Chapter Three
Horrible Places

"I am locked away."

I am stuck. Caught. Captured. Caged. These stalls are not like the ones I had at my other place, where my mother is, where Kind One gave us carrots and brushed us until we were clean and beautiful. Not at this place.
Loud, cold gray bars surround me. It is frightening. My other place was lovely, for we were not usually kept in these cages, except for at feeding time. All I smell is my own filth, and I must stay in my corner or it will be sinking mud. All I hear is the sound of cold air whistling through the bars. It is not warm here. It is a cold place in many different ways.
I look to the front of my cage. Black, monstrous looking things wave and flap with the cold air. I used to be scared, but now I just stay away. I look longingly to my food bowl across the mud, in the other dry spot. I wish that they would bring me and the other horses food.
I hear another horse scream, and then I hear anxious, nervous hoofbeats clopping on the ground. Obviously, the horse’s poor voice has been much overused.
“Shuddap,” says a horribly familiar two-legged voice. I don’t know what he is saying, but I know it is cruel and wrong from his tone.
Though I do not want to step in the stinky mud, I feel the need to try and see this horse. Perhaps he or she will be my friend in this terrible place.
I call to him. He is a tall, nervous looking chestnut with a small place of white upon his forehead. The whites of his eyes are showing as the two-legged jerks firmly on the halter. He is scared.
I nicker soothingly to him, and he looks at me with interest. I nicker again softly, trying to get him to calm down. Otherwise he will be punished much more severely, as I have learnt from experience.
“Shuddap, mare,” the two-legged says. I can tell his harsh tone is directed at me this time, so I shudder and step away.
I want to get away from this place. I want to get away now.