Change Rein - Anne Jolin Page 0,44

a break like this.

Sitting up, I pull on his neck with all of my might. “Get up, damnit!” I scream at his closed eyes. “I will never forgive you for this, Achilles! Please!”

The only indication that he’s heard me is the small twitch in his ears.

“Somebody help us!” My strangled pleas ricochet off the walls.

I’m not sure how much time has passed since I came downstairs, but the smoke is getting heavier and my lungs burn. Fire’s breathing down the doorstep of the stall, and I know I can’t leave now, even if I wanted to. The aisleway is completely engulfed in flames. I’d never make it, even if I could bring myself to leave him.

I curl up next to his body, one hand never ceasing the stroking over his neck and sweet face. “Just you and me, Chil. Forget the rest,” I say, repeating the last thing I said to him before we entered the ring in Greece, and hold him tight.

My eyes start to flutter, and I think of him, of Branson, my love. If I die today, I’ll die knowing what it feels like to love and be loved, and that makes all the difference. I was blessed.

“London!”

Bang. Bang. Bang.

“London!”

Willing my eyes open, I cough until I’m certain my lungs will spill out of my mouth.

“Yes?” I croak, looking around wildly but coming up short.

“London!”

Daddy? “I’m here,” I try to yell, but it barely comes out a whisper. After scooping my hand into the last bit of the water, I swallow it, clearing my throat. “I’m here!”

“Are you okay? The doors are chained shut. We can’t get in.” His voice is strained.

Once again, the tears come easily. “I’m fine,” I call through the barn siding. “Daddy, Chil won’t get up. Something’s wrong with him.”

The sounds of multiple raised voices are muffled, but Daddy’s is clear. “We’re going to try to cut through the wall, honey. Is there something you can use to cover yourself up?”

Looking around, I struggle to focus my eyes, but eventually, they land on Achilles’ flea blanket.

“I’ve got a blanket!” I holler back to the wall as I tug it down.

“I need you to keep your back to the outside wall and put that over you, okay, sweet girl?”

I nod to myself before realizing he can’t see me. “Okay.”

After dragging the blanket, I pour what’s left in the water bucket over it. Then I drape it over my shoulders and spread my arms open like wings to cover as much of Achilles as I can.

“Tell me when you’re ready.”

After pressing a soft kiss to Chil’s neck, I call out to Daddy, “I’m ready.”

Something loud rings out—a chainsaw?—and I force my eyes shut as the harsh sound ripples around me.

How long we wait like that, I have no idea. But, eventually, an engine revs before a loud breaking sound, which are followed by a huge rush of cool air. Too scared to move, I stay still, my head resting on Achilles’ body.

“London.” Daddy’s voice envelops me.

He tries to lift me into his arms, but I hold on to my best friend with everything I have. “I can’t.”

“It’s time to let him go, London,” he whispers.

“No, Chil, please!” I cry out as Owen pulls my arms off him. “Don’t leave him here!” I beg them. “I need him.”

The rain splashes onto my face. Then I see that the barn wall is now lying on the ground behind our tractor.

Looking back to where we came from, I watch the smoke swallow him.

Achilles.

MY TRUCK SCREECHES TO A halt behind the flashing lights of the first responder vehicles, the windshield wipers repeatedly blurring and clearing the scene before me like slow torture as the rain beats down on my car. Had you asked me in that moment how I’d driven there, I wouldn’t know. I was already halfway to Willow Bay when the emergency call came in. Something about having left her, despite her demands, hadn’t seemed right, and I’d wished with every fiber of my being that I could go back and stay with her.

Aurora had called, and even though it took me minutes before I could fully understand what she was saying in her panicked state, I knew it was bad. The main barn had caught fire on the South side and London was inside. They only knew that, because the horses were all over the property, and the only person who could have let them out in time was my girl.

I jump out of the truck,