Haddie, come on! Stop messing around! Urgh!" She turns away again. Shay goes and helps dad. I walk into the kitchen.

"Go on, guys, hurry up!" Dad calls from the barn. I sigh.

Now, the "little lamb" is my little sister who mum and dad favor.

Aroura the Appaloosa - Part 3

At the table it is all sullen. Lisa, my little sister, is throwing a tantrum. Shay pulls a funny face at me, and I start giggling. "Haddie, what are you giggling about?" Dad snaps. I have a funny feeling he saw Shay pull the face, but wisely, I don't say so. Mum and Dad start up conversation. I cough.

"May I be exscused?" I say. "Yeah, me too." Shay says. Mum grunts. "Go to one of your friends houses," Dad mumbles. "Be back at 2:00, sharp, ok?"
"Yes, ma'am," Shay mutters.

As soon as we are out the door, we start running. "Lets go to Claudia's house," I say. Shay rolls his eyes. "You have GOT to be kidding!" He says, but he blushes. Since we -- me Claudia, aged 8, Shay has had a crush on her. He has never told her, but she told me she likes him too. I swore never to tell.

"Nah, lets go to Jaydyn's house." He huffs. "First Claudia." I say firmly. "Fine, fine." He mutters.

As we reach there, we go through the back fence and into her 80 acre yard. They own 8 horses. Mustang, paint, dun, roan, appaloosa, palomino, Clydesdale, and Icelandic. We go to their barn, and I spot Claudia in the paint's stall. She has a tan because she is actually Hawaiian, black hair, and amazing big blue eyes. She has shoulder length hair. She is wearing brown and black jean jodhpurs, a t-shirt with a horse on it, and long boots.

"Shh... Emerald, its okay..." She croons. "Hey, Claudia!" I say softly. She turns towards me and smiles. "Hey, Haddie, Shay!" She grins. She leaves the stall and comes over. "Wanna go for a ride?" She questions. "You bet!" I say.

We saddle up. Claudia goes on Emerald, (Emerald, the paint, is her personal cob). Shay takes the mustang, Rebal, and I take the Appaloosa, Rose.

We take a trail, and start talking. It was a lot of fun.

Aroura the Appaloosa - Part 4

As we cantered up the mountain and avoided rocks, we chatted about about everything. Our parents, her parents, her horses, life, fun things to do this summer together, and general. We suddenly found ourselves by a lovely little brook.

"Oh, wow, look!" Claudia said, dismounting Emerald, and taking her hat off. Shay gets off Rebel, and runs his hand through the water. "Wow, it's actually kinda warm!" He exclaimed. I looked around.

"Uh guys, how come we never found this brook... EVER!" I said worriedly. "Hmm... we probably aren't on my land anymore... remember the ditch we jumped over? Well, we're probably on a random mountain somewhere, but...." Claudia trailed off.

Shay walks up to her and looks at her carefully. "Did you know that we weren't on your land anymore?" He asks. He says it carefully, softly and quietly, not wanting to hurt her feelings obviously, but no one wants to be lost in the middle of nowhere, too. "No. I, I don't th-think s-soo..." She stutters, her eyes filling with tears.

I go and hug her. "Shh, its okay, we're not lost, we're... um... er..." I say, trying to comfort her. "Lost". Shay says flatly. Claudia goes to Emerald, pats her on the shoulder, and mounts. *Sniff* "We should try to get out of here and try to get home," she says.

Me and Shay mount. "Agreed." We say together. We trot around the mountain, in a forest, and suddenly there is a small house in the distance.

"Oh my gosh, look!" I squealed. We all canter up to the door and Shay dismounts the knock, only to trip over a rock and fall on the door instead.

Suddenly, the door opens, and a little girl appears. She's adorable, with brown, curly hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. She gives an adorable smile, and asks in a sweet voice, "Hi, I'm Erin, are you okay?"

Shay goes down on his knees so he is only a foot taller than Erin, and says, "Hey, darling, yeah we kinda are in need of a bit of help. We got lost and we really need to get home. Is it okay if I speak to an adult, honey?" I must admit, he has won the kid over. She smiles. "Jade! Jade! A boy band member is on our doorstep! They need help! JADE!!!!!!!!!!" Erin screamed.

I looked at Shay and he looked kinda pleased. Then I realized it. He did look like a boy band member. Suddenly, 4 girls appeared on the door. One about 7, one 10, another 13, and one our age. They all looked very the same, brown hair brown eyes, and jeans, hoodies, and converse. The eldest smiled.

"Hey, I'm Jade. These are my sisters, Lily (13), Natasha (10) and Skye (7)."

"Nice to meet you all," Claudia said, not smiling, eyeing Shay who was staring at Jade. And I had to make up for that.

"I'm Haddassa, this is Shay, and Claudia." I said, smiling. "Yeah, we kinda got, er, lost." Shay says. "Yeah, but we don't need your help, we'll... *fake coughs*... help ourselves." Claudia says rudely. Jade blinks, but doesn't say anything. "I love your horses!" She says instead.

I instantly like her, but deep down, there is something that tells me... DON'T TRUST HER.