Holloway (Inspired by free rein)

 “The stables caught fire this morning” The scariest line of my life. I hadn’t expected this to come...why would I? I lived this perfect life right till the age of 16. I went to school, came home, practised with bullseye, went out with my friends, did my homework and slept. Simple. Who knew life would become so complicated one day? “How are you doing Kaya?” Liam asked, rudely interrupting my thought spiral 

“I’m fine,” I said. What did he expect me to say? ‘Oh! I am absolutely jolly. I am so happy my mothers in debt and I might have to give up the most important thing to me so she can pay it off?! want to live with me in rainbow land?’

“Oh okay, I just wanted to let you know you can keep the horses in holloway stables till...this...um situation is fixed,” he said. 

 It felt as if the weight of the sky had been lifted off my shoulders” Thank you so much Liam” I said, hugging him. “I’ll go tell mom” I ran to her office and found her in Grandpa's arms crying. I knocked on the door and silently entered. “Mom you don’t need to worry Bullseye and the other horses can stay in holloway till Bright Fields rebuilds!” I said happily. Mom silently looked up and said “there might not be a bright fields honey” I stood there shocked. “I’m in debt. the loan we took last summer? for the horse riding program?” “I don’t kno-” before she could finish the sentence, even more tears welled up in her eyes and she buried her face in grandpa’s shoulder. “Mom don’t worry. The people who signed up for training, we still have that money…”

“We don’t. No one signed up-they thought it was too boring” 

“We might have to sell the horses dear,” said grandpa, looking away.

“The horses!” “How can we sell the horses mum?!” I cried “ Bullseye has been with us since I was three” I sobbed recalling the day when I named him after seeing toy story for the first time, It seemed like the perfect name for a horse at that time. the memory had always made me smile...my pudgy toddler fingers running through his jet black mane, this time though, it made me cry. “We can’t sell him, mom. I’ll find a way” I set off to find Laura, George and Liam. After fifteen minutes I was at the cafe with my friends, discussing ways in which we could raise interest in horse riding in 7 days. “We could always put on a fundraising dance” suggested George 

“No one will come,” said Laura “It’s the middle of exam season” She was right. “We could put on a show?” asked Liam. Hmm, the idea was not bad but where would we do it? “Where would we do it?” I asked 

“At holloway?” 

“No!” How can we keep it at holloway?! you’re our biggest rival. Plus if we keep it there people might assume bright fields is gone forever-” I tried not to cry. Liam put his arm around me “We’ll work it out”

It had been 3 days and we still had no idea where we would keep our show. I was trying to eat but right now my favourite prawns didn’t seem so appealing. “Stop playing around with your food Kaya,” said Sekani.  I rolled my eyes and said 

“I’ll do whatever I want, I’m the older sister” He was always trying to boss me around but it was nice that at least one person was treating me normally unlike my friends and family and teachers at school who treated me like I was a volcano threatening to erupt any moment.  The bell rang and I went and waited for my mom to pick me up from the parking lot. She didn’t come. After waiting for half an hour I gave up and started to walk home when I saw George running towards me with Laura on his tail. “Hi!” he said. 

“Why do you look so happy?” I asked raising my eyebrows

“Oh, no reason….just that WE EARNED THE MONEY TO PAY OFF YOUR MOMS DEBT!”

“WHAT HOW?!” I asked 

“We put on a show yesterday near the dockyard playground and the kids there saw us. We managed to convince about 50 of them to sign up for the program!” I couldn’t be happier. My friends had saved me, saved bullseye and all of the bright fields. I rushed home to tell my mother the good news. “MOM! we raised the money for bright fields!” 

“What?-h-how?” Mom asked clearly startled 

“George, Laura and Liam managed to sign 50 kids up for the program this summer!”

“oh well, honey that’s great...but-”

“But what mom?”

“That amount is 50,000 pounds… I need 100,000 pounds”

“So this is just half the amount?”

“Yes,” It felt as though someone had sucked all the air out of my lungs along with my happiness…Just then the phone rang “Ill get it,” said Sekani

 I caught some words in between “really?..yes...sure...when can we receive it...GRANDPA!” sekani shouted on the top of his lungs. grandpa came hobbling down the stairs “Yes sugar?”

“You’re rich” grandpa was an ex-navy officer and just a few months back we had noticed he didn’t receive his monthly pension like most officers did even though he was an admiral in the  British navy for 35 years and it had been 15 years since his retirement. So you can imagine how much money that was all at once! Mum paid off her debt and we got even more entries for the riding program. I got a job at the cafe along with Liam and We all lived Happily ever after...